SirNickity wrote on 2020-01-02, 20:30:

Might also have to try a Fujitsu

And so I did!

1# smartctl --all /dev/sdb
2smartctl 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [x86_64-linux-4.14.65-gentoo] (local build)
3Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
4
5=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
6Model Family:     Fujitsu MPA..MPG
7Device Model:     FUJITSU MPD3084AT
8Serial Number:    05159372
9Firmware Version: DD-03-47
10User Capacity:    8,455,200,768 bytes [8.45 GB]
11Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
12Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
13ATA Version is:   ATA/ATAPI-4 (minor revision not indicated)
14Local Time is:    Fri Jan 17 13:34:18 2020 AKST
15SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
16SMART support is: Enabled
17
18=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
19SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!
20Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA.

1# badblocks -svw /dev/sdb

...

16827496 done, 6:25:31 elapsed. (907/0/0 errors)
26827497 done, 6:25:53 elapsed. (908/0/0 errors)
36827498 done, 6:26:14 elapsed. (909/0/0 errors)
46827499 done, 6:26:36 elapsed. (910/0/0 errors)
56828124 done, 6:26:58 elapsed. (911/0/0 errors)
66828125 done, 6:27:20 elapsed. (912/0/0 errors)
76828126 done, 6:27:42 elapsed. (913/0/0 errors)
86828127 done, 6:28:04 elapsed. (914/0/0 errors)
96828608 done, 6:28:26 elapsed. (915/0/0 errors)

Well, that could have gone better.

Not that anyone was on the edge of their seat in anticipation of the conclusion to this story, but....

1) My Cyrix 6x86 needs a drive, and it's the anti-establishment build, so I went with a manufacturer I'm not otherwise using. Enter the Quantum Fireball EL5.1A. It's a teensy bit noisier than I would like (not bad -- still has some life left in its bearings, I think!) and tested 100% A-OK. That's one build settled.

2) My Pentium MMX is using a loaner that I borrowed from something else, so it needs its own drive as well. Now, I have bought half a dozen WDACxxxx drives for this, and 100% of them have either failed testing, or sounded like they were lifetime chain smokers. Against all sound logic, I decided to try again, hedged my bets, and bought TWO more WDAC22100 drives. One of them was a whole $12, shipped FedEx 2-day, which I assumed would be another power supply test load at best, and paperweight at worst. Darned if that thing doesn't appear to be perfectly healthy as well. ?!!

I also grabbed a bargain 540MB black-case Caviar, since those usually just keep going forever. Nope, got half way through the first write pass, went offline, and hasn't responded since.

Some might say it's silly to keep chasing down good hard drives from Ebay. I say, I'm weeding out all the bad ones so you don't have to. You're welcome! 😄

I switched to a CF to IDE just to try it but couldn't go back to HDDs.
Much faster response time, no noise, easy backup/cloning and also cheap. 😀

I keep some nice drives in a box but never use them anymore, maybe I'll sell some of them.

SirNickity wrote on 2020-01-23, 20:22:

Enter the Quantum Fireball EL5.1A. It's a teensy bit noisier than I would like (not bad -- still has some life left in its bearings, I think!) and tested 100% A-OK.

FWIW, I have one of those, bought in 1998 for a Pentium II/440BX system which I still have and use, though not daily these days. It is noisy indeed but just keeps going.

I'm using old HDDs. I don't know why, but I want the sounds of old. But since I'm at the same time very picky and my modern computer is not allowed to make any noise, I at least stick to old HDDs that are not too loud. I had a little Fujitsu MBP2021ATU in my 98SE machine and switched now to a '98 12GB IBM HDD. Tried some others but the noise is a bit much and some of them sound like they're on their last leg.

I do, however, also use CF to IDE for file transfer (since my USB adapter is still not fully functioning).

I'll switch to flash storage when I can no longer get a functional mechanical drive. HDDs are just too integral to the experience of a 386/486/Pentium for me to go any other way. I even like a little bit of whine -- it's what an old computer should sound like. I just don't want it to sound like a chop saw running in my office.

On a related note, I've had an off-and-on project to write my own code to read/write MBR and FAT for a few years. I'm so close to finishing it.. The only part left is to devise an algorithm to determine an appropriate FAT / cluster size combination for a given disk, with any combination of potentially manually-specified cluster size, reserved sectors, root directory entries, and FAT type, and any possible sector size. It's a lot of variables to solve for, many of which are inter-related. Pretty sure I'm just going to have to try the combinations and weed out the ones that wouldn't be solvable, then set what's left based on volume size, and use successive approximation to calculate the FAT table size and thus the remaining sectors available for data clusters. (The MS docs use pre-calculated tables and a formula to do this, but ONLY for 512 byte sectors, and without the ability to tweak reserved sectors and root entries.)

This NIB HDD arrived just yesterday. It's set to replace the 40GB model in my P3 98SE system. The current HDD is fine but it just replaced one that was dying. When it comes to this system, I like to use regular IDE drives. I don't like to gum up my 98SE installs with too many apps, so I'm only using less than 4GB at a time. Then I image the drive onto a DVD-R using Norton Ghost 2003. I have a binder of DVD-Rs with clean installs loaded with only the drivers for a video card/sound card combo and a game or two. The system works well.

For my DOS/Windows 3.1 builds, I use 2GB CF cards (or larger partitioned to 2GB because the DOS 6.2 limit). To back these up, I just pop the CF card into an old Dazzle reader connected to my Windows 10 laptop and copy them over.

As you can tell, I like to keep clean installs of 98SE and 3.1, and these have been the easiest methods for me.