OK, my second hard drive that Linux touched has officially died today.

My system would freeze and sporadically work when I booted up SuSE 10.2 or my wintendo HD. I didn't know what the problem was. I even spent last night doing a stress memory test on the new 1 gig memory I bought about a few months ago. I tried running a system stress CD but my machine would hang when booting up. It wasn't until my secondary HD that has SuSE 10.2 installed failed to even power up and show up on the BIOS that I realized the problem was with the HD. This is the second time the HD crashes and this time all the data in it is GONE since not even the BIOS can see it and will have to reconfigure the thing again. I am very miserable!!!!!! Just when I was getting the hang of Linux. Everything was configured, working perfectly, and haven't used windoze in this machine for quite a few months. I am not too happy.

If anyone read this far and knows of a good reliable hard drive they can recommend please let me know.

I will greatly appreciate all input!!! And will go and purchase the HD ASAP from your advice.

I plan on spending around $100 and would be willing to spend a few more bucks for a reliable HD that has around 160 gigs.

My machine has 2 connections for a SATA HD, does anyone know if SATA Hard drives are more reliable or faster than IDE?

Would you recommend for me to buy an IDE or a SATA hard drive? Can an IDE and a SATA drive coexist peacefully? My IDE hd already has XP, I plan on installing SuSE 10.2 on the new HD.

Thank you in advance for anyone who replies!!!!!

Gooday Names Graeam {Newbi for the List]

The harddrives that have been most trouble free for my self are Maxitor and Samsung.
But have you asked yourself, WHY has this failed. Some Checks.
Simple questions, youll say I know.
Do you have a proper surg protection; I use a TPS which also has the Phone line plug through it before my ADSL Modemn.
Always shut down your computer properly, never ever dead boot.
It only takes once or twice on a Linux system of improper shutdown and your files will become corrupted so its important that you be patient. [This sounds very familar with you freeze problem. Not the Linux, shutdown impatience.]Cuases OUCH.
I also would be looking at the SATA. The transfer rate is supposed to be something like 10 times quicker. Sounds like just the spot for your Debian setup.
Have you retried to set up your system on the hardrive again.
I,ve always found that its very important if yoiur system become corrupted [weather it be by virus/ corrupted file /or in the case as with windows XP their imposing updated are doofing your mp3s or otherwise/ that its vital to ensure the harddrive is completely wiped.
I useualy format first with window ntfs/ but shut down early to stop files down loading then reformat the partition with Linux 3.
The other thing that I have found is that if you want to keep xp for occasional use/ some things just dont run on linux/ dont let linux take over th master boot.[In other words dont interfere wit the windows xp boot]n Even if it means putting in a small hardrive in as slave or even next to the opyical drive to use somply as a linux boot mechanism,. I use an 80 gig samsung for my Exandros and the boot has been specifically put on IDE 1. [Exandros is great for us uneducated dummies hat at presenthave trouble with rpm,s/I,m sure you guys will get me over this small problem/]

Regards Coopss
South East South Australia
PS put that hard drive back in with all other hard drives disconnected.
Try as master. If no go
Try as slave... If no go
Take out the jumper and try by itself.
Also some time I,ve come in with another harddrive with exandros which will read all the other hardrive with file manager/ set up to read all file and hidden files. [As tree]Other linux distros dont seem to have this ability.
Sometimes windows XPs set up disc is the only thing that will get it started/ if so delete the partition and start afresh.But try if you can to save your files/ music photos as described.

[QUOTE=ngjunkie0011]OK, my second hard drive that Linux touched has officially died today.

My system would freeze and sporadically work when I booted up SuSE 10.2 or my wintendo HD. I didn't know what the problem was. I even spent last night doing a stress memory test on the new 1 gig memory I bought about a few months ago. I tried running a system stress CD but my machine would hang when booting up. It wasn't until my secondary HD that has SuSE 10.2 installed failed to even power up and show up on the BIOS that I realized the problem was with the HD. This is the second time the HD crashes and this time all the data in it is GONE since not even the BIOS can see it and will have to reconfigure the thing again. I am very miserable!!!!!!

