Re: Percussive maintenance
There was a batch of HD (don't recall the maker) that had a coating on the platters that was sticker than normal, especially when the drive was cold.
One place I was at had a server within one of these disks, and it ran fine for many years until there was a long-duration power cut over the weekend. Came in on Monday morning to find the server reporting "failed to boot" and the outer case nearly too hot to touch.
The heads had, as designed, landed on the platters and everything cooled down. When the power came back, the extra stickiness meant the platter motor was not strong enough to spin up the drive. Unfortunately, the controller didn't care and left the motor powered at a stall, resulting in the drive getting so hot that the platters de-laminated. Luckily there was a decent backup in place.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
