Don

Peter K wrote:
> I have two IDE hard disks, to be used as external hard disks for backups.
....
> The hard disk for the second one is an IBM Deskstar, 80 GB...

Well, this may be relevant, depending on when the disk was manufactured.
A few years back (can't recall just when) the Deskstar was dubbed the
'Deathstar' because they failed so often and so catastrophically.

Sometime after that disaster, IBM sold its disk drive division to
Hitachi, just to bid farewell to the whole bad experience.

Since that sale to Hitachi I've had no experience with the Deskstar
brand, so I can't offer any firsthand advice. I did notice that soon
thereafter the Deskstar line was offered at fire-sale prices at my
local geek store, but I resisted the temptation to bargain-hunt.

I'd like some feedback from anyone who has had recent first-hand
experience with the Hitachi/Deskstar brand.