IDE RAID Problem

[fbavaro]

Hello,

my brother in law has a Microstar KT3-Ultra - ARU motherboard with RAID functionality. We setup two 80gb Maxtor hard drives RAID 1 (mirrored). This system has been working for almost two years when suddenly he gets a critical error stating problem with array. OK, no problem, figure out which drive went bad and replace it. Well, it turns out that both drives went bad according to the noise one was making and the Maxtor diagnostic software. I was able to recover data - sent both drives back and got new ones. Re-load the OS with fresh install - put back his old data and all is well. Within one week one of the drives failed like mad - clicking and clunking. I replace it and all is well for a month or so and now the critical error is back. I would have to think the controller on the board is malfunctioning. Anyone, have any input I sure would appreciate it. Incidentally, his system was originally riddled with spyware and had a worm virus - I cleaned it all and reloaded os. I would appreciate any input.

Thank you,

Frank

[Force Flow]

Welcome to PCMech, fbavaro

Try running Maxtor's diagnostic software on the drives.

[fbavaro]

Hi and thanks for your post. I originally tried that the 1st time the drives died out and sure enough they were both bad. At that point i sent out the drives for repair and installed two new drives. One of those drives died out within a week. Then replaced again and now he is getting "critical error" on the array. Do you think something is killing these drives or does he just have the worst luck?