HDD Failures when operating system is XP Pro

[Guest_imported]

Has anyone noticed an increase in hard drive access when running under Windows XP Pro? In my workplace, we are trying out XP Pro on our techs units and even with default services running, or some disabled services, there has been a sharp increase in failed hard drives - may be due to XP running the disks too hard. All units are diffent makes and configurations. The HDD that have failed are Quantium Fireball, Maxtor, and other older and slower (5200 RPM) models. Each OS is formated in NTFS. Even secondary HDD have failed with XP as primary boot OS. Any ideas why we are seeing an increase in failed drives would be appreciated. And yes, it is a non domain networked environment requiring NTFS over FAT32.

 

[XPisfree]

xp inserts 7.3mb raw (07hntfs..?) pre-partitions to monitor your hardware compliance and trigger the kill switched if fiddling gets too close for proprietory feelings.. Means that PQmagic and other partition software is incompatible but not straight away... how nice.. slow HDD failure onset.. gives me time to get some data in there.. and if you have the 2nd HDD below a cdrom or primary hdd. its not long before your exceeding the maximum of 4 primary partitions. I think they count! If you squeeze the space with 3rd party software and dont get rejected on install, it means XP has placed the pre-part at the BACK of the partition!! Very unstable.. so why do they do it??? Sorry - you must use the CD installs formatter and part'ner to do it safely... Why did I have to find this out from repeated personal frustration and damaged goods? This is no mistake. THey PUT it there....

 

[Guest_imported]

Thanx XPisfree. Do you think that I should create the partition for install using FDISK first and not repartition using PQ Magic? I usually install on the new disk the OS and then resize and create the other drives later.

Also, as I work with slipstreamed CD's for installation of Win2K, I was thinking of handling future XP installs in the same manner. What you state would prevent me from my present install type where I install the OS and subsequent service packs and hotfixes from a CD to the C:[as the only initial partition] and the script calls up to the D:[cdrom]drive for unattended install information (license code, computer\username, etc).

Any other help would be appreciated before there is a push from departments to migrate to XP (although Win2K Pro has been serving everyone just fine).

 

[Beer4meok]

Just for info.
I went through three Quantum fireball 60's 7200
on one machine before I got XP pro running ,no trouble since.
I never had a problem with a Maxtor untill they bought Quantum, looks like they are just recycling drives or
changing the names?????

Good luck Dave
bbmdave@hotmail.com