The drive is question is the Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM. I purchased two of these drives back in January of 2007. Both have now bitten the dust. The first died this April. The second (my C: drive) just died today. Western Digital no longer makes this drive but someone may still be selling them used or from back stock. DO NOT BUY THIS DRIVE. Granted, I am working from a statistical sample of N=2. But when 100% of the drives purchased goes bad within months of each other, that is a really bad sign.
If you do have this drive then be sure to back up your data almost every day and perhaps think about replacing it soon. I had no warning that the drive was going bad. It worked fine last night and then this morning all it did is click when I booted my computer.
Fortunately, Western Digital's tech support is very nice and did not hassle me at all. When I told them the sound it was making the young man simply said, "Wow" and started processing my RMA.
When I RMA'd the last drive they sent me a larger but slower drive. I did not mind. I expect that they will do the same and now I am glad because I don't want another of these drives in my computer again. When I purchased these drives I also purchased a similar model but in a 74 GB capacity. Now I am worried that it will also go bad on me. That one would be more trouble because it is the drive where I keep all my data. I guess I will have to start backing up a lot more often.
Additional Keywords: problem croaked issues
This post is Copyright © 2009 by Grant Sheridan Robertson.
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