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From: omh@brunix (Owen M. Hartnett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Hard Disc Failures
Message-ID: <13768@brunix.UUCP>
Date: 29 Aug 89 00:20:24 GMT
References: <870284@hpcilzb.HP.COM> <3989@csd4.csd.uwm.edu> <19291@mimsy.UUCP>
Sender: news@brunix.UUCP
Reply-To: omh@zaphod.UUCP (Owen M. Hartnett)
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Lines: 35

I have had *two* 80M Apple (Quantum) drives go south - both in IIcx's 
bought through Apple Partners program.  I have AppleCare contracts now on
both.  I moderate the Boston Computer Society's MacTechGrp and asked if
anyone else had a similar problem.  There was only *one* other IIcx owner
in the crowd and his was going south, also.

How to know if you're disk is about to go south:

Usually it starts just as a failure to boot.  Ultimately, it degrades such
that the drive goes south during operation, occasionally causing a bad
write, or at least an error correctable via Disk First Aid.

To my rather untrained ear, it doesn't appear to me that the drive stops
spinning; its more like the head doesn't search properly.  Upon failure
during use, the drive makes a scratching noise similar to it's usual
head seek noise, only louder and more dramatic.

The drive will then fail to boot up for awhile.  random resets using the
programmer's switch will invariably bring it back, although I have retried
for about 45 minutes continuously at a stretch.

Random voodoo you can try:  Opening your mac, removing the drive, swinging
it, replacing the drive.  This works quite often, usually the swing need be
no more than a movement of the drive through about 135 degrees.  Violent
force is usually no more effective then gentle movement and is not recommended.

Needless to say, at the first sign, get the backup disks ready, because
it's going to be a rough night.

-Owen

Owen Hartnett
Brown University Computer Science

omh@cs.brown.edu.CSNET