If you have access to a PC, download the Maxtor SMART utility and run it. Also, try more than one IDE cable, and use both stock IDE and high-speed ATA100 cables, just in case. All the Maxtor failures I've dealt with showed up in the SMART utility (after the fact, however).
I have never heard funny noises from any hard drive as it ages. I have, however, had several run into prolems (random data loss and diagnostic failure), and a couple completely die (both were at work, they were both IBM SCSI, and died at different times).
I've owned 2 Connors, 1 Samsung, 6 Maxtors (including the 2.5" in my A1200), 4 Western Digitals, and 2 IBM drives. All the computers I use at work have IBM drives, which consists of 6 SCSI, and a dozen or so IDE.
4 out of 6 Maxtor drives consistently failed SMART tests within 6 months of purchase. One of the replacements I got (refurished) started having bad sector problems after a few weeks. I replaced it with a Western Digital, my preferred drive.
The Connors, Samsung, and Western Digital drives were used for at least 2 years each without incident. 2 IBM SCSI drives (out of 6) died during the 2 years I worked there; both were replaced with refurbished drives. I've never used IDE IBM drives personally (too expensive), but I've never seen any failures at work. Odd, I thought SCSI drives had better build quality than the IDE variety.
Curiously, the Samsung 3GB we had in the cash register worked almost 24/7 for three years without incident or bad sectors, until it was upgraded with a larger 8GB IBM drive. It seemed to do its job. All I can say about Samsung reliability is that their cameras SUCK. I won't even sell customers one! :-D
Voytech: Men, get your warranty, or receipt, and go get a new one!
Notice that many HD manufacturers have reduced their warantees. Western Digital is one of the few that still offers a 3 year warantee. I forget what Maxtor has done, but I'm not buying one of their drives again. I wouldn't even use the refurb replacement for a backup!
That_Punk_Guy: Hard drives occasionally fail - that's life, I'm afraid.
Yeah, but I've seen more Maxtors fail than any other brand. 4 out of 6 failures, in 6 months, is unacceptable.
IBM and Seagate has VERY bad power connectors on all later drives
Yeah, they are supported by the circuit board. My WD drives have unified power/data connectors that are screwed on. :-)
GreggBZ: I've owned a few IBM "Deathstars" and they make that wonderfull click of death usually within 9 months.
My dad had one too, but never had trouble. Wasn't it defective bearings (not necessarily the fluid itself) that caused failure?
1. Why is it referred to with some utilities as "restoring factory settings"?
What settings? Buzzwords, I guess. Maybe to fix a glitch with cable select?
2. Why did it "fix" the bad sectors on my deathstar before the physical damage became too great for it?
Anything can cause a bad sector. A slow read can signal a bad sector. A speck of dust in the casing can eventually unlodge itself and make a sector "good" again. Filesystem formatting is the only way to tell.
I know that you should only use utilities to LLF with from the manufacturer because they have the correct settings for their drives. Maybe the people that say they killed their drives were using 3rd party utilities and not offical ones.
Low-level format is probably just a term these days for wiping out the drive. I don't think any recalibration is done, since that's all done in realtime by the HD's internal controller. Hard drives automatically mask out bad sectors, remap addresses, sort tracks, and perform write-behind access in hardware. Hence, all modern hard drives have built-in caches. Sector 0 isn't necessarily at the very center of the disc.
