Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Luis R. Caballero]

I ended up buying the separate enclosure because once I completed my ComTIA A+ 
class I had no use for the HDD and its special case used for schools towers so 
I opted for external enclosure and used it as an external HDD...and is been 6+ 
years and my Seagate HDD works flawlessly.

Luis R. Caballero

On Jun 19, 2014 6:06 PM, Alex Mandel  wrote:
>
> I actually find it's often the enclosure. I have one external 2.5" that 
> beeps and fails to mount on all but 1 usb port on my laptop. Absolutely 
> a power issue - even though I have tried some of those dual power usb 
> cables. 
>
> It's actually why I'm partial to buying the drive and enclosure 
> separate. That and you don't get the stupid 1 yr warranty of the case, 
> but 3-5 years of the drive. If you look carefully you'll notice 
> identical drives sold in cases and alone don't get the same warranty. 
>
> Enjoy, 
> Alex 
>
> On 06/19/2014 04:57 PM, George Mulak wrote: 
> > Thank you Nathan, 
> > 
> > It is also true that sometimes the enclosure electronics go bad.  I just 
> > replaced the enclosure on one drive that was doing the same thing 
> > and--walah!  It worked fine.  
> > 
> > George Mulak 
> > 
> > 
> > -Original Message- 
> > From: ubuntu-us-ca-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com 
> > [mailto:ubuntu-us-ca-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of Nathan Haines 
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 8:32 AM 
> > To: ubuntu-us-ca@lists.ubuntu.com 
> > Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice 
> > 
> > On 06/17/2014 12:00 AM, Grant Bowman wrote: 
> >> My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz) 
> >> just sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #: 
> >> srd0sp0, newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not 
> >> mounting automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a 
> >> slight clicking sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts 
> >> blinking. 
> > 
> > Try this drive on a desktop computer.  Sometimes laptops don't provide 
> > enough power for 2.5" external USB hard drives.  I know this is silly but 
> > it's true.  This is a differential diagnostic step. 
> > 
> > Otherwise, it's probably toast. 
> > 
> > When I worked there, Western Digital had the lowest failure rate in the 
> > industry.  As I occasionally said to customers when I was doing support, 
> > "It's not that our competitors make bad drives, it's just that ours are 
> > better."  So I can definitely recommend WD drives, but the real moral of 
> > the story is that you should always have three copies (the original and two 
> > backups) of any critical file. 
> > 
> > Regards, 
> > Nathan 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Nathan Haines 
> > Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com/ 
> > 
> > -- 
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>
>
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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Alex Mandel]

I actually find it's often the enclosure. I have one external 2.5" that
beeps and fails to mount on all but 1 usb port on my laptop. Absolutely
a power issue - even though I have tried some of those dual power usb
cables.

It's actually why I'm partial to buying the drive and enclosure
separate. That and you don't get the stupid 1 yr warranty of the case,
but 3-5 years of the drive. If you look carefully you'll notice
identical drives sold in cases and alone don't get the same warranty.

Enjoy,
Alex

On 06/19/2014 04:57 PM, George Mulak wrote:
> Thank you Nathan,
> 
> It is also true that sometimes the enclosure electronics go bad.  I just 
> replaced the enclosure on one drive that was doing the same thing and--walah! 
>  It worked fine.  
> 
> George Mulak
> 
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: ubuntu-us-ca-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com 
> [mailto:ubuntu-us-ca-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of Nathan Haines
> Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 8:32 AM
> To: ubuntu-us-ca@lists.ubuntu.com
> Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice
> 
> On 06/17/2014 12:00 AM, Grant Bowman wrote:
>> My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz) 
>> just sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #:
>> srd0sp0, newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not 
>> mounting automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a 
>> slight clicking sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts 
>> blinking.
> 
> Try this drive on a desktop computer.  Sometimes laptops don't provide enough 
> power for 2.5" external USB hard drives.  I know this is silly but it's true. 
>  This is a differential diagnostic step.
> 
> Otherwise, it's probably toast.
> 
> When I worked there, Western Digital had the lowest failure rate in the 
> industry.  As I occasionally said to customers when I was doing support, 
> "It's not that our competitors make bad drives, it's just that ours are 
> better."  So I can definitely recommend WD drives, but the real moral of the 
> story is that you should always have three copies (the original and two 
> backups) of any critical file.
> 
> Regards,
> Nathan
> 
> --
> Nathan Haines
> Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com/
> 
> --
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> 


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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[George Mulak]

Thank you Nathan,

It is also true that sometimes the enclosure electronics go bad.  I just 
replaced the enclosure on one drive that was doing the same thing and--walah!  
It worked fine.  

