Comments on: My Maxtor Madness http://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/ Everyone can understand technology; sometimes it just takes a little translating. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:00:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mitchell Okehttp://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12674 Mitchell Oke Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:55:16 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12674 Then we are in complete agreement :) Then we are in complete agreement :)

]]> By: Clinton Fitchhttp://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12646 Clinton Fitch Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:08:28 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12646 I have to say that in my experience with hard disks, Maxtor rates as the worst. I've only had 3 of them but all three have failed without much warning and well before they should have in my opinion. Heck, I have a 120GB drive that has been in a couple of different PCs now for over 3 years and haven't had an issue. Each of the Maxtors I had lasted maybe 24 months. I'm of the opinion... just avoid 'em. I have to say that in my experience with hard disks, Maxtor rates as the worst. I’ve only had 3 of them but all three have failed without much warning and well before they should have in my opinion. Heck, I have a 120GB drive that has been in a couple of different PCs now for over 3 years and haven’t had an issue. Each of the Maxtors I had lasted maybe 24 months.

I’m of the opinion… just avoid ‘em.

]]> By: Mitchell Okehttp://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12576 Mitchell Oke Tue, 10 Apr 2007 04:37:16 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12576 <strong>Filip</strong>: Haha, the funny thing is IBM's HDD department was bought by Hitachi in 2003 I think it was. I'm going to stick on the the Samsung 250GB IDE drives in the Maxtor case. Recently bought 3 of them for myself, and about 5 for some friends when I built their computers. <strong>BobRussell</strong>: Bummer! I have never bought WD drives before so I don't have personal experience with them, but thats because I read something bad about them once. I have seriously thought of building a system purely for data storage and nothing else. 4 500GB drives in RAID 1 (mirrored) for 1TB of safe storage. Will share it with my dad if I do it, so will cost us about $450-500 each. Considering how much value we place on our data (and with my video editing projects for clients that I can't afford to lose) it is worth it. <strong>Allen</strong>: My original Maxtor 160GB was the 5000DV and it didn't have a power switch if I recall correctly, but the 7000DV drives that I have now do. Didn't seem to help them much though :-( <strong>Allen</strong>/<strong>Chris</strong>: Yes my Maxtor's did get quite warm quite quickly and that always worried me. The 160GB that just died was running quite often, but the 160GB that died several years ago and the 200GB that I have acting flakey now were only used on occasion then disconnected. The two 7000DV drives have a vent but no fan. Even a small fan would help drop the temps on these things. <strong>Chris</strong>: Good point about the DVD brands. I have had the best results with Verbatim discs with regards to failed burns (none I don't think in over 200 discs) or flakey burns (only a couple I think). Those combined with the Pioneer DVR-111D (and updated 112D) have been good for me. I have also tried Imation and they are pretty good too. Filip: Haha, the funny thing is IBM’s HDD department was bought by Hitachi in 2003 I think it was. I’m going to stick on the the Samsung 250GB IDE drives in the Maxtor case. Recently bought 3 of them for myself, and about 5 for some friends when I built their computers.

BobRussell: Bummer! I have never bought WD drives before so I don’t have personal experience with them, but thats because I read something bad about them once. I have seriously thought of building a system purely for data storage and nothing else. 4 500GB drives in RAID 1 (mirrored) for 1TB of safe storage. Will share it with my dad if I do it, so will cost us about $450-500 each. Considering how much value we place on our data (and with my video editing projects for clients that I can’t afford to lose) it is worth it.

Allen: My original Maxtor 160GB was the 5000DV and it didn’t have a power switch if I recall correctly, but the 7000DV drives that I have now do. Didn’t seem to help them much though :-(

Allen/Chris: Yes my Maxtor’s did get quite warm quite quickly and that always worried me. The 160GB that just died was running quite often, but the 160GB that died several years ago and the 200GB that I have acting flakey now were only used on occasion then disconnected. The two 7000DV drives have a vent but no fan. Even a small fan would help drop the temps on these things.

Chris: Good point about the DVD brands. I have had the best results with Verbatim discs with regards to failed burns (none I don’t think in over 200 discs) or flakey burns (only a couple I think). Those combined with the Pioneer DVR-111D (and updated 112D) have been good for me. I have also tried Imation and they are pretty good too.

