Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!jxh
From: jxh@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Seagate ST225 D.O.A.
Message-ID: <5363@cup.portal.com>
Date: 12 May 88 17:09:56 GMT
References: <2845@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <637@mccc.UUCP> <5746@pyr.gatech.EDU>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
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XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.4342

Talking to Gary Simbulan at California Disk Drive Repair (he should know)
leads me to believe that the Seagate ST-225 has a practical life of only
two years (if that).  He showed me a STACK of dead ones, ALL of which had
a nasty discoloration on one of the circuit boards, just under the monolith
responsible for controlling the stepper motor.  He asserts that there is
"no back-EMF protection", and that every time the positioner stepper starts
and stops, the chip takes a little zot.  This evidently wears it out
prematurely (surprise: I should have thought that it would make it fail
at the factory!).

In their defense, I have been using mine lightly in a WYSEpc 286 for over
two years with no untoward behavior.  However, two others run by people
at work have died rather suddenly (soft errors for three hours, then
nothing).  They have replaced them with Fuji something-or-others (3-inch)
and are happy so far.  The Fujis are much quieter than the ST-225, idle or
seeking.

In summary, I would not buy another one, but I'm not rushing to replace
the one I'm using.  Keep those backups current!
I do most of my beating up of files over an Ethernet: my colleagues (whose
drives failed) do not.  Light use seems to be the answer.  I'm walking on
eggshells from now on.
------------
Jim Hickstein, VSAT Systems, San Jose, CA (408) 435-8016
jxh@cup.portal.com   ...!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!jxh