Possible Fix for the IBM 'DeathStar' drives...

[Bullfrog]

http://www.storagereview.com/php/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=DeathStar

Found this link that will get you a firmware update that should help reduce the failure rate on these drives. Figure it can't hurt...

[Anasazi]

My pops had one of those "Death Star" drives. Because of all the problems he's had there is no way I'll buy an IBM drive.

[Bullfrog]

I still have a bunch of them and to this point I have only had a few fail. But...they failed what seems like a little more then I would have expected. Good thing I didn't buy them with my own money...these are *work* related drives.

[Defiant One]

Thankfully, most of the Dells that I work on have already had their Death Stars fail, but I am still getting a bunch of them every once in a while.. They seem to die in groups of 5....Go figure!

The bad new is, Dell is starting to ship new systems with the IBM/Hitachi drives again. <nervous>

[Bullfrog]

I have RMA'd a number of the older IBM drives to Hitachi and have gotten brandnew drives in return. So far these Hitachi drives run quieter, cooler and faster. So far I have been pretty pleased with the Hitachi drives.