George Mulak


-Original Message-
From: ubuntu-us-ca-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com 
[mailto:ubuntu-us-ca-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of Nathan Haines
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 8:32 AM
To: ubuntu-us-ca@lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

On 06/17/2014 12:00 AM, Grant Bowman wrote:
> My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz) 
> just sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #:
> srd0sp0, newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not 
> mounting automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a 
> slight clicking sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts 
> blinking.

Try this drive on a desktop computer.  Sometimes laptops don't provide enough 
power for 2.5" external USB hard drives.  I know this is silly but it's true.  
This is a differential diagnostic step.

Otherwise, it's probably toast.

When I worked there, Western Digital had the lowest failure rate in the 
industry.  As I occasionally said to customers when I was doing support, "It's 
not that our competitors make bad drives, it's just that ours are better."  So 
I can definitely recommend WD drives, but the real moral of the story is that 
you should always have three copies (the original and two backups) of any 
critical file.

Regards,
Nathan

--
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Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com/

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Scott DuBois]

On 06/19/2014 10:37 AM, Brendan Perrine wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Jun 2014 23:08:47 -0700
> Mark Weisler  wrote:
> 
>> Some of the Seagate external drives seemed to have an autonomous shutdown
> I have a wierd problem if you try to boot from a seagate expansion 1tb drive 
> that I have to work around. If you try and boot and the computer is shutdown 
> my bios on several computers will not detect the drive but if you had the 
> computer powered on before and then select reboot you can boot from it. Note 
> I am booting from it because I don't really want to partition shrink on my 
> internal drives. My western digital elements however seems to run perfectly 
> well when you try to boot from it. 
> 
> 

Note to self:

Beware of bringing up in discussions one's personal feelings on hardware
brands. Discussion will detour from original topic quickly.

-- 
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President EBLUG
BSIT Software Engineering
Freenode: Roguehorse

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Brendan Perrine]

On Wed, 18 Jun 2014 23:08:47 -0700
Mark Weisler  wrote:

> Some of the Seagate external drives seemed to have an autonomous shutdown
I have a wierd problem if you try to boot from a seagate expansion 1tb drive 
that I have to work around. If you try and boot and the computer is shutdown my 
bios on several computers will not detect the drive but if you had the computer 
powered on before and then select reboot you can boot from it. Note I am 
booting from it because I don't really want to partition shrink on my internal 
drives. My western digital elements however seems to run perfectly well when 
you try to boot from it. 


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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Sidney McCoy]

  

  Didnt the report reflect that Seagate survived the least, and Hitachi were best (but too expensive), but the only reason there aren't more Western Digital drives is they were sold later.

http://blog.backblaze.com/2014/01/21/what-hard-drive-should-i-buy/

Very informative research from actual usage of variety of drives

http://blog.backblaze.com/2013/11/12/how-long-do-disk-drives-last/

Definitely aids in projecting an expected performance life/usage cycle

___
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 12:35:35 -0700
From: "Alex @ Call the Ninja" 
To: ubuntu-us-ca@lists.ubuntu.com


logo ?#@!

Alex Bryan / Senior Technician
310-951-9290/ calltheni...@gmail.com a...@calltheninja.com>

Call The Ninja
879 W 190th St FL 4, Torrance, CA 90248
5870 W Jefferson Blvd? Suite E, Los Angeles, CA 90016
http://calltheninja.com

Facebook ?#@! Yelp
?#@!

We do see much higher "unexpected" failure rates of Seagates in our shop
-- most WD drives we get are very old and were known to be on their last
legs. Backblaze did an analysis of their drives recently (as they use
consumer-level drives) and found Seagate to be much more reliable than
any other brand with Hitachi taking the lead. There was also a similar
analysis done by a russian data recovery company that found the same
results regarding Seagate. One of the issues for consumers is that
Seagate will release multiple models with the same model number making
QA very difficult for consumers.

logo ?#@!

