Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Hard drive RPMs and data speed.

[Dale]

Michael Mol wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 1:30 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@×××××.com>  wrote:
>>
>> Looks like some good info.  I just need a GOOD sale and some extra money to
>> spend.  Maybe in a couple weeks or so.  Hopefully. ;-)
>>
>> As for heat in my case, I have a Cooler Master HAF-932 case.  It has those
>> huge 230mm fans.  Heat is not a problem.
>>
>> I just wonder how much data they will be able to pack into a 3.5" drive tho.
>>   Hmmmmm.  Surely they will run out of room at some point.  I mean, the heads
>> have got to have a little room to work with.
> Just don't buy a SAMSUNG drive. I know, I know, everyone has their pet
> "Don't Buy Hard Drives Made By $x" experience.
>
> Here's mine.
>
> I bought a 1TB SAMSUNG drive for cheap from Newegg at a Black Friday
> sale a couple years ago. It failed on me. Around the same time, I
> identified some flaws in the firmware which I considered severe[2].
>
> I RMA'd the drive, including a full report on the failure and the bugs
> I'd found in the firmware. I received the new drive in the mail. Same
> exact model. Same exact firmware revision.[1] It failed on me within
> three months. I attempted another RMA, the drive's serial number was
> rejected by their system, and I never heard back.
>
> So, I recommend not buying SAMSUNG drives for a combination of:
> 1) Historical evidence of poor firmware design. (reference smartctl's
> man page; SAMSUNG is the only manufacturer I know of to get two
> user-selectable workarounds in smartctl.)
> 2) I received a failed drive, which was RMA'd, the subsequent drive
> failed shortly thereafter, and couldn't be RMA'd using normal
> channels.
> 3) No acknowledgement (or even denial) of the firmware issue.
>
> [1] Ok, sure, there's no way they'd be able to whip out a new firmware
> revision in time for an RMA. That wouldn't make sense. But they might
> have sent me a drive with a different firmware revision. Or a
> different model. As it stood, they sent me back a device I'd already
> identified as systemically defective.
> [2] It claimed to support logging, but any failed test didn't get
> appended to the log, but erased and replaced it. I can probably dig up
> nearly all the details, but not quickly, since I'm at work. However,
> since you're on the cusp of making a purchase, I thought I'd give you
> fair warning...
>


To late now:

root@fireball / # hdparm -i /dev/sdc

/dev/sdc:

  Model=SAMSUNG HD753LJ, FwRev=1AA01117, SerialNo=S1PWJ1KS305193
  Config={ Fixed }
  RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=34902, SectSize=554, ECCbytes=4
  BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=unknown, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=off
  CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=1465149168
  IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
  PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
  DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
  UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6
  AdvancedPM=yes: disabled (255) WriteCache=enabled
  Drive conforms to: unknown:  ATA/ATAPI-3,4,5,6,7

  * signifies the current active mode

root@fireball / #

I got this one about 2 years or so ago.  I did have random lockups a 
while back but I think it was a file system error.  I moved everything 
off the drive, reformatted it and it has worked fine ever since.  If I 
get me a new drive, the one above will be a backup sort of thing.

I seem to have good luck with WD and Maxtor myself.  Like you said tho, 
everyone has their horror story.  It is bad that they didn't give some 
sort of explanation on the second failure.  I have noticed that some 
things, car parts for example, have what they call a "limited 
warranty."  That means exchange once and then you are on your own if it 
fails.  Maybe they are doing that with their drives.  That would explain 
a lot too.

Dale

:-)  :-)