What is the deal with noone wanting IBM Drives anymore???

[Hamburgerpimp]

Seagates are simply the best HDs made. IDE or SCSI.

 

[mithrandir2001]

My name is Mithrandir2001 and I am a victim of an IBM GXP Series failure.

 

[C'DaleRider]

I bought into the IBM GXP series when they were introduced.........fast and reliable, so IBM said.

After the 4th RMA for a dying GXP drive, I sold the RMA replacement and bought Maxtor. All the IBM drives failed while using active cooling. And I had at least one drive from each of IBM's three assembly points.....seemed to make no difference.

As for these drives not being unusually high in their failure rate, name another drive that has a class action lawsuit pending because of unreliability.

 

[brxndxn]

Seagates are simply the best HDs made. IDE or SCSI.


I had two IDE Seagate Barracuda 3's 30GB 7200rpm running RAID mirroring for my mom's business computer and both of them failed. As soon as the RAID card switched to the other drive, the other drive failed in 3 days. Luckily, I backed up everything during those three days just because I happened to be in town. Her computer is now using a single 15gb IBM drive which has been working fine ever since.

However, I did get two 40GB Barracuda 4's 7200rpm hard drives for RMA replacement which are running RAID striping in my computer right now. They are the hottest IDE drives I have ever seen - rivaling many SCSI drives. No other IDE drive comes close in terms of amount of heat.. I really don't mind the heat as long as they don't fail on me, though.. Something tells me that the heat will make them eventually destroy themselves.

BTW, the Seagate Barracuda 3's created tons of heat too. My 120GB IBM 7200 RPM hard drive isn't even warm to the touch while my two Seagates are as hot as the heatsink on my processor.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: C'DaleRider


As for these drives not being unusually high in their failure rate, name another drive that has a class action lawsuit pending because of unreliability.

Well, that's not proving much. Look at the breast implant farce that wrongfully bankrupted a major US corporation. The existence of lawsuits, or even the winning of same does not prove a point. Not with our tort system these days.

 

[Doggiedog]

I had a 45GB 60GXP go bad on me early this year. The replacement, a brand new 60GB 60GXP IBM sent me, just went bad on me last week.

Strangely, my 30GB 75GXP, also in the same PC and bought the same time, has been working perfectly for 2 years.

No more IBMs for me though. I just purchased a WD 80GB SE.

 

[KokomoGST]

Wow, this thread makes me glad I opted for a Quantum LM over the GXP... most of the drive failures happening in my college's labs and server farms were mostly IBMs. At least WD seems to be able to get their stuff done right... I've been using their drives for nearly 8 years now.

 

[Jumpem]

My 60GB 60GXP died after 10 months. I replaced with a Western Digital 80GB SE.

 

[dexvx]

Never had a harddrive fail on me ever (have owned IBM GXP's, Seagate Barracudas, Western Digitals, and Quantums). Although I see a fairly high ratio of failed drives with RAID enabled, after reading forums of harddrives dying. Of the friends who had harddrives fail on them, all of them had some kind of RAID enabled.

Strange eh?

 

[Red Dawn]

IBM GXP Problems: The Truth Exposed

 

[jobert]

The primary reason IBM is leaving the hard drive business
is purely profit related. HDs are commodities with low margin.
IBM likes the 50% marrgin on "Service".

 

[jobert]

..."The Truth Exposed"

That's an interesting article, Red...

>>>Today hard drives may be made from a glass-ceramic composite which has several advantages over aluminium. First of all, the platters are even ?stiffer? making them able to operate much faster without error because they are more susceptible to heat compared to that of aluminium platters. <<<

 

[mithrandir2001]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
IBM GXP Problems: The Truth Exposed

"The GMR Head technology that gives the 75GXP its stunning performance is also its major Achilles heel. As data gets packed more densely, there is less room for error. During normal operation, drives will heat up due to the friction of the platters moving through the air. While the platter is very smooth, anything running at 7200RPM will produce heat. In addition, there will heat generated by the motors and various chips used to control the drive. As we all learned in school, heat will cause metal to expand. The platters on drives are no exception. Drive manufactures know this and have chips that account for the expansion of platters. The drive head will adjust itself accordingly to ensure it is reading and writing to the right place.

In the case of the 75GXP, this does not always happen. Variables such as uneven warming of the platters can confuse the drive. Every so often, data will be recorded in one place but not where the drive was expecting. Consequently, when the drive goes back to look for the data, it is not there. A loud clicking noise, not unlike the infamous Iomega Click of Death, will come from the drive. This is due to the read head resetting itself and making another attempt to find the data.?

This sounds like a bunch of made-up BS. It sounds reasonable at first glance but it's too cut-and-dry to be correct.

 

[Red Dawn]

This sounds like a bunch of made-up BS. It sounds reasonable at first glance but it's too cut-and-dry to be correct.

Can you explain why? You might be right but unless you explain why you are right I would have to take your word for it and frankly, your word on this matter isn't good enough.

 

[jobert]

So Red, you think their statement makes sense?????

(A platter is superior when it is MORE susceptible to heat????)

I guess the REALLY good hd platters melt like butter
when the temp goes up!

 

[PG]

So Red, you think their statement makes sense?????

I'm not Red obviously, but here's something that maybe you missed....it was just before that quote from the Tweaktown article.

AnandTech has an FAQ that also suggests a similar cause for the problem in a way that can?t be explained any better;

I trust Anand and the AT FAQ's. I believe someone did some research instead of posting opionions off the top of their heads.

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: Hamburgerpimp
Seagates are simply the best HDs made. IDE or SCSI.

At a failure rate of 0.0% after 13 years and thousands of installed systems... i tend to agree...

WD used to suck too, they have shaped up, Maxtor (same as quantum these days= has always been a good brand, IBM used to be great but the GXP series changed all that...

I really can't find any reason to buy a HDD that isn't a Seagate, IDE or SCSI...

 

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK

Sector Read Error

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK

BSOD!