Old HDD discussion

[Shocker]

Re: Okay, SERIOUSLY?????

27 and rising by the minute...

...36... (the two numbers mention seem to somehow be linked)

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

I attempted reformatting to see what would happen. The format process seems to be stuck at 20%. I'll swap the master/slave positions of the ST380011A and ST3120026A to see what happens.

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

Done. Nothing seems to have changed much, except that the pending and uncorrectable counters on the ST380011A have gone up another 3.

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

...50...

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

I found an option to erase the drive in HDDScan. I started it for the ST380011A and will see how it goes.

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

It might be "healing" itself. The pending and uncorrectable counters have reset to 0 and the reallocation counter is unchanged. Although the ST340014A is dead, maybe this one will survive.

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

Finished the wipe. In all reality, the drive seems fine. Currently formatting...

[Shocker]

The aftermath

It seems fine now.



What's next???

[Shocker]

Re: The aftermath

It seems fine now.

Scratch that. The pending and uncorrectable counts are up to 90 and the reallocations have gone from 26 to 30. The runtime is 39,473 hours. Looks like this one has had it.

At least the ST3120026A is still hanging in there.

[rukmani]

Re: Old HDD discussion

thank sir.....................

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

thank sir.....................

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

As it happens, I have another ST340014A with a broken ceramic capacitor (the rest of the board seems okay). Measuring that position on the ST380011A showed it to be +3.3V. My plan in mind is to take the capacitor from the same position on the dead ST340014A. But that's for later...

Also, I don't know how bad this is, but I discovered that the 7200.7 PCBs originally had three small inductors which were later (after October 2003 but before February 2004) replaced by 0Ω resistors.

[Shocker]

Re: Up to 10,000RPM

...the Raptor is louder.

One word: Understatement.

Sure the ST3120026A is not the quietest drive ever but it's far, far quieter than that Raptor is when seeking. The WD800JD-00LSA0 (which should actually be called a WD800JS as it has SATA 3Gb/s support) is quieter again and has the same access time as the ST3120026A. I can't get AAM to work on that Raptor, so any plans of using it in my main system go out the window.

[cheapie]

Re: Old HDD discussion

My main hard drive is a Seagate. I can't remember the model, but:
*Can't remember where I got it
*160 GB capacity
*7200 RPM
*1 platter
*SATA II (3 Gbps, but only running at SATA I/1.5 Gbps because my motherboard doesn't support faster)
*Made in 2009.
*Main system drive, 30% full.

Seagate ST-157A-1
*Bought for $50 on eBay 2 years ago
*3(?) platters
*42 MB (not GB)
*IDE
*PIO Mode 0 only
*Stepper motor for seeking
*Probably from about 1990
*Cat landed on it while running with the cover off, still worked until it happened a second time

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

I'm guessing your main drive is either an ST3160813AS (7200.11) or ST3160318AS (7200.12).

The ST-157A is indeed a 3-platter drive, according to the Seagate Desk Reference. There's also a 2-platter 30MB model (ST-138A).

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

What's more, a set of tests I just did in HDTune shows that if you short-stroke the ST3120026A to 37GB, it only falls short of the WD360GD-00FLA1 by about 1ms. So I can only say 3 words about that Raptor: Not worth it.

[cheapie]

Re: Old HDD discussion

I'm guessing your main drive is either an ST3160813AS (7200.11) or ST3160318AS (7200.12).

Turns out it's a ST360811AS, which is a 7200.9. I'm sort of surprised that the bearings are still good, considering that it's been spinning almost 24/7 since I got it.

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

In fluid-dynamic bearings (used by Seagate drives since the Barracuda ATA IV) there is no solid contact between bearing surfaces in-motion. As I remember, FDBs contain an oil circulated by the rotation and grooves in the bearing surfaces. The shaft entry point is not sealed - the oil contains magnetic particles and the casing is magnetised.

[cheapie]

Re: Old HDD discussion

In fluid-dynamic bearings (used by Seagate drives since the Barracuda ATA IV) there is no solid contact between bearing surfaces in-motion. As I remember, FDBs contain an oil circulated by the rotation and grooves in the bearing surfaces. The shaft entry point is not sealed - the oil contains magnetic particles and the casing is magnetised.

That would explain why old hard drives are so noisy then - must be ball bearings.

I'd like to know why seeking gets louder with age though. It even seems to apply to old drives too - the self-test on that one ST-251 that had never been used was quiet, and then you have more used drive that sound more like whhhhiiiirrRRRRrrreeEEEEEeeBANGBANGBANGerrrrrrrrr...

[Shocker]

Re: Old HDD discussion

That would explain why old hard drives are so noisy then - must be ball bearings.

Correct.

I'd like to know why seeking gets louder with age though. It even seems to apply to old drives too - the self-test on that one ST-251 that had never been used was quiet, and then you have more used drive that sound more like whhhhiiiirrRRRRrrreeEEEEEeeBANGBANGBANGerrrrrrrrr...

Head assembly still uses ball bearings. Fluid-dynamic bearings can only sustain rotation in one direction and rely on the rotation to circulate the oil.