At 06:41 PM 12/16/97 +1000, you wrote:
> Anyone know what this bloke was on about with this 'click of death'
>thing, regarding iomega zip drives?
>From an article in alt.iomega.zip.jazz.
"Click of death" strikes
Iomega
By Paul Festa
January 30, 1998, 5:15 p.m. PT
update Users of Iomega's Zip drives are reporting
serious malfunctions in their drives and disks in a
problem that has come to be known as the "click of
death."
The problem is being discussed in several
newsgroups, including "alt.iomega.zip.jazz" and
"comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc," as well as on
Web sites, such as the New Unofficial Iomega
Page and the Click Death Home Page.
Users report that, after a time, their Zip drives no
longer read disks and instead produce a loud
clicking sound, from which the problem gets its
name. Afflicted units reportedly no longer work
once they get the "click of death," and numerous
users reported damaged disks as well as data loss.
The problem is not reported to be associated with
Iomega's new storage product for handheld
devices, called Click.
DJ Breslin, a consultant and programmer at Intel,
told NEWS.COM that, in the past 18 months, he
has lost five Zip drives to the "click of death"
problem. While he lauded Iomega's customer
service department for replacing his broken drives
in each instance, he noted that the company had not
responded to a letter of complaint he sent in
November.
Breslin said Iomega's products were the most
convenient to use because of their large installed
base, but said, "If I had it to do over again, I
wouldn't go with Iomega. I wouldn't trust it."
Iomega today issued a statement saying that "of the
more than 12 million Zip drives shipped, Iomega is
aware of a small percentage of customer
complaints, a number lower than industry norms."
Iomega did not acknowledge the "click of death"
problem. The company's Web site, however, has a
page that describes it.
Iomega later amended its statement to
acknowledge the problem.
"A number of Iomega's customers call from time to
time describing a 'clicking' sound emanating from
their Zip drive, which can be a symptom of a
variety of problems in Zip drives, as well as in other
kinds of drive products in general," the statement
read. "Iomega continually works with its customers
to resolve the particular problems they are
experiencing. Iomega also continually evaluates its
own product testing data to ensure the highest
quality standards."
A source who identified himself as a former Iomega
technician said the problem was well-known within
the company when he started working there more
than two years ago. He said the problem was not
common, but noted that it accounted for about half
of the malfunctioning drives on which he worked.
The source said the clicking sound is caused by the
read/write head bumping against its movement
stops--bumpers that keep the head within its
intended range--while searching for and not finding
track 0 on the Zip disk. When the "click of death"
problem happens, the read/write head fails to find
that track, which contains vital directory
information, because the head has become
misaligned.
The cause for that misalignment?
"The drive and disk are not extremely sturdy," the
source said. "They're not flimsy, but people like to
carry them around, and depending on how your car
rides, after six to eight months, you might get the
problem."
The source also said that dropping the drive,
exposing it to the electromagnetism of a computer
monitor, and other external factors could cause the
misalignment. He noted that internal drives were
less susceptible to the problem, and stressed that,
apart from the sturdiness of the casing, the products
themselves were not defective.
"I don't think the drives are faulty in any way," he
said, noting that he had just authorized the purchase
of 50 Zip drives for the company where he is
currently employed.
The source said he also had encountered a related
problem reported in newsgroups: a domino effect in
which misaligned heads damage disks, which in turn
misalign heads of other drives, which then damage
more disks.
"It's fairly rare," he said. "But it does happen."
--
PLEASE read the Red Hat FAQ, Tips, Errata and the MAILING LIST ARCHIVES!
http://www.redhat.com/RedHat-FAQ /RedHat-Errata /RedHat-Tips /mailing-lists
To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
"unsubscribe" as the Subject.
