Re: Fujitsu RECALL!?!
Since I've become aware of the Fujitsu recall, the Maxtor 6e Model problems and all the other HDD problems mentioned here, I'm going to start aggressively testing these things for reliability after buying a new one.
That Hitachi test seems like it's giving it a workout and can be run for days. I think I'll sic that on any new one I get. If it makes it through 48 hrs....it lives.
A car stereo installer friend of mine always used to say, "It either jams or DIES!", when referring to amps & speakers. Same concept!...
ArmoredFist1994
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Last Activity: 07-08-2009, 02:36 PM
Joined: 12-15-2008
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Last edited by ArmoredFist1994; 02-22-2009, 08:44 PM. -
Re: Hitachi Fitness Test (Drive Fitness Test)
Well, I guess 24-48 hours would be a reasonable amount of time according to this from their website: [url]http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/technolo/dft/dft.htm[/url]
"...In Exerciser mode, DFT performs random reads and writes for a user-specified length of time. This mode is designed to simulate normal drive use and is intended to find the small class of intermittent problems that appear and disappear. "
I guess I answered my own question. Just wondering what you guys do to test HDDs. So far, it's...Leave a comment:
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Re: Hitachi Fitness Test (Drive Fitness Test)
The drive I had that failed had an electronics issue that caused it to operate slowly/intermittently....the specific test from hitachi is the only one I can think of that actually has a "fitness test"......
For your amusement, fellas:
Enjoy!Leave a comment:
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Re: Hitachi Fitness Test (Drive Fitness Test)
I actually do need a program to torture the drive, since if it's going to fail, or is faulty I'd like to know about it.
I just wasted a bunch of time (about a week) trying to get a system reliable & stable only to find out the HDD was bad. One of these programs might have saved me some time.
I don't think the program is a gimmick....most all HDD mfgs. have similar programs. Maxtor's Maxblast, Seagate's Seatools, etc. They also allow you to totally wipe drives clean and other things....Leave a comment:
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Hitachi Fitness Test (Drive Fitness Test)
The Hitachi Drive Fitness Test (DFT) is on the company's website and is bootable with a floppy or CD.
This seems to be a really good drive test/burn-in program & works with all brands of hard drives. The "fitness test" can be run for any number of passes. I ran a 20 pass test last night and it took about 10 hours.
For those of you who use this program, how many passes do you run to consider a drive "stable"? I want to give it a thorough test but don't want to degrade it. Thanks. -
Re: Fujitsu RECALL!?!
Thanks for the info, Wizard.
Cirrus Logic=crap. I agree. I've now wasted probably a month trying to get a cirrus logic/fujitsu drive to work reliably, only to find they're all pretty much defective junk.
I remember the relatively brief period of 3dfx cards. One of my favorite games, M1 Tank Platoon 2 was optimized for that card. Actually the only way to have 3d accelleration is with a 3dfx card....I guess you can get a "wrapper" for 3dfx nowadays but I don't quite get how that works. ok, ok, I admit, I haven't tried...Leave a comment:
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Re: Fujitsu RECALL!?!
It appears that only certain Fujitsu drives were affected by bad epoxy on the circuit board causing a short circuit after prolonged use. My drive fit all the symptoms listed on the 'net including simply "disappearing" from the system.
I've actually got 2 older Fujitsu drives and both of them are from the bad batches. Both of the suckers are faulty, too.....and I was wondering why that Fujitsu Windows diagnostic wouldn't run!
Just bad luck. I hope that junk didn't mess up my freshly recapped board, too!
Last edited by ArmoredFist1994; 02-19-2009, 07:55 PM.Leave a comment:
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Fujitsu RECALL!?!
I was pretty proud of myself for ressurecting my aging computer only to have the MBR get corrupted whenever another device was attached. Unfortunately, if I can't attach devices, the PC is useless for what it's needed for.
The thing started getting slower and slower and I realized the HDD was failing. No noises or anything, just slow performance then it would "disappear" from the system.
I had this happen once on a new computer and it was a loose cable so I disconnected and reconnected all cables to the drive, wiped the drive, formatted, ran the manufacturer's...Last edited by ArmoredFist1994; 02-19-2009, 07:02 PM. -
Re: Firewire Hot Swap Question
This special purpose luggable desktop does indeed contain a VIA chipset. I use the VIA hardware monitor to keep an eye on the temp. Yeah, it's not the highest quality and we definitely all got defrauded with the bad caps thing.
