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From: jamesd@qiclab.UUCP (James Deibele)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Hard disk reliability
Keywords: Hard disk crash siemens 1300
Message-ID: <3091@qiclab.UUCP>
Date: 7 Nov 89 23:51:59 GMT
Organization: QIC Laboratories, Portland, Oregon
Lines: 22

I have a pair of Siemens 1300 drives that I've been given for one week to
evaluate before I decide whether or not to buy them.  Under DOS, these seem
to format out to 252.9MB each (this is according to the CoreTest program),
but they don't have a defect map from the manufacturer and have no warranty.
My problem, which it occurs to me many people buying used hardware have, is
to make sure this is good equipment.  I don't think the guy is trying to rip
me off, but I would prefer not to buy bad hardware.

These will be used on a '386, probably running SCO UNIX 3.2.  The machine is
going to be a public access UNIX system running (knock on wood) 24 hours a
day, so they need to be fairly reliable, but if one of them crashes, it's not
going to be a life-threatening situation.  Given this situation, how would you
go about testing the reliability of these drives?  Preferably using software
and preferably with cheap or public-domain software.

I'll post e-mailed responses (if you don't mind).  Thanks!

-- 
James Deibele  jamesd@qiclab  BBSs: (503) 760-1473 or (503) 761-7451
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