My 500Gb Seagate Drive also just died

[LazyLion]

That makes two drives in two months. I lost my 160 Gb Samsung at the end of March!

The 500 Gb Seagate was in my MVix player... it just froze in the middle of playing a movie file.

I sent it back under Warranty.

Very disillusioned right now about the safety of my Data

 

[|tera|]

Dude, that sucks!

Do you think it has anything to do with your home's electricity?

 

[LazyLion]

Dude, that sucks!

Do you think it has anything to do with your home's electricity?

I dunno. But I did also lose the internal power supply in my Telefunken DVD Recorder unit recently.

But when these events have happened been they have all been isolated.

You would think that if it was power surges more stuff would go at the same time?

 

[|tera|]

I dunno. But I did also lose the internal power supply in my Telefunken DVD Recorder unit recently.

But when these events have happened been they have all been isolated.

You would think that if it was power surges more stuff would go at the same time?

I'm not sure what it's called. But according to my knowledge, the power lines work on different "frequencies" or "phases".

For instance, at my mom's place last year, the power went down and came back, everything worked, kettle, stove, dstv, tv, except the DVD player, it had a faint glow on the LED and it refused to do anything.

My mom just said, nevermind, it's just the "phase" of electricity, about 30 minutes later it worked fine (but I did unplug it).

Not sure if it's related, but you could either have "less" than required, or more than required power going through the electronics, this will cause problems I'm sure of it,

 

[HavocXphere]

Do you carry your PC to LANs?

 

[scotty777]

it might be the fact that the load shedding (the on off) is making the hard drives stop while they are spinning, this means that the little motors and such just burnout. as for the power supply on you telefunken dvd recorder, I think the on off from load shedding is burning out your capacitors and circuits. honestly, load shedding is messing up every ones stuff, and my ps3 has also been a casualty to it coz the psu died, it's taken 2 months to find the dam unit and worst of all the warranty ran out

i think if there is going to be a power outage, switch off all your electronics prior to it

 

[LabAnimal]

I put a UPS inline on my equipment, even the TV/VCR/DVD/Hi-Fi has one. have had no problems! *touches wood* - atleast when there is a power dip or spike, the ups absorbs it.

 

[sn3rd]

it might be the fact that the load shedding (the on off) is making the hard drives stop while they are spinning, this means that the little motors and such just burnout. as for the power supply on you telefunken dvd recorder, I think the on off from load shedding is burning out your capacitors and circuits. honestly, load shedding is messing up every ones stuff, and my ps3 has also been a casualty to it coz the psu died, it's taken 2 months to find the dam unit and worst of all the warranty ran out

i think if there is going to be a power outage, switch off all your electronics prior to it

I've read about that too. Since the motors are effecting revolution speeds of up to 7200rpm (or more?), when power is suddenly cut, this causes them to "free-wheel" instead of "brake", or the other way around, I can't remember But the point is that one of them causes undue stress on the hard drive (vibration, etc), so a few too many of these can cause serious damage

 

[sn3rd]

I'm not sure what it's called. But according to my knowledge, the power lines work on different "frequencies" or "phases".

For instance, at my mom's place last year, the power went down and came back, everything worked, kettle, stove, dstv, tv, except the DVD player, it had a faint glow on the LED and it refused to do anything.

My mom just said, nevermind, it's just the "phase" of electricity, about 30 minutes later it worked fine (but I did unplug it).

Not sure if it's related, but you could either have "less" than required, or more than required power going through the electronics, this will cause problems I'm sure of it,

The phase of the electricity shouldn't have anything to do with this. Electricity is generated and "transported" in three-phase form. When it reaches the premises, you receive a single phase, i.e. 3-phase on the power lines you see in the street, then one house gets phase A, next-door gets phase B, house after that gets phase C. So the power within a single house is usually only single-phase (except in rare circumstances, like in factories where they use all 3 phases). The reason for 3-phase power generation? It's way more economical to generate and distribute power like this. Also, it is distributed as high-voltage, low(ish)-current. When it reaches your premises, it is stepped down to low(ish)-voltage, high(er)-current.

Anyway, I'm rambling on...

But I do think that you are correct about isolated incidents not meaning the electricity is ok.

@Garyvdh: Did you attempt to get the hard drive repaired? And the DVD Recorder? If so, did you ask what the problems were?

 

[PeterCH]

I've read about that too. Since the motors are effecting revolution speeds of up to 7200rpm (or more?), when power is suddenly cut, this causes them to "free-wheel" instead of "brake", or the other way around, I can't remember But the point is that one of them causes undue stress on the hard drive (vibration, etc), so a few too many of these can cause serious damage

Since manufacturers make drives with ever increasing density and speed,
they should make sure that these things can handle stresses such as - duh suddent stoppage.

 

[sn3rd]

Since manufacturers make drives with ever increasing density and speed,
they should make sure that these things can handle stresses such as - duh suddent stoppage.

True... But a lot of manufacturers have implemented things like this: just on the higher end, though, I think

 

[LazyLion]

Do you carry your PC to LANs?

No, the MVix player sits next to the TV... and hooks up to my computer via an extended USB cable.

I will try to buy more inline UPS devices, but this is getting really expensive

 

[bekdik]

I've read about that too. Since the motors are effecting revolution speeds of up to 7200rpm (or more?), when power is suddenly cut, this causes them to "free-wheel" instead of "brake", or the other way around, I can't remember But the point is that one of them causes undue stress on the hard drive (vibration, etc), so a few too many of these can cause serious damage

AFAIK disk motors are stepper motors and not normal ac or dc.

 

[boramk]

That makes two drives in two months. I lost my 160 Gb Samsung at the end of March!

The 500 Gb Seagate was in my MVix player... it just froze in the middle of playing a movie file.

I sent it back under Warranty.

Very disillusioned right now about the safety of my Data

Ow-OUCH!

 

[sn3rd]

AFAIK disk motors are stepper motors and not normal ac or dc.

Floppy disk drive motors, yes, but I think in order to get such a high RPM, one would need more DC motors...

Just doing the math on the fly; 5400rpm with 3 steps per revolution = 16200 steps per minute or 270 steps per second. That seems like rather a lot. Of course I could be wrong: worked mostly with DC motors, and less with steppers... Oh, and don't steppers require a (+) and then a (GND) to provide one step? I guess that would make it require 540 steps per second... ?

Please correct me if I'm wrong (I could well be)

Just checked: the head motor is a stepper, while the spindle motor is a DC

 

[.Froot.]

One thing I have looked at is inserting a voltage regulator at my mains that helps stabilise the voltage flowing through. Unfortunately it's a little on the expensive side...

 

[sn3rd]

Voltage regulating 220V AC ?

 

[.Froot.]

Voltage regulating 220V AC ?

It stabilises voltages of around ~~ 180-270V to 220V. Can't remember the exact specifications. But it costs around R500/kW for a large (several kW) unit.

 

[sn3rd]

It stabilises voltages of around ~~ 180-270V to 220V. Can't remember the exact specifications. But it costs around R500/kW for a large (several kW) unit.

That sounds frikken awesome!

 

[.Froot.]

That sounds frikken awesome!

It does, but it's "frikken" expensive. It is pretty much a lightning plug on steroids. It also eliminates extreme power surges by means of a resettable fuse (you get surge protectors for the mains which does not have a resettable fuse, but they only cost around R1500)