Seagate Technology Incorporated

Scott Douglas Ulrich

Cary Dean Johnson

Morse E Magnuson

Timothy Edward Langlais

Gary Gang Jing

Charles H A Smith

Peter A Sherrard

Ron F Parson

William F Pushee

Yi Q Lin

Randy A Bork

A method of performing predictive failure analysis (PFA) for a disc drive includes maintaining at least two primary error counts during operation of the disc drive. The primary error counts each correspond to disc drive errors associated with different attributes of the disc drive and are potentially indicative of disc drive failure. Imminent disc drive failure is predicted based upon a combination of the primary error counts.

Predictive disc drive failure methodology

An electrical connector is disclosed. The electrical connector includes a housing made of a near insulative material. The near insulative material has a resistance to current flow in the presence of low voltage current and has a surface resistivity which allows sufficient current flow to dissipate static electrical charges. The housing has a surface resistivity level within the range of 10 to 10 ohms per square, and preferably within the range of 10 to 10 ohms per square. The material used for the housing has negligible current flow in the presence of low voltage current such as when the conductor is conducting signals or electricity during normal operations. The current flow is in an amount sufficient to dissipate a static charge on the housing to a level where placing the jumper onto a set of pins will not produce a failure in a microchip electrically coupled to the jumper.

Static dissipative shunt housing

The invention provides a remotely-operable tester, designed to test multiple disc drives utilizing different interfaces simultaneously. The tester performs tests essentially similar to those performed by the manufacturer, and so is capable of accurately diagnosing disc drive problems without requiring the return of suspected defective disc drives to the manufacturer. Testers are attached to a local computer, which controls operation of the testers and communicates test results via a network connection to one or more other networked computers. The tester is capable of regulating power supplied to the disc drives under test, and of regulating the temperature within the tester. Each bay of the tester may be configured to support a different disc drive interface, and a drive initiator card attached to each bay supports disc drive interface formats needed for the various possible bay configurations.

Hard disc drive verification tester

The present invention provides a portable on-site tester to test a disc drive at a location remote from the disc drive manufacturer. The tester supports multiple disc drive interfaces by supporting multiple drive initiator cards, one of which is selected for use at a time. A tester which controls operation of the tester is attached to a local computer via a tester interface. The proper drive initiator card is selected for connection to the tester interface such that the drive initiator card supports the disc drive interface format of the disc drive to be tested. The tester may be configured to support different disc drive interfaces by connection of various drive initiator cards to the tester. The drive initiator cards are mounted to one or more drive initiator card supports, which are oriented in the tester such that the selected drive initiator card is electrically connected to the tester.

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Apple Valley, MN, United States of America

Scott Douglas Ulrich