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Date:	Mon, 3 Mar 2003 11:53:50 PST8
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Drive stiction ?

Content Type: text/plain

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Steven Levine wrote:
>
> >Does anyone know what period of time
> >is involved in having both a new and
> >an old drive develop stiction?
>
> Steve's answer may be a either form of preventative
> maintenance or a form of detecting the problem
> sooner than otherwise. :-)

Hi Steven L.,

Steve Carter kindly sent me an additional private response that was too
long for this list. I was wrong about the definition -- "stiction"
isn't the bearings, it's where the head sticks to the platter due to too
little lubricant on that particular drive.

Btw, I just checked on Google and it is also spelled "sticktion".

> . . . stiction should not occur before
> either [end of rated life or MTBF].

Right, and that's good insight. In the real world there's a bell shaped
curve and some of the drives will be on the *low* side of that curve,
and those that are waaay low are going to fail "prematurely". I wanted
to know how quickly a new drive might develop this (thanks for
mentioning the specs, that's an excellent answer) and how quickly a
used-but-now-unused drive might develop it.

> These days rated life for disk drives is far smaller than MTBF
> and the MTBF far exceeds the current MTBF for humans.

MTBF for humans . . . does that include failure due to mental fatigue?
These past few months in San Diego have given me the IQ of a Duck.

I have two drives in one of my relocated San Diego machines. They are
quite old (850 MB, so from that era). One drive is the backup drive for
the other. They worked fine but the power supply failed a month ago,
and I haven't had time yet to crimp extensions onto the new power
supply's cables (obviously the supply was intended for a medium tower,
not a tall one). So-o-o, I was wondering how quickly these old drives
which have run 24x7 for years might develop "stiction". (I found the
time last week to crimp *one* of the sixteen extensions. Then the phone
rang again.)

And I have some new drives on the shelf which have gathered dust for a
couple of years now. Another "stiction" concern.

Your points on the shelf life and MTBF are excellent info and alleviate
most of my concerns. Thanks! And if I *do* have a stiction problem,
Steve Carter told me how to fix it.

- Peter

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