brad
21-03-2002, 04:31 AM
If you're tired of reading all the hoopla about IBM's GXP family hard drives that have saturated the more popular hardware sites recently, then click HERE. (http://forums.eyo.com.au/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8) Otherwise, here's another experience with IBM's latest and greatest.
In the last two weeks, I was asked to upgrade three systems with an IBM 120GXP series drive. Given the attention IBM's drives in general have gathered recently, especially the 120GXP, I just couldn't see passing up the chance to mess with them despite not really having the time. Anyway:
- one is running fine after 72 hours of non-stop Sandra stress testing. Daily DFT runs reveal no problems. This is on a MSI KT266A board. Performance? Not bad, but doesn't come up to the WD1200JB's level.
- the second, installed the same day as the first, but on an Intel i845D board, did the famous "click-and-scratch" routine right out of the box, the instant the heads un-parked on the first power-up. Couldn't even partition the thing. DFT reported hard un-recoverable bad sectors. Tried it on a MSI board - samo samo.
- the third was just installed yesterday, on the same i845D board as the second above. Partitioned, formatted, and O/S installation went fine, no problems (yet). :rolleyes:
Pathetically small sample? Beyond doubt. Jives with what the www seems to feel is true? Probably, but one thing is for sure. I've had three of my own GXP drives fail. Do I care about the 120 GXP? Hell No! :D
Brad
In the last two weeks, I was asked to upgrade three systems with an IBM 120GXP series drive. Given the attention IBM's drives in general have gathered recently, especially the 120GXP, I just couldn't see passing up the chance to mess with them despite not really having the time. Anyway:
- one is running fine after 72 hours of non-stop Sandra stress testing. Daily DFT runs reveal no problems. This is on a MSI KT266A board. Performance? Not bad, but doesn't come up to the WD1200JB's level.
- the second, installed the same day as the first, but on an Intel i845D board, did the famous "click-and-scratch" routine right out of the box, the instant the heads un-parked on the first power-up. Couldn't even partition the thing. DFT reported hard un-recoverable bad sectors. Tried it on a MSI board - samo samo.
- the third was just installed yesterday, on the same i845D board as the second above. Partitioned, formatted, and O/S installation went fine, no problems (yet). :rolleyes:
Pathetically small sample? Beyond doubt. Jives with what the www seems to feel is true? Probably, but one thing is for sure. I've had three of my own GXP drives fail. Do I care about the 120 GXP? Hell No! :D
Brad