Alex Bryan / Senior Technician
310-951-9290/ calltheni...@gmail.com a...@calltheninja.com>

Call The Ninja
879 W 190th St FL 4, Torrance, CA 90248
5870 W Jefferson Blvd? Suite E, Los Angeles, CA 90016
http://calltheninja.com

Facebook ?#@! Yelp
?#@!

  
  

  
  







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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Mark Weisler]

On Jun 17, 2014, at 12:00 AM, Grant Bowman wrote:

> My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz) just 
> sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #: srd0sp0, 
> newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not mounting 
> automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a slight clicking 
> sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts blinking.
> 
> I don't know how much travel this drive has done. Some person on the internet 
> took theirs apart: 
> http://stx.lithium.com/t5/Backup-Plus-and-Seagate-Slim/Backup-Plus-Blinking-Light/td-p/176962
>   We will try rebooting and mounting on other computers and try to see the 
> partitions and filesystems tomorrow. Perhaps the moral of the story is to buy 
> Western Digital or another manufacturer? Other thoughts?
> 
> Thanks for ignoring this post or redirecting me to a more appropriate place 
> if you think it's off-topic.
> 
> Grant
The following study suggests the ranking from most reliable to least is...
1. Hitachi
2. Western Digital
3. Seagate

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/175089-who-makes-the-most-reliable-hard-drives

I now routinely use about ten drives and over the last few years I've been 
disappointed in Seagate and stopped buying them in favor of WD.
Some of the Seagate external drives seemed to have an autonomous shutdown 
function when not in active use that I could not override with Linux or OS X. 
The drive would unmount.


-- 
Mark Weisler   tel. 408.568.1229
PGP Key ID 68E462B6
PGP Key fingerprint  87D5 A77B FC47 3CC3 DFF0  586D 23FF F8B4 68E4 62B6

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Luis R. Caballero]

I have been using a Seagate HDD for the past 6 years and it stills runs 
flawlessly, I am only using it as an external HDD, bought an enclosure for it 
for $20 at my local computer shop and I am very pleased with Seagate, I also 
upgraded my every day laptop's HDD also Seagate 320 to 500 GB and also very 
pleased. Seagate is been very nice to me.

Luis R. Caballero

On Jun 18, 2014 12:35 PM, "Alex @ Call the Ninja"  wrote:
>
>
> Alex Bryan / Senior Technician
> 310-951-9290/ calltheni...@gmail.com
>
> Call The Ninja 
> 879 W 190th St FL 4, Torrance, CA 90248
> 5870 W Jefferson Blvd‎ Suite E, Los Angeles, CA 90016
> http://calltheninja.com
>
> We do see much higher "unexpected" failure rates of Seagates in our shop -- 
> most WD drives we get are very old and were known to be on their last legs. 
> Backblaze did an analysis of their drives recently (as they use 
> consumer-level drives) and found Seagate to be much more reliable than any 
> other brand with Hitachi taking the lead. There was also a similar analysis 
> done by a russian data recovery company that found the same results regarding 
> Seagate. One of the issues for consumers is that Seagate will release 
> multiple models with the same model number making QA very difficult for 
> consumers.
>
> Alex Bryan / Senior Technician
> 310-951-9290/ calltheni...@gmail.com
>
> Call The Ninja 
> 879 W 190th St FL 4, Torrance, CA 90248
> 5870 W Jefferson Blvd‎ Suite E, Los Angeles, CA 90016
> http://calltheninja.com
>
> On 06/18/2014 12:30 PM, Scott DuBois wrote:
>>
>> On 06/17/2014 12:00 AM, Grant Bowman wrote:
>>
>>> My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz)
>>>
>>> just sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #:
>>>
>>> srd0sp0, newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not mounting
>>>
>>> automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a slight
>>>
>>> clicking sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts blinking.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I don't know how much travel this drive has done. Some person on the
>>>
>>> internet took theirs apart:
>>>
>>> http://stx.lithium.com/t5/Backup-Plus-and-Seagate-Slim/Backup-Plus-Blinking-Light/td-p/176962
>>>  
>>>
>>> We will try rebooting and mounting on other computers and try to see the
>>>
>>> partitions and filesystems tomorrow. Perhaps the moral of the story is
>>>
>>> to buy Western Digital or another manufacturer? Other thoughts?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks for ignoring this post or redirecting me to a more appropriate
>>>
>>> place if you think it's off-topic.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Grant
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> I've been reading some good things about the product below lately as
>>
>> I've found interest in listening to the Security Now! podcast. Since
>>
>> 1999 I've always heard from others to "only" use WD drives and avoid
>>
>> Seagate. While I have always followed this advice I can hostly say I
>>
>> have NEVER had a drive crash internally or externally.
>>
>>
>>
>> I've also been told to avoid PNY RAM for what it's worth. : )
>>
>>
>>
>> https://www.grc.com/default.htm
>>
>>
>>
>
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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Nathan Haines]

