WD5000KS a POS?

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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jfeldt
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:09 am

WD5000KS a POS?

Post by jfeldt » Fri Nov 24, 2006 11:00 am

Hi, I just recieved a WD5000KS based on the review here and it is having major problems: It keeps freezing my system up for ~5-10 minutes at a time, after which I'll have a few seconds of interactivity. I tried doing a low-level format through the SATA BIOS, but it hung at 93% for about 15 hours and I gave up.

My system is a MSI Neo4 platinum (nForce 4 Ultra). The problems only arise after I partition it (300GB NTFS). Both the built-in nForce SATA controller and SI 3114 have the same symptoms. Both controllers have the newest drivers. I am running Win2000 sp4. I tried turning command queing off and we'll see if that does anything.

Any advice or similar anecdotes would be greatly appreciated!

Jason
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DarkStar
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:48 pm
Location: USA

Post by DarkStar » Fri Nov 24, 2006 2:16 pm

This probably may not help, but I have the exact same board and drive and have not had any problems with it. I would suggest an OS problem (I have XP Pro), but you seem to be having problems beyond that.

Is this your boot drive, or a storage drive?
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andyb
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 3307
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: Essex, England

Post by andyb » Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:52 am

Thats a classic drive problem.

Replace it using your retailer and not WD.

Just for a laugh you could try using the WD test tool, but it will probably say that everything is OK.


Andy
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jfeldt
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:09 am

Post by jfeldt » Sat Nov 25, 2006 11:58 am

Thanks for your suggestions. It is a storage drive. I already have a Raptor 74 FLC0 and a Samsung 2504C in the first two SATA channels (boot from Raptor). I tried turning off NCQ, many different things, and finally I agree with andyb that it is DOA not POS. I am starting to regret getting a normal SATA drive, since I have had two (out of three) fail on me in the last year. I was going to get another Raptor (150GB version this time), but I thought I could get away with being cheap. It seems like the Raptor is better built and has better reliability, but it is hard to say.

I will need about 500GB a year for my digital photos (from a Canon 5D), so three raptor 150s get expensive!

Thanks for any help and I am still soliciting any advice or comments
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jfeldt
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:09 am

returning to NewEgg

Post by jfeldt » Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:14 pm

I am returning to NewEgg. Part of why I wanted to test it so thoroughly is that I am in QA, the other part is that I thought I would get dinged for return shipping and a restocking fee.

Newegg doesn't charge restocking for defective mechandise, and they are crediting me for return shipping. I can't recommend them enough.

I decided to get the RAID edition (WD5000YS) as a replacement. I thought it only had TLER as the difference, but it seems like it is also rated for 24/7 operation and built for more reliability.

Jason
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cAPSLOCK
Posts: 224
Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:06 pm
Location: Switzerland

Re: returning to NewEgg

Post by cAPSLOCK » Sun Nov 26, 2006 9:49 am

jfeldt wrote:built for more reliability
It's mechanically the same thing, it's just tested for more reliability.

(See here.)
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