[SunRescue] Re: Hard drive manufacturers

[J. S. Connell]

<rant force="20%">

IBM is my absolute favorite brand of hard disks, IDE or SCSI.  I've not
only never had one fail, nobody I know has had one fail, either.  (This
also means I have no idea what their RMA procedure is like.)

Quantum would be my runner-up choice for IDE; I've never used their SCSI
disks.  I've had to RMA perhaps two drives, and both times it was painless.

Seagate is my second choice for SCSI, but I personally wouldn't touch their
IDE drives.  I've RMA'd enough Seagates over the past five years to stock a
small country[1], and with the exception of Archive -- er, wait, Connor --
no, Seagate now -- Python tape drives[2], I've never had a problem.

Maxtor IDE drives scared me off.  After having three fail in eight months,
I've refused to touch them since, although friends tell me they've had no
problems with Maxtors made in the last two years or so.

Western Digital has to take the prize for the absolute worst track record
in the industry.  _Every_ _single_ WD drive we've ever had has failed --
and every time we get one replaced, the replacement fails too!  We've got a
box somewhere with a dozen WDs we just couldn't be bothered to RMA
(and from a previous poster's comment, it'd be a waste of time to do
so now anyway).  We never had problems getting them RMA'd, but the failure
rate makes them a waste of time.  A friend who runs a huge co-lo firm also
abandoned WD for IBM for the same reason, and has an even bigger box of
"can't be bothered to RMA it" WDs; he's also never had an IBM fail.

</rant>

--Jeff 
[1]Not my fault -- blame the incompetents who'd, e.g., stack two hot
Barracudas right on top of each other with _no_ cooling and watch the
drives cook each other.

[2]I went to RMA a Python DDS-2 DAT drive once.  Seagate swore up and down
that we'd bought it grey-market and refused to honor the warranty unless I
provided proof I'd bought it from an authorized reseller.  This was easier
said than done, since said reseller had been liquidated not once but
_twice_ and wasn't even in the phone book any more.