On 06/18/2014 01:09 PM, Scott DuBois wrote:

On 06/18/2014 12:50 PM, Nathan Haines wrote:

On 06/18/2014 12:41 PM, Scott DuBois wrote:

As for WD drives, I have never used anything but based on 15 year old
advice which seems to have served me well. At least for "internal"
drives. I use a Fantom fanless eSATA for an external and it has worked
flawless for like the last 4 years so I can honestly recommend them at
this point.


But Fantom only makes the case.  The question is, who makes the drive
inside?  :)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822207023

I'm guessing you know who they contract with?



Not a clue.  But that'd be the main determining factor in product 
reliability--not the case (assuming the port is sturdy), but the actual 
drive inside.


Regards,
Nathan

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Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com/

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Scott DuBois]

On 06/18/2014 12:50 PM, Nathan Haines wrote:
> On 06/18/2014 12:41 PM, Scott DuBois wrote:
>> As for WD drives, I have never used anything but based on 15 year old
>> advice which seems to have served me well. At least for "internal"
>> drives. I use a Fantom fanless eSATA for an external and it has worked
>> flawless for like the last 4 years so I can honestly recommend them at
>> this point.
> 
> But Fantom only makes the case.  The question is, who makes the drive
> inside?  :)
> 
> Regards,
> Nathan
> 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822207023

I'm guessing you know who they contract with?

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Alex @ Call the Ninja]

logo 

Alex Bryan / Senior Technician
310-951-9290/ calltheni...@gmail.com 

Call The Ninja
879 W 190th St FL 4, Torrance, CA 90248
5870 W Jefferson Blvd? Suite E, Los Angeles, CA 90016
http://calltheninja.com

Facebook  Yelp


We do see much higher "unexpected" failure rates of Seagates in our shop
-- most WD drives we get are very old and were known to be on their last
legs. Backblaze did an analysis of their drives recently (as they use
consumer-level drives) and found Seagate to be much more reliable than
any other brand with Hitachi taking the lead. There was also a similar
analysis done by a russian data recovery company that found the same
results regarding Seagate. One of the issues for consumers is that
Seagate will release multiple models with the same model number making
QA very difficult for consumers.

logo 

Alex Bryan / Senior Technician
310-951-9290/ calltheni...@gmail.com 

Call The Ninja
879 W 190th St FL 4, Torrance, CA 90248
5870 W Jefferson Blvd? Suite E, Los Angeles, CA 90016
http://calltheninja.com

Facebook  Yelp


On 06/18/2014 12:30 PM, Scott DuBois wrote:
> On 06/17/2014 12:00 AM, Grant Bowman wrote:
>> My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz)
>> just sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #:
>> srd0sp0, newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not mounting
>> automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a slight
>> clicking sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts blinking.
>>
>> I don't know how much travel this drive has done. Some person on the
>> internet took theirs apart:
>> http://stx.lithium.com/t5/Backup-Plus-and-Seagate-Slim/Backup-Plus-Blinking-Light/td-p/176962
>>  
>> We will try rebooting and mounting on other computers and try to see the
>> partitions and filesystems tomorrow. Perhaps the moral of the story is
>> to buy Western Digital or another manufacturer? Other thoughts?
>>
>> Thanks for ignoring this post or redirecting me to a more appropriate
>> place if you think it's off-topic.
>>
>> Grant
>>
>>
>>
> I've been reading some good things about the product below lately as
> I've found interest in listening to the Security Now! podcast. Since
> 1999 I've always heard from others to "only" use WD drives and avoid
> Seagate. While I have always followed this advice I can hostly say I
> have NEVER had a drive crash internally or externally.
>
> I've also been told to avoid PNY RAM for what it's worth. : )
>
> https://www.grc.com/default.htm
>

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Nathan Haines]

On 06/18/2014 12:41 PM, Scott DuBois wrote:

As for WD drives, I have never used anything but based on 15 year old
advice which seems to have served me well. At least for "internal"
drives. I use a Fantom fanless eSATA for an external and it has worked
flawless for like the last 4 years so I can honestly recommend them at
this point.


