Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!mcnc!rti!bcw
From: bcw@rti.UUCP (Bruce Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Seagate ST-225
Summary: Problems
Message-ID: <2579@rti.UUCP>
Date: 17 Nov 88 06:04:58 GMT
References: <1717@questar.QUESTAR.MN.ORG>
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC
Lines: 51

In article <1717@questar.QUESTAR.MN.ORG>, jeff@questar.QUESTAR.MN.ORG (Jeff Holmes) writes:
> 
> 	Can any kind soul out there give me their thoughts on 
> 	the 'Seagate ST-225 20mb (65 ms)' hard drive with, I think,
> 	a WD controller?
> 
Many of the people we have talked to seem to have good luck with the 225.
Our luck has not been so good - our MTBF on them is on the order of 6 months.
This might be caused by several factors:

    1.	The drives we have are >relatively< old.  That is, they are more
	than about 10 months old - there were some design changes in the
	drive about a year ago which >some< people claim seem to have
	helped reliability.
    2.	Once one failed, we swapped it with Seagate for a "refurbished"
	drive ... which would usually come back as one of the "old" models
	(with the red LED instead of the green LED).  Therefore, we were
	always starting out with replacement drives which were something of
	a lemon.
    3.	It is possible our power isn't the best (we have surge protectors
	but no UPS).  But on the other hand we know people who likewise have
	no UPS but have great luck with 225's.
    4.	Perhaps we just use them more heavily than average (we don't move
	the machines, but after all the seek mechanism is only good for so
	many seeks before it wears out).  However the part that goes is
	usually the board and not the media or one of the motors ...

On the other hand we know people who had several 225's for a couple of years
with NO problems.

For what it's worth, if a drive (ANY drive, not just a 225) goes bad, we
have come to the conclusion that it is not worthwhile to have it sent in to
swap for a refurbished drive (or have it repaired), but that it is a better
use of time and money to get a NEW drive.  (This may not apply if you have
a maintenance contract).

As for the WD controller, there are quite a few different models of them out 
there.  Some of them are quite compatible, some of them have problems with
different software packages.

(yeah, I know, the software >SHOULDN'T< be aware of the controller
unless it is an OS type product like OS/2, Concurrent DOS, maybe WINDOWS,
but unfortunately many big-name software products ARE aware of the controller).

If possible check out the combination with the software you want to use
beforehand (this combo is common enough that it shouldn't be too hard to
find one and check it out).  Several things like language products from
Microsoft seem to be some of the biggest offenders ...


						Bruce C. Wright