WD 1200JB - the new "DeathStar"??

[McMadman]

Originally posted by: chocoruacal
Anecdotal info is worthless. But you can get a slice of the pie by going to Storagereview.com and checking out the user submitted reliabilty reports.

The real problem with a lot of user submitted reports is a lot of times you may only see people that submit "xxx drive has failed on me" but people don't always comment when things are working fine.

I have a 1200JB in use right now, with another one waiting to be put in use, I haven't had any problems with mine, nor have I had any issues with the other drives that I'm using (take a look at rig for details)
I'm planning on retiring a 10.2 gig (over 3 years old) and my 40 gig (pushing 3 years) they're still working fine, just too small for my storage needs.

 

[mkruer]

Lets see I have in my current system
WD20 5BA 20gig
WD40 0BB 40gig
WD800BB 80gig
WD800JB 80gig

In another machine, and still chugging away
WD10 xx 10gig

Gifted to someone but never failed
WD 2gig

If you want to save your disks from any manufacture, then turn off the HD hibernation/power saving option. This is the worst thing you can to the drive is the constant power on and off. I know playing a game the drive was set to turn off after 20 minutes of inactivity. Well most levels take 30 minutes to play. So the drive would just shot down to have to be restated again. Hell the dirves only use about 10watts anyway.

Since I did that I have never had a drive fail. Hell I have only had one WD drive fail ever, and that was my original 2gig before I got it replaced the replacement is still working as far as I know in a 486.

 

[Tegeril]

Never in my history of computers has a hard drive of mine failed. I currently have 3 WD 200GB SE drives and 2 WD 120GB SE Drives, no issues, I backup important files to one of the 200s and use the others for varieties of things...

I've been extremely impressed with the drives too (the 120s)...they initially benched at avg seek time of 7ms.

 

[uart]

So far WD drives have been ok for me but I have noticed just recently that the newest drives with 80GB/platter density seem to be displaying somewhat worse SMART values than the previous 40GB/platter models - and it's got me a bit worried. I've had a few of the new drives showing some re-allocated sectors from near new which is a very bad sign and just recently a user reported getting a SMART warning of something like "SMART has predicted immenent Drive failure - backup now" during boot up. This one was on a three week old WD800BB that had one re-allocated sector already as soon as I had built the computer and loaded the OS etc.

If anyone knows of a truly reliable HD manufacturer right now then please tell me because dead HD's is the biggest problem that I have with computers and the biggest PITA to fix.

 

[Robor]

I sure hope the new WD 120's aren't DeathStars. I've got 4 of them in my ATA RAID setup! :Q

 

[Cerb]

Let's see...
I've had one HD die on me, and I used it for almost six months as a boot drive before I got rid of it. It was still fucntioning when it went into the trash (...but it clanked).
I've had one DOA 80GB JB.
That's it. However, let's include my father, a sysadmin in here.
What does his company have?
MicronPCs (PIII and P4)
Dells (PII to P4)
His boxes (Athlons).
-The MicronPC machines use a Palo Alto cases, with a front bezel that sucks the big one. I'm using such a case right now. With the PSU fan 7v'd, my Enermax 90mm adjustable for an exhaust 7v'd and set to its lowest, it makes noise because it's fighting to push air out. Worst way to ruin a great case. At his company, these machines are known for failing. Most often HD failure. All WD HDs.
-The Dells are...well, Dell. WD and Seagate HDs. Not a single death. Nice cooling.
-My dad's boxes, made as I'd make one...Evercase e4252 with the side fan installed on the back. Nothing dead in them yet, WD HDs, most of them SE drives for the warranty. You cannot screw up this case's cooling, even with 6 or more IDE ribbon cables strewn about in it.

I have a feeling series of dead drives are caused by not having enough cooling, or having a PSU they don't like. Or power saving, as that's generally turned off due to annoyance (...why isn't there a power saving mode to slow it down but spin it down so much?)

 

[MrMaster]

I have problems with 3 80GB special edition western digital drives and 1 200GB drive. Can't install, OS disapears, problems galore. This is in 4 different pc configurations and trying 4 different OSes.


Screw Western Digital.

 

[pecel]

I have total 7 WD Hard drive.
4 of them JB (8mb) version.

So far so good (knock on wood)

 

[sniperruff]

its all luck

 

[jacktesterson]

every hard-drive production line will whip out a few bad ones

The only drive brand I tend to avoid is IBM

it really is just luck

I put a WD 40 GB in a office machine at christmas, had no problems

I've only had to RMA one drive my whole life, it was a Fujitsu drive last week....2 months from being 3 years old. It was under 3 year warranty. It only took 10 days to get a new drive back from them

Its just how lucky you are the day you bought it

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
my 80GB WDC800BB has been clicking for a few months now... just slows down.. and clicks... and then everything is fine.. this happens once every few minutes...
my drive is still running without much problems...

"it clicks and slows down"...

you dont see that as a problem ???

I *so* want a wd1200jb...but reading this and reviews at newegg about DOA and clicks etc. make me think twice whether i should rather stay with maxtor...

greets

 

[billyjak]

2-1200JB's bought last year and going strong yet.
Also 2- IBM 30 gigs over 3 years old still churning.
Also 2- WD Raptors in Raid smokin fast running strong.

It's just a coincidence, Iv'e yet to have a hard drive fail on me.
I have a 250meg, 500meg , 2gig, 10 gig and 12 gig going strong yet bought many years ago.
Can't base it on a few drives when they sell millions of these.
Could've been a bad lot number from a batch though.

Everyone says stay away from IBM, I buy them and never had a problem yet.

 

[magomago]

every hard-drive production line will whip out a few bad ones

The only drive brand I tend to avoid is IBM

How the heck do you put those two sentences in the same post? You are contradicitng yourself!

Anyway I got a 800JB that has been chugging great (OEM - newegg) since november. And its been REAL hot where I am (So Cal) and my room is almost always steamy and my pc is on for days at a time always downloading on my 56k modem. Though I do have it positioned just above the front intake fan so the air doesn't linger there (yes I know cooling with just a fan is the worst but atlest its something)

In may I built my friend a computer with ah 1200JB from Circuit City and its fine and he hasn't mentioned anything (he usually mentions even the slightest things - its my best friend so the free tech service is fine..but since I was the one who biult the computer it never needs maintenece )

 

[sykopath79]

Well, I ended up ordering a 120 GB Seagate SATA drive off Newegg since I'm getting a DFI LanParty NFII Ultra mobo and I haven't played with SATA yet. Hopefully my luck runs better with that one.

One thing's for sure, I will make damn sure there's better airflow around the HDD's from now on, since they do get rather warm (not too hot, but warm). Pretty certain that's not what's been killing my WD's though.

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: Davegod
Look, if you have a HDD failure rate of like 3 in asmany months*, take the hint that its not the HDD but something else killing them. If you get a SINGLE HDD that is actually bad in every dozen you buy you can consider yourself unfortunate, and bad includes drives that only last a couple of years. Try a new mobo or PSU, one that doesnt go around killing HDD's, or stop hitting them with a mallet to wedge them in the drive bay.

Actually sometimes it can be how the drive was transported...
Presuming he got it from the same supplier, they all could have gone through a bit of a tumble before arrival.