But Fantom only makes the case.  The question is, who makes the drive 
inside?  :)


Regards,
Nathan

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Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com/

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Scott DuBois]

On 06/17/2014 08:31 AM, Nathan Haines wrote:
> On 06/17/2014 12:00 AM, Grant Bowman wrote:
>> My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz)
>> just sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #:
>> srd0sp0, newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not mounting
>> automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a slight
>> clicking sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts
>> blinking.
> 
> Try this drive on a desktop computer.  Sometimes laptops don't provide
> enough power for 2.5" external USB hard drives.  I know this is silly
> but it's true.  This is a differential diagnostic step.
> 
> Otherwise, it's probably toast.
> 
> When I worked there, Western Digital had the lowest failure rate in the
> industry.  As I occasionally said to customers when I was doing support,
> "It's not that our competitors make bad drives, it's just that ours are
> better."  So I can definitely recommend WD drives, but the real moral of
> the story is that you should always have three copies (the original and
> two backups) of any critical file.
> 
> Regards,
> Nathan
> 

I'll support the "try a desktop" line as I get off-and-on results from
our HP laptop to finding things I plug in via USB. Sometimes I have to
"fiddle" with my sons' LeapPad a few times to get the laptop to see it.

As for WD drives, I have never used anything but based on 15 year old
advice which seems to have served me well. At least for "internal"
drives. I use a Fantom fanless eSATA for an external and it has worked
flawless for like the last 4 years so I can honestly recommend them at
this point.

-- 
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President EBLUG
BSIT Software Engineering
Freenode: Roguehorse

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Scott DuBois]

On 06/17/2014 12:00 AM, Grant Bowman wrote:
> My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz)
> just sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #:
> srd0sp0, newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not mounting
> automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a slight
> clicking sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts blinking.
> 
> I don't know how much travel this drive has done. Some person on the
> internet took theirs apart:
> http://stx.lithium.com/t5/Backup-Plus-and-Seagate-Slim/Backup-Plus-Blinking-Light/td-p/176962
>  
> We will try rebooting and mounting on other computers and try to see the
> partitions and filesystems tomorrow. Perhaps the moral of the story is
> to buy Western Digital or another manufacturer? Other thoughts?
> 
> Thanks for ignoring this post or redirecting me to a more appropriate
> place if you think it's off-topic.
> 
> Grant
> 
> 
> 

I've been reading some good things about the product below lately as
I've found interest in listening to the Security Now! podcast. Since
1999 I've always heard from others to "only" use WD drives and avoid
Seagate. While I have always followed this advice I can hostly say I
have NEVER had a drive crash internally or externally.

I've also been told to avoid PNY RAM for what it's worth. : )

https://www.grc.com/default.htm

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BSIT Software Engineering
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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Nathan Haines]

On 06/17/2014 01:01 PM, Alex @ Call the Ninja wrote:

I cannot stress enough how important it is that you not do the freezer
trick. Only do it if you have decided not to pursue professional
recovery and have tried every other recovery operation available.
Freezing drives causes condensation to build up on the drive platter and
often causes un-fixable damage to the drives. Many data recovery places
won't even accept freezer-trick drives. It rarely ever works (though I
can say I have successfully used it on one of dozens of drives I have
tried it with personally).


I can't even begin to count how many times I begged customers not to try 
the freezer trick when I was doing top tier support at Western Digital. 
 I even did have someone say "But I'm going to put it in a zip-lock bag 
to prevent condensation."


It was never my impression that this made drives unacceptable to data 
recovery firms, but I did warn that the amount of condensation meant 
this this was a last-effort, one-time kind of thing that was very likely 
to fail.