]]> By: Chris Magnussonhttp://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12531 Chris Magnusson Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:57:52 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12531 Oh, and when choosing media for backups, I don't recommend standardizing on one brand, just in case. ;) Oh, and when choosing media for backups, I don’t recommend standardizing on one brand, just in case. ;)

]]> By: Chris Magnussonhttp://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12530 Chris Magnusson Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:55:40 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12530 I also use external harddrives exclusively for backups. And when the drive is not being used, I eject and unplug it, and turn it off, to prevent heat-induced premature failure. The one thing I'm worried about is that all the power bumps/drops from being turned on/off will induce an early death, either to the drive itself or to the electronics in the enclosure (I'm hoping the latter if it does happen). I also use external harddrives exclusively for backups. And when the drive is not being used, I eject and unplug it, and turn it off, to prevent heat-induced premature failure. The one thing I’m worried about is that all the power bumps/drops from being turned on/off will induce an early death, either to the drive itself or to the electronics in the enclosure (I’m hoping the latter if it does happen).

]]> By: Allen Honghttp://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12529 Allen Hong Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:47:13 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12529 In my experience, external hard drives seem to go bad because of not enough cooling. All the older Maxtor and Western Digital externals I have seen dont have power switches also. So if you leave the hard drive plugged in all the time, its running and heating up inside that enclosure. Heat is not good for the circuits and motor bearings... reduced life is the result. Newer externals have on/off switches and improved cooling heatsinks and some models even have cooling fans. But I think even with the improved heatsinks... the larger hard drives (250GB and bigger) I used at work still get really hot. Personally, I dont like to use external hard drives for anything except backups... when the backup is done... it gets disconnected and put back into its box. In my experience, external hard drives seem to go bad because of not enough cooling. All the older Maxtor and Western Digital externals I have seen dont have power switches also. So if you leave the hard drive plugged in all the time, its running and heating up inside that enclosure. Heat is not good for the circuits and motor bearings… reduced life is the result. Newer externals have on/off switches and improved cooling heatsinks and some models even have cooling fans. But I think even with the improved heatsinks… the larger hard drives (250GB and bigger) I used at work still get really hot. Personally, I dont like to use external hard drives for anything except backups… when the backup is done… it gets disconnected and put back into its box.

]]> By: BobRussellhttp://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12528 BobRussell Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:32:42 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12528 Sorry to hear about your trials with Maxtor external drives. I just wish you had shared a little earlier before I bought three cheap ones myself! I had a different experience so far... had to return a WD drive because it was making quite but scary noises. I guess the bottom line is to always have everything backed up. It doubles your storage costs, but most of us use computers all the time to work with files we really need, or have invested a lot of time/money into. It will be nice when multiTB online backup and RAID solutions are cheap, and we don't have to worry about storing and protecting our data so much. Sorry to hear about your trials with Maxtor external drives. I just wish you had shared a little earlier before I bought three cheap ones myself!

I had a different experience so far… had to return a WD drive because it was making quite but scary noises.

I guess the bottom line is to always have everything backed up. It doubles your storage costs, but most of us use computers all the time to work with files we really need, or have invested a lot of time/money into. It will be nice when multiTB online backup and RAID solutions are cheap, and we don’t have to worry about storing and protecting our data so much.

]]> By: filiphttp://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12524 filip Mon, 09 Apr 2007 23:25:15 +0000 http://www.geardiary.com/2007/04/09/my-maxtor-madness/#comment-12524 Hi there My Lacie D2 fw800/400 failed on me few days ago, after opening i found western digital disk inside, wasn't suprised at all. I managed to restore it once using DiskWarrior (great mac app) but after few days clicking sound started again and soon after died again, managed to access the data (backed up anyway) and restore it. Went to store and placed new seagete in D2 housing. ;) I tryed many hdd's since i'm managing smaller network (about 20computers) least problems with hitachi and really zero problem with seagate barracuda drives I got failures with WD many many times, IBMs, Maxtors are also on my black list heh, but after all I think what matters most is how lucky some is with this stuff;) regards nice blog, btw filip Hi there

My Lacie D2 fw800/400 failed on me few days ago, after opening i found western digital disk inside, wasn’t suprised at all.
I managed to restore it once using DiskWarrior (great mac app)
but after few days clicking sound started again and soon after died
again, managed to access the data (backed up anyway) and restore it.
Went to store and placed new seagete in D2 housing. ;)

I tryed many hdd’s since i’m managing smaller network (about 20computers) least problems with hitachi and really zero problem with seagate barracuda drives

I got failures with WD many many times, IBMs, Maxtors are also on my black list heh, but after all I think what matters most is how lucky some is with this stuff;)

regards
nice blog, btw

filip

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