For $100 you should be able to get into 320gb+ (see newegg.com). As far as brands, everybody has opinions. I used to like Deskstars when they were still IBM, had terrible luck with them since they were sold. Ran WD for a few years and then I started to get lemons from them , 160gb drives were just becoming popular. I run the seagate .10 series now without issue (some people hate them). The seagates do run about 10 degrees warmer than the WD, its just the way they are designed not an issue.

Two really big issues with all electronics is heat and quality power. When you get your new system up two things you should look into is lm_sensors and hddtemp. The sensors will tell you most of the information that is in you bios, temps, fan speed, voltages, etc and there are applets that allow you to add this information to your top/bottom panels. hddtemp gives you hard drive temps. There are applets for it too. These will give you a constant idea of how your system is running. I added a couple of fans to my system and moved some hard drives around to get their temps down( 5 degrees too much can really shorten a drives lifespan).

The power quality issue can be seen on two levels, getting to the power supply and coming from the power supply. If your lights flicker or brown very much you should definitely consider a ups power conditioner. Be careful not all ups s are line conditioning. Probably the one thing that gets missed the most is a quality power supply. I used to swear by antecs but after 8 (?) warranty replaced smartpowers in under two years (in two machines), I have switched to seasonics. Steady power really makes electronics happy.

Good Luck
Lazlow

Edit: Take a look at the reviews at newegg to get an idea about any issues with any computer parts. Even if you do not choose to buy from them, it is a great resource.

Did you mean Maxtor hard drive?

I am inclining for a SATA Maxtor HD that I can get for $100 dollars with 200 gigs. The problem with that option is that the last time I bought a 120 gig Maxtor HD it died on me when I installed Linux.

And don't worry about everything else.

I have two hard drives. One IDE HD with XP setup as Master and a secondary IDE HD set up as master as well that had SuSE 10.2 and crashed on me and which I intend on replacing with a SATA HD.

Does anyone know if I might run into problems having an IDE as primary Master and a SATA HD???

I plan on installing SuSE 10.2 on the SATA HD.

As long as your bios lets you select boot order, there should be not issue. Sometimes on some motherboards (usually older) you have to move the sata to a later sata port(port 4 instead of port 1) to let it boot to ide.

In that case I should not have a problem then.

My motherboard is the VIA P4M800 PRO with SATA

I'm looking at a SATA HD on newegg that can run 3.0G/s, I wished I knew if my mother board was able to do that! LoL I do know is has a 2 SATA connections so I'm definitely going for the HD in newegg, thanks a lot for the advice!!!!

I'll also have to get something to help me with the power, a UPS maybe? And my system definitely needs some help cooling down, I'll see what I find on newegg.

Thank you very much for all your help!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully someone will see this post and learn something from it as well.

Even if your motherboard only supports sata 1 there is a jumper on almost all sata 2 drives to tell it to shift down. The funny thing about it is that the current hard drives are not physically fast enough to out run sata 1 anyway.

I have 120mm slow fans in my case. Down low in front for intake and up top in back for exhaust. Replacing the two 80mm fans in front and the two 80mm fans in back. The noisiest thing in my computer now is the stock amd cpu cooler fan. I also have a 140mm fan blowing accross my HDs towards the exhaust. My case temp stays at 32C in a 75F room no matter how hard I push the system. While the 140mm fans are very quiet they do not move all that much air (low pressure).

Talking about Power.

Recently, I did have such a problem.
The lights in or house where getting dimmer[Push in 240 volt AC Australian] and we where blowing heaps of globes.
Did cause some computer problems I feel.
Turned out the fuse where the power is connected at the facia board was burning out.
Worth getting some one to have a look if you have an older house and come across such problems.
The Electricity Trust here replace the whole thing back to the power pole.

Regards Coopss