Dell complaints

Rav · conscientious beginner Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 2

Is anyone out there aware of chronic failure rates in the 80Gb Barracudas (ST380819AS) being sent out in GX620s?

Here's the situation: a couple years ago, we had all of our GX270s refreshed with GX620s due to the capacitor problem detailed here. After about six months, I noticed the hard drive failure rates on these new systems turn from a trickle into a stream. Now it seems the stream may be a geyser. I'm replacing (under warranty) 15-20 Seagate Barracudas a month!

The drives almost always give a return code of 7 when tested. Often I can recover important data with a CHKDSK /r, but the drive never recovers. I believe the problem is probably heat related. These cases are tiny. The other brands (WD, Hitachi, IBM, etc.) don't have any problems. It seems that the Seagates just have a very low heat tolerance.

I have had no problems getting the drives replaced from Dell, using the support site. But we could be in serious trouble when the parts warranty expires.

I did some research, but could find no formal acknowledgment of a problem. Anybody else having a similar experience, or know of an explanation?

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:50 pm Post subject:

I have been out of the loop since early in the 620 product cycle. But with 620, Dell, on Intel's suggestion, changed the airflow from HDD getting outside air, heatsink getting inside air, TO the opposite, heatsink gets it first, then after it's already heated 15F, the rest of the case gets some, and the HD doesn't get direct air at all, just what's floating by.

Some HDs generate more heat than others, but I can't name which is which. In the lab, some were uncomfortable to pick up, others barely warm. A combination of these factors may be killing the Seagates.

Although some users say 'get a Seagate, WDs are terrible'.

As an experiment, you could equip 5 or 10 with internal fans aimed at the HD, and see if those outlast the unmodified ones. Adding cooling does not void the warranty.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

OSRI · Regular Hater Joined: 10 Oct 2007 Posts: 29 Location: A01

I haven't noticed a lot of HDD calls coming in on the 620s lately, and they're pretty much the bread and butter of what i support.

Didn't seagate buy out /merge with maxtor or something? I rememeber a particular model of maxtors having similar problems.

Rav · conscientious beginner Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 2

Yeah, Seagate bought Maxtor. So maybe these are rebranded cheap-o Maxtor drives.