Basically the only thing the "freezer trick" would fix is frozen 
bearings--if that was indeed the case, which it usually *wasn't*.  Of 
course, Western Digital drives have used liquid bearings for so long 
that I never took a call for a drive that didn't have them.  (Except the 
one call I got for a 120 MB hard drive.  That was fun--he just needed 
jumper settings.)


As an aside, I once audited a German-language call where the caller was 
a computer repair shop who received 3 returns for drives that "sounded 
like they had sand in them when you tilted them".  In the call 
translation, the support agent put the customer on hold to speak with a 
manager, and then came back and said "That's perfectly normal.  Those 
are small beads that protect against dust and electrostatic discharge. 
There's a small chamber inside the drive that contains them."


At that point I immediately pulled the original call recording and 
listened to it because I knew there had to be some kind of translation 
error.  Nope, "kleines Kügelchen" and "besondere Kammer" were 
unambiguous.  Needless to say, the audit score wasn't particularly high 
on that call.  ;)


Regards,
Nathan

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Alex @ Call the Ninja]

  
  
I cannot stress enough how important it
  is that you not do the freezer trick. Only do it if you have
  decided not to pursue professional recovery and have tried every
  other recovery operation available. Freezing drives causes
  condensation to build up on the drive platter and often causes
  un-fixable damage to the drives. Many data recovery places won't
  even accept freezer-trick drives. It rarely ever works (though I
  can say I have successfully used it on one of dozens of drives I
  have tried it with personally).
  
  If you need data recovery, we offer that service for $200 flat
  rate (diagnosis/attempt is free) and we have plenty of experience
  with Linux filesystems. I would also suggest Platinum Data
  Recovery in Los Angeles, they have handled many drives for us that
  require cleanroom service and they are excellent at their work.
  

Alex
Bryan
  / Senior Technician
  310-951-9290/ calltheni...@gmail.com

  Call The Ninja
  
   879 W 190th St FL 4, Torrance, CA 90248
http://calltheninja.com
  
  
  
  On 06/17/2014 11:00 AM, Alex Mandel wrote:


  On 06/17/2014 10:37 AM, brendanperrine wrote:

  
On Tue, 17 Jun 2014 02:25:03 -0700
"Michael Paoli"  wrote:



  or wiped, even if not operational?


I think the gnome-disks tools may be able to get smart data of usb drives it works for my seagate expansion drives which could tell if drive. If it has failing sectors this could really be a problem. Also has the user turned auto mount off manually. I normally use lubuntu so even with automount off pcmanfm has a simple way on the side to try to mount it.  


  
  
That actually depends on the case the drive is in being capable of
passing the SMART data, which is an uncommon feature.

Extracting from the case (if it's out of warranty) and hooking directly
into a motherboard is the best way to get the smart data. You make also
want to look into the freezer trick if it's clicking. Priority 1 is
clone the drive with rescue tools.

Enjoy,
Alex




  

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Alex Mandel]

On 06/17/2014 10:37 AM, brendanperrine wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Jun 2014 02:25:03 -0700
> "Michael Paoli"  wrote:
> 
>> or wiped, even if not operational?
> I think the gnome-disks tools may be able to get smart data of usb drives it 
> works for my seagate expansion drives which could tell if drive. If it has 
> failing sectors this could really be a problem. Also has the user turned auto 
> mount off manually. I normally use lubuntu so even with automount off pcmanfm 
> has a simple way on the side to try to mount it.  
> 

That actually depends on the case the drive is in being capable of
passing the SMART data, which is an uncommon feature.

Extracting from the case (if it's out of warranty) and hooking directly
into a motherboard is the best way to get the smart data. You make also
want to look into the freezer trick if it's clicking. Priority 1 is
clone the drive with rescue tools.

Enjoy,
Alex

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[brendanperrine]

On Tue, 17 Jun 2014 02:25:03 -0700
"Michael Paoli"  wrote:

> or wiped, even if not operational?
I think the gnome-disks tools may be able to get smart data of usb drives it 
works for my seagate expansion drives which could tell if drive. If it has 
failing sectors this could really be a problem. Also has the user turned auto 
mount off manually. I normally use lubuntu so even with automount off pcmanfm 
has a simple way on the side to try to mount it.  
-- 
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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Nathan Haines]

On 06/17/2014 12:00 AM, Grant Bowman wrote:

My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz)
just sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #:
srd0sp0, newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not mounting
automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a slight
clicking sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts blinking.


