OT: hard drive making weird noises

From: J.C.Wren <jcwren_at_jcwren.com>
Date: Sat Nov 23 09:43:00 2002

        While it may not be necessary to know the model immediately, if you're
running a Linux based OS, you can use 'hdparm -i /dev/hdx', where x is the
drive letter. This will report the identification string stored in the
drive.

        If you're running Windows, you can use Device Manager, expand the Disk Drives
field, and look at the properties for the drive. Most all later versions of
Windows (>= 95) support this in some form or another.

        On other *nixs, you can usally run dmesg and look somewhere near the start of
the log, assuming that your system hasn't been up so long that it's scrolled
off.

        OS/2 also supports examining the drive in some fashion, but I don't remember
how to do it.

        If it's none of the above, I'm curious what OS you're running, simply because
it's not THAT many that are capable of support 60GB IDE drives.
        
        --John

On Thursday 21 November 2002 19:51, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
> Ok, I've googled but have not turned anything up, so I turn to the experts
> on the list.
>
> I have a 60GB IBM hard drive (can't get at the model number and don't
> want to power down to do so right now).
>
> Every once in a while I hear it make the most disconcerting noise. It
> sounds like a <chirp> followed by a <ka-clunk> followed by another <chirp>
> and then another <ka-klunk>, all in the span of no more than 2 seconds.
>
> It sounds as if its skipping a heartbeat or something. What the hell
> is going on and how do I defibrilate it? I had a similar problem long ago
> with another brand of hard drive (Maxtor maybe?) and it required some sort
> of firmware upgrade that fixed it. I checked into this problem a while
> ago but did not find anything on IBMs site or through Google.
>
> I do NOT need another hard drive crash right now :(
Received on Sat Nov 23 2002 - 09:43:00 GMT