Western Digital quiets clunking drives
Western Digital quiets clunking drives
Tip Does your Western Digital Caviar drive make a clunking sound? The company says several of its drives in the 1.2Gb-to-5.1Gb size range contain a firmware error that causes the read head to travel too close to the parking magnet when the drive is idle. The resulting noise is irritating but non-lethal (see http://www.wdc.com/quality/reduce-noise.html for details). Just download a free 121K patch from http://www.wdc.com/quality/noise-util.html and read the instructions on that page. Bugs are inevitable, and it's great when companies provide free fixes in a timely fashion. But companies need to take customers' problems seriously. Caviar owners who had posted queries about the problem on Western Digital's new Web-based discussion forum ( http://www1.wdc.com/support/wwwboards/eide_ide/welcome.html) found their messages deleted, with no response awaiting them. One Caviar owner even received a written threat that unless he stopped posting "negative attacks" on the company, it would ask the Internet service provider to cancel his account. A Western Digital source said the company would clarify what it considers an unacceptable posting. Since the episode, the forum appears to be more tolerant of critical posts. - Scott Spanbauer | Category: Bugs and fixes Issue: Feb 1998 Pages: 179 |
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