From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 46D22138247 for ; Fri, 3 Jan 2014 01:15:25 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 8D853E0AFA; Fri, 3 Jan 2014 01:15:17 +0000 (UTC) Received: from nm10-vm6.access.bullet.mail.gq1.yahoo.com (nm10-vm6.access.bullet.mail.gq1.yahoo.com [216.39.63.158]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 59846E0AD5 for ; Fri, 3 Jan 2014 01:15:16 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [216.39.60.167] by nm10.access.bullet.mail.gq1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 03 Jan 2014 01:15:15 -0000 Received: from [98.138.226.241] by tm3.access.bullet.mail.gq1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 03 Jan 2014 01:15:15 -0000 Received: from [127.0.0.1] by smtp112.sbc.mail.ne1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 03 Jan 2014 01:15:15 -0000 X-Yahoo-Newman-Id: 598104.12817.bm@smtp112.sbc.mail.ne1.yahoo.com X-Yahoo-Newman-Property: ymail-3 X-YMail-OSG: atmZio0VM1lS8.5p9GekctIQR15jTeDYHnKPvlb1_p8H2pq FCETAExvOMXmmJJ7w_ALitnrfJanXyHD8sY0bTv6OrYHO9lDQIuRBs62VyQI 4glwTDU2qf7Ra.4.mlM5CtxabcWEKu5wJIV3YsPLn.2BKZkWbw_2Z4z0RQEN Qy1nkhADmrL_9ENsgooNBfS7x5OYGYzW7iA5QydXKb81CXkglADk2wVuB8BS 7nBu2Lu0ggJe22_z20agGhwfa55XKKLrTXyjys7rwm87UHjGuS4XFF3VynS_ cMUHbq_Pj2T2.DFq8s1B2ujUMS54Z6aD5l89u4H8faLxOK4jmNiyxREHFvDX FMAUZq4SJkYn8mz43I9IbJQh3sevj76y7H4KSTYGG8kV9kK_oUprPUOJXl5e RVIaLVkNg8TXZk_PdQihbSzEwWbnUchONS5CZ5rub9zwf_HBZSuMvek6DAG_ NoMWW5uwK6FcNyc55hj8NtF1UfOwU6XvbxRaRvrPYrpFqEnsStEzxlVWVIpo ErWlvY0OKpKLeG2xTu7f2qDPPq6_BFgCMZe__Zn1R1g_UbCVy61S0ZnXC51u Hwplccbw3rQVtSIznuf8PusiAkdQNrbqizHe1e2EYrqmJien114puF6YzstJ VcJu8 X-Yahoo-SMTP: oM3WcDSswBC7zv73TQKEsi7eAZ0- X-Rocket-Received: from [216.240.144.8] (w41ter@216.240.144.8 with plain [98.138.31.74]) by smtp112.sbc.mail.ne1.yahoo.com with SMTP; 02 Jan 2014 17:15:15 -0800 PST Message-ID: <52C60F25.1080103@gmail.com> Date: Thu, 02 Jan 2014 17:15:17 -0800 From: walt User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/24.1.1 Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: [gentoo-user] Re: recommendation sought for external disk References: <8761q3bbl1.fsf@nyu.edu> <52C49744.5090308@gmail.com> <8761q39t9l.fsf@nyu.edu> In-Reply-To: <8761q39t9l.fsf@nyu.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 767aefee-bb3d-4a57-b97c-deeb78eb83d6 X-Archives-Hash: 001f5756cffee25856c512f6c59d24f0 On 01/01/2014 03:28 PM, gottlieb@nyu.edu wrote: > On Wed, Jan 01 2014, walt wrote: > >> On 01/01/2014 02:07 PM, gottlieb@nyu.edu wrote: >>> My home desktop has had a seagate external 750GB drive ST3750640cbrk for >>> a number of years and the disk is starting to fail. >> >> Maybe I'm weird or something but I've never once had a hard drive fail >> gradually/gracefully. They all just stop working, usually when I power >> the machine on for the first time in the morning. >> >> What warning is the disk giving you of early failure? > > First it wouldn't mount in during startup. > > Then I tried switching the USB ports on the desktop and rebooted. > It mounted but fsck took forever with pauses. The open-source culture in general seems to frown upon promotion of proprietary software (as opposed to proprietary hardware) so I usually avoid recommending proprietary software. But, based on reports I consider reliable (how's them for weasel words!) I'd suggest that Spin-Rite has a chance of restoring that drive to normal function. ("Has a chance" == more weasel words). Anyway, consider buying Spin-Rite here: https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm My own hard drives usually fail catastrophically within the the first month, so I just return them for replacement under warranty. But if I ever have an older drive fail I will certainly use Spin-Rite before giving up hope.