Greetings all,
 
I just read the recent issue of the 3000 News Wire, and in the insert of
"Flash Paper" there was a section on "HP is looking at why your disks are
going down".  Although I would have to add my voice to those concerned
about the C30xx and C29xx drive failures.
 
In the article it states: "What's worse, many times the disk crash means
a loss of data - because HP changed the design of the drives to make the
controller and the drive mechanism a single unit, instead of a controller
separate from the drive platters.  Lose the controller, lose your data
and face a reload."
 
This is not completely true!  Let me explain.  While at the City of Tempe
we did experience two such drive failures earlier this year.  The senior
CE came in and informed me that he needed to replace the disk due to the
problem.  Obviously that is the last thing a system manager wants to
hear!  I started taking a look at the drive, which had the controller
attached and found the controller possibly could be replaced.  We spent
about 15 minutes and found that by removing 4 screws and a cable (if
memory serves) the controller would come off the drive.  We swapped the
controller with another, put the drive back into the system and
everything worked fine.
 
The CE was amazed they were NOT told about this.  Their procedure is to
replace the entire mech rather than trying to swap the controller board.
 He took this knowledge and passed it along to others in the Phoenix
area.  When the second drive failure (a different drive on a separate
system) occurred a few months later, we tried the same procedure (which
by then only took a few minutes) and again found the problem was the
controller.  Again by swapping the controller we were able to use the
same disk and had no data loss.
 
I spoke with the CE recently and found that in the vast majority of the
time the problem has been with the controller, and except for a couple of
times they (the local CE's) were able to fix the problem with no data
loss by exchanging the controller.
 
I'm sure many of you may of thought or done this, but I just wanted to
throw this information out for your review and comments.
 
Happy Holidays,
/isaac
--
Isaac Blake                                   e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Alliant Foodservice                            phone:  602-496-5531
10410 S 50 Pl                                    fax:  602-496-5224
Phoenix AZ  85044-5213         "My opinions and comments are just that!"