Maxtor 60G about to die? (was Re: [G4] re: my hard drive western dig vs maxtor?

[B Yen]

Hi:

I have a G4/667 I got back in Aug 2001, which came with a Maxtor 60G
(product #5T060H6).

No problems with the machine (except for some mouse-freeze lockups, coming
out of "sleep" mode).  However, within last several months, I think my
Maxtor 60G is having problems.

1st, I hear these beeping signals..which I think is coming from the Maxtor
drive.  (or is it coming from the G4?)  I think it's having difficulty
coming out of sleep mode (when it powers down after a period of non-use).
It may go thru many attempts (I can hear some clicking, & the program
menus can't execute), before the machine "gets the drive back" & comes out
of sleep.

A few times, I get these Finder error messages:

"there is a problem with Macintosh HD, some data may be lost"

I believe I did *actually* lose some emails (I use Netscape mail).

Question:

What is going on?  Am I looking at an impending system failure?  Should I
toss this disk & get a new one?  I've gotten away without any daily
backups (or even longer than that), I just basically periodically dump
some important files onto CD-R.

I have a spare 120G WD lying around..should I install it & setup some kind
of "disk-mirroring"?




James Asherman wrote:

> On Tuesday, November 23, 2004, at 04:24  PM, lavode at comcast.net wrote:
>
> > Statistically valid?  Ok, how about this:
> >
> > Most hard drives are going to work in your computer, and there is
> > little difference between brands.
> >
> > -Lavode
> >
>
> I would still just go for the Seagates. My Maxtor gave up after two
> years, but generally I have good luck with Maxtor.
>   I stay away from WD simply because there is always a pile of
> them(busted) in any PC shop.
> IBM/hitachi are ok but quirky (internal sleeping :no good for video)
> I have two 80 gig Seagates and an 80 gig IBM in my QS. All things being
> equal, get a barracuda.
>
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