My hard drive just crashed
 

Don't ever buy an IBM deathstar... er, deskstar.

Out of nowhere it just quit working. When I try to reboot it just clicks and hangs the system.

NOrmally I wouldn't care because it's not my the HDD with my operating system on it (I lost one of those recently too) but this hard drive has a job on it that I've been working on for over a week now.

If it doesn't miraculously work in the morning I need to start crying and just start the job over in hopes it will get done before the weekend.

western digital and segate
 

western digital and segate have been good for my computing years, still is.

Re: western digital and segate
 

WD has always been good for me. I recently also had a maxtor die on me. it's sad that hard drives only last 3 or 4 years. Maybe I should just buy all new hard drives each year and transfer them all over.

'
 

Been building computers since 95 and I've found that having more RAM than you need in your system greatly enhances drive longevity. More than stock cooling helps too...

I've been using a Deskstar 22GB daily since I bought it new MAY - 99 and only last year could I tell it was on its way out. lol, my main drive is a Maxtor and yeah its faster and quieter(fdb) but I won't put anything important on it as I've seen lots of them fail out of the blue. My deskstar was made in hungary and they've had several assembly plants over the years which may affect quality too.

Depending on how much that job data is worth Matt, if you can't get anything off the drive, I got a company in Florida I trust to do data extraction...

I bought a Western Digital,
 

I bought a Western Digital, I kinda regret I bought a 120gb because in a year or so I'll run out.

I went crazy on the RAM, 2GB.
Of course every computer has it's problem. Before my moniter would freeze and I had to reboot, it drove me nuts. I formatted my hard drive and installed windows again. Solved the problem. Of course there will be always other problems.

I'll be building my first
 

I'll be building my first computer in about a year. I plan to overbuild like hell on everything. Haha, how much will a TB of memory cost me by then? }:)

Used to build PCs and Networks
 

I used to build PCs and Networks as a home-business, and I agree, the IBM "DeathStar" is very unreliable. Back in the 2GB days, I would replace all kinds of WD HDDs that intermittently failed, but the newer ones are pretty good. Maxtor is hit-or-miss. I've found Toshiba to be the most reliable for me so far (but I don't build my own PCs much anymore, just clones from spare parts to run the Stanford Gene Folding Project if I can get all the necessary parts together -- then I run it on Fedora Linux with auto re-boot/login with no KB/Mouse/Monitor so when the power goes out, I don't have to do anything but check on it every month or so) -- but the folding runs the CPU at 100% and generates a LOT of heat. These days, I have 3 working laptops with small, high density drives of varying brand -- the laptop actually wears out before the HDD in most cases, so it hasn't been a problem; except, one Dell base-model from about 2-3 years ago recently toasted, but the HDD is perfect -- board fried twice - one in warranty, one out so it sits making an excellent doorstop. I also have a desktop which rarely gets used (just for Folding), and the Linux Clone (plus a basement full of spare parts).

All I can recommend with HDDs is cooling, cooling, cooling. A few years back, I can recall a high-output fan unit that installed in a free CD-ROM bay, and forced cool air in the case. That may extend the life of the replacement. I hope things were backed up -- I've been there and I "feel your pain".

Honestly, I should have
 

Honestly, I should have backed up a while ago. This drive has been beeping at me (the occassional skip-beep-skip sound) for months.

Maybe part of the problem is that I have 512megs of ram on this machine.

Ugh. I should have switched to my other computer months ago when I got it. My other computer is top of the line, 2 gigs of ram, etc. Looks like this PC is on it's way out, and soon.

I've built a number of PCs in my day, and hard drives have always been hit-or-miss with me. I just can't predict which one is going to go.

The positive side of this is that now I'm more motivated to switch to the new computer. I'll finally be getting rid of IDE hard drives, AGP video cards, and slow ram.

The down side is that I have to start this project over and work all through the night until it's finished.

toshiba hard drives
 

Yeah before I forget, toshiba laptop hard drives are what all laptop users NEED to stay away from. They are by far the cheapest made hard drives and are extremely prone to failure. They use sleeve bearings while everyone else uses ball bearings.

The best quality laptop and desktop hard drives right now are the new IBM/Hitachi Travelstar and Deskstar drives, respectively.

IBM merged with Hitachi in 2003 and now thier quality is absolutely top of the line.

But beware of toshiba laptop drives....

Re: toshiba hard drives
 

Uh oh... all Ipods use Toshiba laptop hard drives. :O