Try this drive on a desktop computer.  Sometimes laptops don't provide 
enough power for 2.5" external USB hard drives.  I know this is silly 
but it's true.  This is a differential diagnostic step.


Otherwise, it's probably toast.

When I worked there, Western Digital had the lowest failure rate in the 
industry.  As I occasionally said to customers when I was doing support, 
"It's not that our competitors make bad drives, it's just that ours are 
better."  So I can definitely recommend WD drives, but the real moral of 
the story is that you should always have three copies (the original and 
two backups) of any critical file.


Regards,
Nathan

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Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Michael Paoli]

0) Backup
0.1) test (at least statistically) backups
0.2) offsite backups & rotations thereof
1) Check if it's covered under warranty, if data isn't to be recovered
   or worth recovering from the drive, one may at least get the drive
   replaced, generally for not more than cost of shipping the drive to
   Seagate.  You can check warranty status on-line by mfg. date, period
   may be longer based upon purchase date with proof of purchase.  Might
   not be fast in replacement time, but often better than eating entire
   cost of replacing drive.  Be sure to check Seagate's recommendations
   on testing/confirming issue, return procedures, etc.  If it's
   sufficiently recent enough, store/vendor where purchased might even
   cover replacement.
1.1) Hard drives die, sometimes/often with zero advance warning.
   Specific manufacturer isn't the largest correlating factor - largest
   correlating factors are generally specific lots of specific models of
   drives from specific manufacturers.
2) If it's not under warranty, can do about whatever one wants with it
   to try to recover - at least if one's not too worried about getting
   the data back.
2.1) "External" hard drive - yeah, rather a misnomer.  It's
   a(n internal) hard drive in an (external) enclosure with some type of
   interface.  More options and/or information may be available
   interfacing directly to the hard drive itself - that's almost always
   the case for "modern" "external" hard drives, unless possibly where
   the interface is eSATA to a SATA drive (in which case the signals
   pass directly through).
3) Not really Ubuntu specific, but there are various tools that might
   possibly be useful - but really depends what kind of shape the drive
   is in.
4) Just because you can't access the data doesn't mean nobody else can.
   Was it securely encrypted?  Does it need to be securely disposed of
   or wiped, even if not operational?
5) Can try various lists that may be more, e.g. Linux general (doesn't
   sound like Ubuntu issue) and/or more hardware-oriented.
6) Some the stories, etc. at BALUG today may be informative/useful
   http://www.balug.org/#Meetings-upcoming


From: "Grant Bowman" 
Subject: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 00:00:08 -0700



My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz) just
sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #: srd0sp0,
newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not mounting
automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a slight clicking
sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts blinking.

I don't know how much travel this drive has done. Some person on the
internet took theirs apart:
http://stx.lithium.com/t5/Backup-Plus-and-Seagate-Slim/Backup-Plus-Blinking-Light/td-p/176962
We will try rebooting and mounting on other computers and try to see the
partitions and filesystems tomorrow. Perhaps the moral of the story is to
buy Western Digital or another manufacturer? Other thoughts?

Thanks for ignoring this post or redirecting me to a more appropriate place
if you think it's off-topic.

Grant



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[Ubuntu-US-CA] Failing/failed hard disk advice

[Grant Bowman]

My new friend who is trying Ubuntu with a disk from Lyz (thanks Lyz) just
sent me an email. An external hard drive Seagate (1TB, model #: srd0sp0,
newegg carries them for $79) with USB interface is not mounting
automatically. When plugged into the MacBook Pro computer a slight clicking
sound is heard, then it gets quiet and the light starts blinking.

I don't know how much travel this drive has done. Some person on the
internet took theirs apart:
http://stx.lithium.com/t5/Backup-Plus-and-Seagate-Slim/Backup-Plus-Blinking-Light/td-p/176962
We will try rebooting and mounting on other computers and try to see the
partitions and filesystems tomorrow. Perhaps the moral of the story is to
buy Western Digital or another manufacturer? Other thoughts?

Thanks for ignoring this post or redirecting me to a more appropriate place
if you think it's off-topic.

Grant
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