zomg HDD failure IMMINENT

1ddqd

Ok so I have 2 WD5000KS drives - one of which recently developed a click. No biggy, part 1 of a backup box

Oh, now the other drive is failing - it refuses to have windows disk error checking start/complete (windows XP pro) and won't let me label the drive, stating 500GB4 is an invalid name.

So - how do I determine if this drive really is bad? It's got about 4 months left on the warranty and I want to make SURE it's dying before I send it in and it gets stuck in RMAhell.

Edit - all access to said drive is very slow, sometimes locking up the machine. Definitely imminent.

Transparent

Yeah it's bad. You can get Western Digital's diagnostics tool and run it so you can tell them the result before you RMA the drive if you want.

1ddqd

Lifeguard tools have no scan option, it's like a driver and a program that tells you about the hard drive.

1ddqd

GAY. The drives were purchased 12/2006 - 8 months before the 3 year warranty policy went into effect. Guess I'll be replacing the drives with Seagates. That's just shameful - not even a mention of trading up.

wunderbar

toss the HDD in the freezer overnight(in a sealed bag), then get your data off ASAP and throw those drives away.

1ddqd

Nah it's not even worth it - I have all my stuff backed up elsewhere so I'm good. I'm just disappointed in their product support. I have 2 Seagate 500GBs with 5 year warranties - I'm going to continue supporting a company that stands behind it's products.

*edit* changed promises to products - Western Digital should stand behind their products with promises. Guess I got caught up in the fervor of losing 1TB.

Pheezer

Well admittedly you've gotten exactly what you were promised. The drive wasn't guaranteed to work for 3 years when you bought it, and it hasn't. Should have bought something that did carry that guarantee if that's what you really wanted. I'm guessing you bought them on a sale instead of spending $30 more to get a drive with a better warranty, and now you're blaming the manufacturer for not making something that exceeds their warranty by a wide enough margin for your tastes. Sure, hard drives SHOULD last longer than this one did, but on the whole they probably do and at the end of the day, they didn't promise that it would.

Yeah, life's pretty unfair. Note also that I've used the apostrophe correctly. This is another way in which you persist in losing. Learn some grammar and start thinking through your purchasing priorities more thoroughly, thanks.

Transparent

While I don't think wording your post as a personal attack was called for, your point is spot on Pheezer.

1ddqd

Yeah, life's pretty unfair. Note also that I've used the apostrophe correctly. This is another way in which you persist in losing. Learn some grammar and start thinking through your purchasing priorities more thoroughly, thanks.

Point the first: not on sale when I bought them. I bought them in 2006 - drives were manufactured in 2006.

Point the second: 1 year warranties blow ass - the same type of drive carried a 3 year warranty within a year of my purchase - granted, it was not grandfathered in, but would it really hurt?

Look, I'm not bitching about Western Digital because I feel I deserve something I didn't pay for - I'm bitching because if the model didn't have a 3-year warranty, then magically 8 months later does, where is the disconnect? Looking back at the white papers, there is no discernible difference in tech. A WD5000KS drive from 8/2007 is the same as the ones I bought in 12/2006. I'm bitching (and rightfully so) because I got shafted on a full terabyte lost.

And yeah, I will be buying a drive from a company that stands behind it's products. Your comment was posted after I had admitted that fact and was pretty fucking rude. Now maybe Transparent and I read and interpreted the post wrong, but goddamn. That was some abrasive shit.