Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 17:02:11 -0400 From: "Joe & Fhe Barbish" <barbish@a1poweruser.com> To: "Axel Simon" <A.Simon@ukc.ac.uk> Cc: "FBSDQ" <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: Harddisk damage by driver? Message-ID: <MIEPLLIBMLEEABPDBIEGEEBFCHAA.barbish@a1poweruser.com> In-Reply-To: <20020731171632.GQ17211@myrtle.ukc.ac.uk>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
I used the trial and error method. It's far cheaper to replace the power supply with a new one, than the cost of replacing hard drives and the data they contain. The hard drive clicking you talked about is the heads movement mechanism failing to move because the gears are full of platter recording material that has became air born from the heads hitting the recording surface because of inadequate RPM's of the platters disks due to low voltage or the voltage is so low that the actuators do not have the power to move the heads movement mechanism. I don't have to use a voltage meter, I know the symptoms. If the drives are not to far gone, some times the new power supply will bring them back to life. This is why true production boxes have dual power supplies built in. I have a stand-a-lone power supply that I have lengthen the wires of the output leads that plug into the motherboard and i/o devices. When I get HD data errors in the logs or hear HD sounds I use this customized external power supply to temporary replace the internal power supply and in most cases have managed to save the HD's from total destruction so I can backup the data or copy the whole bad HD to a new one. It has been my experience that heat effects the CPU chip and the circuit board of the power supply and this heat build up is caused by dust coating the heat sinks and the power supply circuit board. I open all cases every 6 months and use a very small paint brush and an pressurized air can to blow out the dust on the motherboard, CPU heat sunk, and power supply. A little preventative maintenance goes a long way. Just a little tip from some one who has been there and done that. -----Original Message----- From: A.Simon [mailto:as49@ukc.ac.uk]On Behalf Of Axel Simon Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 1:17 PM To: Joe & Fhe Barbish Cc: Axel Simon; FBSDQ Subject: Re: Harddisk damage by driver? On Wed, Jul 31, 2002 at 11:11:23AM -0400, Joe & Fhe Barbish wrote: > Replace the PC's power supply. It is not providing the correct power > level to the Hard drives and they are not spinning fast enough to keep > the heads off the platter's surface causing the recording media to be > worn off giving r/w errors. How did you verify that the power supply was the source of the problem? Did you just replace it with a stronger one and it worked or did you monitor the voltage levels? Axel. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?MIEPLLIBMLEEABPDBIEGEEBFCHAA.barbish>