[WBEL-users] Another filesystem failure

[John Morris]

On Fri, 2005-07-08 at 10:39, khaqq wrote:

> If badblocks sees bad sectors, you have to send it back to Maxtor. Same if 
> smartctl reports errors during the surface test.
> I'm sick of vendors saying "what OS are you running ?" "Linux" "it's a OS
> problem", BTW.

Agreed.  But Maxtor won't take one back until their DOS based diagnostic
has verified the drive as defunct, regardless whether you are a Windows
or Linux user.  The trick is to run the diagnostic and when it gives you
the 'dead' verdict, just go to their website and generate an RMA with
the number it gives you instead of dealing with tech support.

On the other hand, I had one croak, used the utility to run a low level
format on it and it has been back in service for six months without any
problems.  Of course it is a member of a RAID5 so if it does crap out I
won't be totally boned, otherwise I'd have shipped it back just to be
safe.  And I have a look at what smartctl has to say about it on a
regular basis.

> I'd change the disk. If you value reliability, some vendors are better than
> Maxtor, IMHO. Maybe your PSU is acting up, too.

Second that PSU idea.  Unless you buy good server hardware or a really
nice case/ps combo (read as over $100) toss any bundled power supply and
buy a good one.  Go to Toms or somewhere for extensive reviews on
current product.

But as for ditching Maxtor, nah.  All drive vendors have bad runs of
drives and later get QA back under control.  If we polled the list I'm
sure somebody has horror stories about all of em.  Me, I have seen bad
drives from Seagate, Conner (now Seagate), Maxtor, WD, IBM (now
Hitachi), etc.  Also seen drives from most of the above running long
after being obsolete.  But overall, reliability is going down as
capacity is going up.  RAID is yer friend.  Anything halfway important
should be on RAID1, and if it is a bigger datastore RAID5 or better.  

And never substitute RAID for backups, as they serve different purposes.

-- 
John M.      http://www.beau.org/~jmorris     This post is 100% M$Free!
Geekcode 3.1:GCS C+++ UL++++$ P++ L+++ W++ w--- Y++ b++ 5+++ R tv- e* r