[scratt]

Well....

After 36 hours of Techtool and a few other Unix attempts at finding out why my PowerBook was bahaving like a slug I eventually managed to get the thing to boot to a CD!!

After about 30 minutes Disk Utlity told me the SMART chip had reported a catastrophic failiure!

The weird thing was I had checked my SMART status earlier in this weekend and it had given no warnings at all...

This is the third time in two years that a partition on my PowerBook has gone down and I have had to do a full re-install from backups.. I have to wonder if this poor little Toshiba was failing (or faulty) for quite some time.

My machine has been on every day for 2 years (18 hours per day in use) and does live with me in Thailand in 35 degree plus heat.. So I guess the harddrive has done OK by todays standards!

However I have something to say and then a couple of questions..

Firstly - In the last 2 years I have tried TechTool to get out of 2 or 3 different hard drive situations after all else has failed (Disk Utility / Unix Disk Utils) and each time after TechTool has finished it's slooooooow progress the hard disk has been in a worse state than when it started. Also several times TechTool has crashed at critical stages.. I swear I will never use it again. The most worrying thing is that the Hard Drive failiure came after an overnight run with TechTool to try and rescue the drive.. Prior to that Disk Utility did not give any warnings when I checked SMART status, and the hard drive was readable to recover data from even though it was erratic! IMHO TechTool thrashed the drive to death trying to fix it and finished it off... That may not be a problem with TechTool per se but it's worth remembering as you may be better to back it up and then wipe the disk rather than waste time with TechTool.

First Question..
My Hardware test reported the following error...

2STF/4/3:ATA-100 ata -6-Master.

Can anyone decipher that for me?

Second Question..

I am off to try and get an 80 or 100 GB drive (5400 or 7200 RPM)..
According to my research either a Hitachi Travelstar or Seagate Momentus get good ratings...

The drive that failed was the one which came with the PB and is a Toshiba.. Previously I had thought these were good, but have seen some not particularly glowing reports about them on the internet over the last day or so..

Any opinions would be gratefull appreciated...

scartt - currently camping out on his Dual G5 - It's a hard life!

P.S. - Took my PB G4 apart last night... It was actually very easy any not stressful at all... CMpared to a lot of PeeCee laptops I have tried to take apart for friends it was a breeze. Also it was totally clean inside.. I have never seen such a hard working machine so totally dust and lint free when it is in pieces.. Well done Apple on such great construction design.

[FFL]

I would go with the Hitachi drive, and toss TechTools in favor of DiskWarrior for anything Disk Utility or fsck can't handle.

[709]

A '2stf/4/3:ata-100 ata-6-master' error means the hard drive is about to go to that final place in the sky where platters spin no more.

I'm a huge Seagate proponent, but not of their 2.5" drives. I've also had mixed luck with the Hitachi's. Personally I'd go with a Toshiba drive. Something along these lines. I'm using the 60GB version (same 5400 RPM/16MB cache) of this and it's just dandy.


[edit]: I should clarify a bit. I don't think the Seagate drive would be a bad choice, I just think they're overpriced compared to what other manufacturers offer. The 5 year warranty is something to consider though.

[scratt]

Thanks guys...

Good to have some feedback.. It's been a stressful weekend here! Thank god for backups!!

I am used to the odd thread error on a drive, and a partition going down every now and then and having to use on partition to rescue another... but I have to say this is my first total failiure in quite some time! It's hard to come to terms with it and give up on a drive without some outside input!!

One thing I am a bit peeved about with my PowerBook is that once the harddrive had gone that bad it actually screws up booting from CD and from external FireWire drives as the machine hangs waiting for local drives all the time... Makes for a royal pain in the ass... Am I missing something there? Is there a way to bypass that part of the OS startup process?

[709]

Well, holding down the 'C' key at boot time will make tell the machine to start up from the CD/DVD...there must be something similar to that for booting from an external HD...have you tried booting up holding down the 'option' key? I think that might work.

[FFL]

The only cure I can think of would be to physically disconnect the ATA cable on the internal drive.

[scratt]

Yeah.. Thanks again both of you..

I thought of disconecting the internal drive but at that point I might as well be putting a new one in too! Holding down a key get's you so far, but the OS still checks for drivs and then hangs.... Really bad design IMHO... A timeout and then a warning not just a hang! Apple still have a bit of work to do on their networking and drive sub-systems (again IMHO). THey still haven't quite got rid of those Finder hangs when a network connection dissapears, or drives get disconnected with little warning... BUt hey ho!

Anyway I went to our (only) hardware source for these kinds of things in Bangkok and picked up a Seagate Momento (or whatever they call it). It's 100GB and 5400RPM so (if memory serves) should be a little quicker than the stock Toshiba drive, and is definitely 40% bigger!! And the 5 year warranty was the decider on that.. It was cheap too coming in at US$180 or thereabouts.. Guess that's 'cos it's made next door in Singapore.

They didn't have the Hitachi I wanted apart from an older model and the only other choice was another Toshiba.. I have to say I am not really excited about putting another Toshiba straight back in. Perhaps that's unfair.. It has survived reasonably well considering the amount of use it has had, and the heat here.. But I would still hope for more than 2 years from a drive, and a little more warning before it goes pop!

This little Seagate one is absolutely silent! I can't hear a thing when it's going - even with my ear pressed to the case of the machine!

So off to spend the day getting my system just the way I want it again! It's quite healthy to have this happen I have decided as it forces you to clean up what can be quite a messy working environment!! There's always a silver lining!

P.S. I will ressurect this thread if (when?) this drive gives me problems again for those that are interested!

[x86]

The hard drive died out on my powerbook twice so far... I feel your pain. The first one, Apple replaced, the second hard drive died two days after my warranty expired, so I had to replace it myself. Its very annoying...

12-inch 867MHZ

[Sargasm]

how long does the default warranty that comes with a 15 inch powerbook last?

[Brad]

All Apple computers include a one-year warranty.

You can extend that to a total of three years from the date of purchase by purchasing AppleCare during the first year.

[scratt]

Originally Posted by x86 The hard drive died out on my powerbook twice so far... I feel your pain. The first one, Apple replaced, the second hard drive died two days after my warranty expired, so I had to replace it myself. Its very annoying... 12-inch 867MHZ

Did you not check the warranty on the drive itself... They often have 2 or 3 years. The one I just got has a 5 year warranty! I am almost certain I will be calling that in!!

The Toshiba in my G4 still has a few months on it's factory warranty and I intend to send it back and ask them to recover it, and if not replace it.

I have done this with DeathStars before and got the drive back with the data intact within a few weeks...

Worth thinking about...

[FFL]

I'm pretty sure that the only warranty on drives that come in Powerbooks (or any Mac), no matter who manufactured them, is the one from Apple. There is no warranty in effect on these drives by the drive manufacturer.

[scratt]

I'm not 100% sure either, but I have contacted Toshiba today and told them about my 2 year old drive which was in my PowerBook when I bought it and they have agreed to a return repair or replace for me today...

You don't get anything in this life unless you ask!