Literally. Went pop and horrible burning smell came pouring out of my computer. This was 3 days after it’s 1-year anniversary. This is the only time in my life an extended warranty has saved me money. No way they can blame this on me. I was just cruising the SDMB and wham! I wasn’t even in the Pit. Go figure.
Anyway, it means I can’t read or post all weekend, so I want you all to make sure I don’t miss anything. Read at you Monday!
So that I may gather more analogous evidence concerning the quality of various disk manufacturers.
My bet’s on Maxtor - any takers?
Maxtor, probably. Though I’d be amused if it were Seagate. Even Compaq won’t use them now. 
I’ve had Western Digitals release their magic smoke in the past. My bet is on a WD.
I’d put my money on WD, They meltdown more that any other brand I’ve used.
I was figuring Western Digital. I had a brand new retail box WD about a year ago that didn’t work. At all. Computer would not power on with the WD plugged into the power cables.
The Maxtor I’ve got right now seems to be running well.
My condolences lucie.
Yes, smoke is what makes things work. The smoke is tightly sealed inside but if it escapes the device will stop working. Some devices are poorly sealed and will lose their smoke pretty soon while others will keep it forever.
Semi-conductor smoke can perform the valuable function of warning you to turn off equipment thereby protecting the fuses.
Nastiness …
Well, since we’ve gotten the bad one’s outta the way, what should I look for when mine decides to bite it?
Does going SCSI make any sense?
SCSI is fairly pointless these days. IDE with U/ATA66 and 100 gets faster transfer rates and better burst rates. The SCSI controller costs more, is harder to configure, and doesn’t give you any benefit. And if you’re into AV applications the thermal-calibration issues aren’t a problem anymore, and IDE RAID’s are ever bit as effective. Unless you have a very specific application where you know you need SCSI, don’t bother.
Thanks.
Unless you can get it mega-below cost 
<smug>
Yes, SCSI is largely pointless, but it does let you chain many more devices than ordinary onboard IDE channels. With IDE you can only use 4 devices, SCSI chains out to 7 or 13, I think.
Basically for any normal user SCSI is probably not the way to go. Now if you’re thinking of running a server or something with multiple hard disks, might not be a bad idea.
lucie, are you ever going to tell us what brand of HD it was?
Just got back from the weekend. I’m afraid I’m pretty much ignorant about computers. I’m just a user - it’s all sorcery to me.
It’s an HP box and came pre-assembled, so I don’t know if the hd is HP or something else.