Spinning up a drive, Part 2

Sometimes if you rock a spinning drive back and forth a bit it will "loosen up" a dead head just enough to cause it to function just barely long enough to get that data off. A twist here, a bit of torque there...

This works similar to the "kick it harder" principle. I've got a fan on my primary server that responds to this treatment -- hit it hard enough, the fan will stop, then restart slowly, and the noise goes away. As long as you leave the server running after that point, you're fine. Shut it off and boot it up again and you have to kick it again, though -- it's groggy when it wakes up.

Leander Hasty
Los Angeles, CA