RFC: Server disk slowly failing, I plan to replace it using tip jar.

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

One of the disks in the CVS/SVN/Wiki/etc server is slowly failing.  I
read the daily log reports and every week or so for the past month
I've received a report of a failed sector on hda, e.g.:

 WARNING:  Kernel Errors Present
    end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector ...:  2 Time(s)
    hda: dma_intr: error=0x40 { Uncorrect ...:  2 Time(s)
    hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error } ...:  2 Time(s)

 Oct  4 22:40:13 raid1: hda6: rescheduling sector 18089128 
 Oct  4 22:40:19 raid1: hda6: redirecting sector 18089128 to another mirror 

So in order to prevent data loss, I'd like to replace the HDD.  I'm
considering replacing it with this 250G/16M Seagate drive:

  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148143

Actually, I'd like to order TWO of these drives.  No, we don't really
need the extra space (we still have 40G free on /home, out of 56G
using a pair of 80G drives in RAID1), but I might as well replace both
drives at the same time as they're both about the same age.  This is
the cheapest 16MB cache drive I could find, and it's one of the
cheapest Seagate drives I could find (the only cheaper Seagate had
only a 2MB cache).

Granted, I could save $20 per drive by going with a 200G/8MB Maxtor:

  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144211

I'm really hoping to avoid Western Digital.

I was planning to use the tip jar for this purchase, which is why I'm
soliciting opinions before I purchase anything.  Note that if I order
from NewEgg I can usually have the item delivered the next day.  On
the other hand I wont have time to work on the hardware until probably
October 27-28, so we have a little time to come to consensus.

So... Comments?  Suggestions?

-derek
-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available