[X-Newbies] drive failure

[Jamie Kahn Genet]

Robert <rashton at telus.net> wrote:

> Thanks to smart drive tech I have received notification that one of  
> my drives is failing. At this moment I am backing up the data that is
> on the drive to other media. It would really be nice if it gave a  
> reason for the drive failing. If it was failing because of bad blocks
> formating the drive would solve that problem. If it a component on  
> the logic board one would know to replace the would drive or put the
> drive away and see if one could come up with a new board. Anyway I am
> glad that at least I got notification.  By the way the drive is just
> 14 months old. This is the fastest a drive has ever failed on me. Bob

You may get more detailed diagnostics from a repair centre, but just for
the sake of curiosity I doubt it's economic. Just be thankful for
S.M.A.R.T. self diagnostics allowing you to catch the failing drive
before it took all your data with it.

It's a fact of life that with extremely small tolerances, delicate and
moving parts, Hard Drives sometimes fail earlier than usual. All I can
say, is buy brands with a good reputation like LaCie, never move them
while running, and keep them way from vibration and environmental
extremes. Even then, you'll get the odd one failing early.

That's why backup and regular monitoring of your HD's S.M.A.R.T.
diagnostics (if it has them) is so important.

Regards,
 Jamie Kahn Genet
-- 
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.