Dammit!!!

[EchoWars]

Had read about IBM 75GXP drive failures on Storagereview.com with a bit of skepticism...all drive manufacturers have a few bite the dust, but in my own experiance, the IBM drives have been flawless...and fast. Have three computers on my local LAN with IBM drives...my K6-2+ with a 75GXP 45Gb, my main system with a T-Bird 1.2GHz and two 30Gb 75GXPs on a Promise RAID controller, and my Dad's setup with a 1GHz T-Bird and a 20Gb 75GXP. All was flawless...until yesterday morning.
Woke up, went to check mail, and system was locked up. Odd with W2k, but nothing to freak-out about. Punched the reset button, and listened to a unfamiliar 'tick-clack' noise coming from the case as the Promise BIOS informed me that there was a failure in the RAID array. No sh&t!
Got an RMA from IBM in a matter of minutes, but I have lost an unbeliveable amount of nearly-unreplaceable data and some stuff that I will never be able to replace. Don't need a lecture about backing up data...my data backup machine (the K6-2+) just got W2k installed about 2 weeks before and I hadn't had a chance to throw my stuff over on it yet, what with last projects due and finals just finishing up on Tues. Happy graduation present, eh?
I am sooooo bummed. And the replacement drive is, of course, going to be another 75GXP, not to mention the two others I have on the other machines here at home. I believe in the 75GXP curse now. Color me paranoid and almost sick from the sh%t I've lost...

[xortam]

Bummer! I hadn't heard about any 75GXP problems until seeing postings here this week. I don't have one but my buddy has two of their 75 giggers. I'll make him aware there have been some problems. I'll check out the reports.

AFA backup ... it's getting really tough to backup the massive amounts of data we're storing these days. Stand-alone DAT and optical drives just aren't cutting it; seems you need to get a jukebox. DLT is a bit expensive and starting to be too small and slow for some applications (HDTV recordings). The most affordable solution is HDD but I don't trust them as much as traditional backup media. I know you don't want to hear it right now, but you have to have recent backups. I always said, without backups, you really don't have any data.

[Liquid Snake]

Yeah, that sucks. That's one of the disadvantages of growing HD sizes, the more you store, the more you can lose. As xortam said, also the growing sizes make backup more and more difficult.

[Ali]

I bought a DVD-RAM because I thought I would never need to back up more than 5Gb of data.

Now my Girlfriend can generate 8Gb of crysilography(spelling) data overnight. Its OK once or twice, but after she does it 3 times to check the results, its filled up her hard drive, and my spare one, and there is no way in hell to back it up.

She only needs to keep the data till she has had her thesis approved, then throw it away (it becomes someone elses problem), but it still means that I will be blamed if she looses the data (cos Im a 'computer guy').

Ali

[Paulr]

I have 4x 45GB 75GXP drives.
Although RAID 0+1 would be the safest, I run them as 2x RAID 0 arrays.
I too read a few reports on a few forums about these drives failing.
I also read that IBM were recalling them and that was another reason for the 60GXP's - a more reliable replacement.
I spoke to IBM about this issue.
They told me that there were no known problems with the 75GXP range of drives.
They also went on about the 60GXP units being nothing more than a technology update, 20GB platters rather than 15GB.
The 4 drives in my system are silent and haven't caused me a single problem.
Over the past year I've bought in some 25+ PC's for work, all with IBM 75GXP's of various sizes, not a single failure to date.
The way I see it is:
The IBM units are probably the most popular drives out there.
Nothing can touch them for performance etc.
For this reason a lot and I mean a lot of them were sold.
Yes we seem to be getting a lot of reports of issues, but it has to be taken in comparison.
If 10,000 IBM units were sold and we here of 50 failures.
We hear of 5 Western Digital drives failing, but only 2,000 units were sold.

I'm yet to see an IBM fail and I'll continue to buy them.

[Helevitia]

All is not lost. If there is truely irreplaceable data on the drive, there are companies that will extract the data for you for a price. Just some food for thought.

Dave

[EchoWars]

Paulr...
I thought the same thing...UNTIL my drive died (it would do wonders for YOUR point of view if it happened to YOU...). Additionally, what in the world makes you think IBM would actually say there is a problem with their drives? You got the corporate line from the folks that INVENTED the corporate line. I will still buy IBM drives, but if I have a chance to get rid of my 75GXPs, I'll jump on it and grab some of the new 60GXPs.

Helevitia...
Even checked it out. Typical fees (I was quoted) are in the $1000 neighborhood for a simple crash. Extensive work can easily top $3000-$5000. No can do...I guess I'll just quietly mourn the loss of my data and projects (lost my prOn too, dammit!!)

Edit- BTW Paulr, the highest failure rates were supposedly attributed to the 45Gb drives. You have 4(!), I still have 1. If you happen to have a failure, please let us know..I PROMISE I will not do the 'told ya so' thing


[This message has been edited by EchoWars (edited 18 May 2001).]

[xortam]

Yeah, those recovery places are bandits. Basically, there attitude is "how bad do you want it?", then they set a price accordingly. You can pay to just have a couple select files recovered but its still outrageous. Don't do anything to the disks!!! See if you can get an image backup of your drives onto another pair of HDDs. Use the backup drives to try and recover your data. You can use a disk editor (even DOS edit will work) to inspect your MBR and partition tables and patch any errors. You can find the info in MSFT's resource kit books or perhaps on the Net. Always work with the backups (including having a recovery place do the work).

[EchoWars]

Not much you can do when the drive isn't even recognized by the BIOS, so data tools aren't much good. Plus, since it was on a RAID array, picking through the drive gets REAL complicated. It's hozed...***snif***

[xortam]

The OS still thinks you just have one big disk so the tools may still work. I think I may have used Debug on my array before. Hey, at least you've got half your data. Sorry, but humour sometimes is the only cure for times like this. But you say your BIOS doesn't even recognize the drive?! That's BAD!!!. Are you sure it isn't just telling you that the RAID is inconsistent? Does the BIOS not even find the drive if you just connect the bad drive? Don't mess with either of the drives until your sure you've exhausted all hope.

[Paulr]

Oh don't get me wrong.
I'm fully aware that companies will and do lie through their teeth when it comes to problems surrounding their products.
Intel are great at this, but eventually they do own up.
IBM pride themselves with keeping your data reliable, if one of their models could be a possible 'fly in the ointment' to this, I really think they would act on this and recall them.

It's just when I look at the 35 or so 75GXP's, ranging in size (30GB, 45GB, 75GB) that have passed by me before going live throught our company and at my house - I still haven't seen a dead IBM!

[EchoWars]

Xortam...
Plug the drive into the standard IDE controller and BIOS says nothing there...bad. Drive has been boxed and shipped back to IBM for replacement. I wasn't getting anywhere with it.

Paulr...
I want you to be right

[Technoid]

On another note about IBM 75GXP's.

As i said in another topic @ the soap box;

I lost a cluster, backed up with ghost, erased with IBM's eraze tool, got the sector back, restored from ghost image, writing this.

It's the worst thing that i have evr encountered on the 75GXP series.

In retrospect I have tossed about 20 WD Caviard drives (from 6 month old to 10old drives) in the aprox 1 & 1/2 year I have been working in computer repair shop.

[Jorden]

Echo, just a question. What kind of RAID were you running? Raid0 I guess, with only 2 drives? If one drive crashes, both drives lose their info, and even a professional company has difficulty getting that data back then, you do know that?

Jord.

[EchoWars]

One of the reasons I'm starting from scratch...