Odds & Ends: IBM drive defect?; Updater & combo drives; Copy-protected CDs on a Mac; more

IBM drive defect? Theo Mack writes: There is a defect in certain IBM GXP series IDE hard drives. This drive came standard in many Power Mac G4 models. I had 2 fail. The problem develops as random bad sectors on the drive until you get a total failure, then of course it's too late. After some research, I found there is a documented defect in IBM Deskstar 75GXP series drives. In fact there is a class action suit against IBM regarding this, filed last October. [See also this discussion thread.] Note: The problem apparently does not affect the 60GXP line - or any line other than the 75.

Update: Paul Tetreault replies: Potential problems may extend to other IBM drives. For example, IBM recommends no more than 333 power-on hours per month on its brand new 120 GXP drives." Tim Harrington similarly claims that he has had three 60GB DTLA-307060 drives fail all with the same symptom: random bad sectors.

CD-RW Updater also works on combo drives Aaron Reitz notes that, although the recently released CD-RW Drive Firmware Update 1.1 for Power Mac G4 systems says it is only for CD-RW drives, it also worked on his combo CD-RW/DVD drive.

Universal on copy-protected CDs that don't run on Macs Regarding copy-protected CDs that do not run on a Macs, several readers sent us a reply they received from Universal on the matter. Here is an excerpt: "While the CDs with copy protection may not be playable in a limited number of CD players, UMG is currently working with our technology providers to achieve 100% playability. We also hope to include Macintosh-based playability on copy-protected discs in the future. We have not finalized our plans for 2002 nor have we made a commitment to put copy protection on all of our CD releases."

Macs and Comcast This page covers information on using Macs with Comcast HSI (formally Comcast@Home).

Style Sheets and Explorer 5.1 Several readers have sent us similar info detailing problems that Explorer 5.1 has with external style sheets. The problem is they often do not work. One reason may be that 5.1 is more case-sensitive in matching the names of classes than were previous Explorer versions. (Thanks, Michael Kauka, Mark Favazza, and Paul Mycroft.)