hard-disk woes

[just_laze]

Hello, i need some advice. I recently bought a 200GB Seagate disk, on buying it and installing it i thought it was rather loud when accessing for a new disk, every so often it would make a ticking noise, perhaps 5 ticks each a second apart when the disk wasn't in use. After a month i tried to access my music on the disk and my computer froze, i tried again and again, using various methods to access the data on the disk but couldn't. I ran chkdsk with the /f switch and it found and fixed multiple errors, at this point i was able to recover most of my data but some data bad been lost completely. Since then the disk has been sat on the side and not in use because i couldn't trust it, today i had some spare time on my hands so i ran Seatools and it found multiple bad sectors, i used Seatools to overwrite these sectors and then ran the test again, no problems were found. I am now at the point where i do not trust this disk.

I've taken shots of the testing procedure with my digital camera proving there were errors with the disk, who could advise me what to do, should i start putting data on it again and give it another chance, or should i take it out my system raise an RMA and get a replacement?

[Splash]

Personally I'd RMA it based on what you've said there. I'm assuming you have no further probs with your PC? I only ask as I had the same thing happen with 2 Maxtor 200Gb drives about a year and a half ago, ran HDD Regenerator on them and installed a 120mm fan in fron of them and they're now fine - they were running rather warm previously.

[TheAnimus]

Seagate are very good with RMA in my experance, give them a bell ask what they think. Generic other questions, have you tried different cable mother board PSU? All those can course problems.

Silly stuff like making sure the cable dosen't fall out (SATA) when u close the case.

[just_laze]

I run and i've ran disks on the same controller / cable without problems.

The system is 101% stable in all other respects.

[just_laze]

I phoned up Seagate today, i asked their opinion and they said "If you're not happy with the product, return it and we will replace it", I was then put through to their Warranty department where i spoke to someone in India, she was very polite and precise and made sure she took down all my details correctly, i didn't catch her name but she even wished me a good day to which i responded "And you, thanks for your help" :-).

I am just waiting on my email now with my RMA number enclosed, i realise i could have used the web-based service but i enjoy talking to people because in this modern-age it's nice that the option to speak to a real person is still avaiable :-).

I will post back to update you on my further experience with the Seagate RMA procedure.

[ahat]

Did you have a long wait with the customer service for Seagate? I have been on hold for 30 minutes with WD help. UGH. Sometimes the phone sucks