Everything works now so I'm not worried about it. The firewire plug was in but the system rebooted only when I applied power to the firewire hard drive. There was no way I shorted anything out plugging it in...if I did, there was no sign of it. I was running an intensive program at the time and I think Windows...Leave a comment:
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Re: Firewire Hot Swap Question
I hear you about the shuttle board. The catch is the imaging computer has to have that mini form-factor because it fits into a luggable case with built in lcd screen. It's in between a laptop and desktop, closer to desktop because I need molex connectors hanging out and IDE data cables, SATA cables, etc. that notebooks don't have. Unfortunately, I'm kind of stuck with the shuttle board for a while which is why I went ahead and recapped it. Those special-purpose, special-form factor computers are expensive and this one made sense to repair instead of...Last edited by ArmoredFist1994; 02-01-2009, 08:17 PM.Leave a comment:
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Re: Firewire Hot Swap Question
Thanks for the reassurance. After hearing that, I don't believe I did anything bad to my recently recapped pc (which is was I was worried about.)
My computer is used for evidence collection using forensic programs like FTK imager and EnCase. Those programs are apparently incredibly demanding as my CPU temp goes way up when I'm running them. Actually the whole rig could be considered unstable when running that stuff (which I was when it rebooted) so unusual behavior is expected.
Interesting to hear your...Leave a comment:
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Re: Firewire Hot Swap Question
The computer was on, running Windows XP. The drive was off, then turned on. The computer rebooted abruptly when I switched it on.
(for some reason i was unable to edit my original post)...Leave a comment:
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Firewire Hot Swap Question
I've got firewire ports on my older (BTW it's recapped) FV25 Shuttle motherboard.
I plugged an external hard drive, which was off, into the firewire port then turned it on via the switch. The drive has external power and is not powered by the firewire port. As soon as I turned it on, the computer rebooted.
I somehow thought firewire was "hot swappable" but obviously in this case it is not.
I've got a simple question: Did I physically damage any hardware? (I don't care about windows OS "damage" or any software "damage".... -
Re: A Real "Burn-In" Test....
I agree....bummer!...Leave a comment:
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Re: A Real "Burn-In" Test....
That is a very good point! I guess I expected that there was some [B]software[/B] burn-in or diagnostic that would have detected the problem. To my surprise, the machine passed all software tests I subjected it to.
Yes, I know there's a hardware problem, but no software that I ran detected it or caused a failure. The only thing that "caught" it was the cold boot.
However, running the previously mentioned IntelBurninTest Linpack may have caused a failure....I didn't know about...Leave a comment:
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Re: A Real "Burn-In" Test....
I did run memtest and prime95 on a mobo that had leaking exploded caps, booted only intermittently and it ran both forever.
When I turned it off, though, the ability of the machine to boot to the OS or even to make it past the post tests was 50-50 at best.
Running prime95 test and memtest didn't seem to mean anything. It kept going and going through the torture test...never locked up or anything once it did boot....weird.
Yes, it sounds really stupid to keep turning a device on and off.
...Leave a comment:
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A Real "Burn-In" Test....
I've seen and run a bunch of "burn-in" tests. Prime95, Memtest, etc. Acutally with my faulty motherboard with leaking exploded caps (just sent it in for recap a month ago - not back yet), all those tests ran fine [B]when[/B] it booted!
The REAL TEST is getting it to boot, isn't it? Will it boot repeatedly? That's what it's all about.
Wouldn't a real reliability test be to just keep turning the thing off and on, off and on, over and over. I know this sounds like abuse of equipment, but if it's going to fail, that's when it'll happen, correct?
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Re: PSU Testing W/O MB?
Thanks! The computer does kind of take a bit of a physical beating while traveling in spite of efforts to pad everything.Leave a comment:
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Re: PSU Testing W/O MB?
It's oddball, old, proprietary, and not even mine...it belongs to my employer. It's used for law enforcement purposes in seizing digital evidence at search sites during search warrants.
The mainboard, LCD screen and PSU fit in a luggable pelican case.
I haven't personally invested anything in it but it's a useful tool. I can get by without it but it has it's uses and was quite expensive a few years ago.Leave a comment:
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Re: PSU Testing W/O MB?
The Teapo...is that the purple component? You are correct, it is just the flash. It's flat on the top.
So if I've got this straight, the brown stuff might actually become conductive with age???
If that's the case, they really don't build this stuff to last, do they?
I need this particular PC to work and work for quite a while. It has an important use in my job. Any suggestions?...Leave a comment:
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