IBM / Hitachi Hard Drive Failures
In data recovery, IBM (Hitachi) is well known for the DeathStar HDDs (DeskStar). These drives – Aver and DTLA mostly – were infamous for their failures. Experts believe the trouble was caused by the glass platters that IBM used in these drives. After a while, magnetic layers began falling off the platters and caused dust to collect inside the Head Disc Assembly (HDA). This resulted in huge amounts of bad sectors and head corruption, leaving data unreadable.
IBM also used poor quality soldering alloy, had inadequate circuit board layout which left contacts between the HDA and PCB loose, thus leading to corrupt firmware. Trying to read data from a drive with this problem or attempting to boot up will give you error messages such as these:
“USB Device malfunctioned”
Continuing to try to read data would only shorten the life of the drive and make recovering data more difficult. It’s crucial to halt operation of the drive and get in touch with an experienced technician as soon as possible to evaluate the damage.
Burnt Circuit Boards
Another commonly reported problem with IBM / Hitachi HDDs is burnt circuit boards (PCB). Incredibly vulnerable to power streaks/surges; a poor power supply unit together with a power surge is all it takes to fry a spindle chip on the circuit boards. Once this happens, the PC will restart on its own and you will notice a smell of smoke – the drive will not spin when powered on.
BAD SECTORS
Bad sectors are a typical problem for all IBM/Hitachi hard drives. After a certain period of time, the magnetic media that covers the platters starts to erode; this equals bad sectors.
This bad sectors are unreadable and when the drive touches this unreadable spot, it typically begins ticking, freezing, clicking, scratching. The continued scratching as the drive attempts to read the bad sector causes more damage and further data loss. If you expect that this may be the problem with your HDD, immediately stop the drive and get your PC to a recovery lab as soon as possible. Expensive imaging tools are used in the lab to read raw sector data, which is normally the only successful way to recover a good amount of data.
If you experience clicking or knocking while using a Hitachi/IBM drive, first check for corrupt firmware before running off to perform clean room operations. Even though bad heads are usually the cause for such clicking/knocking, firmware corruption can also lead to clicking.
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Data Detect provides recovery on all IBM / Hitachi drive models – as shown.
IBM
MODELS
Deskstar, Ultrastar, Travelstar, Allicat, Microdrive, Excelstor
IDE / 3.5" PC DRIVE
240
28P1858
DNEF-309170
MOBILE / LAPTOP / NOTEBOOK / 2.5" DRIVE
00K0374
30GN
DMCA-21080
SCSI / SERVER / RAID / NAS / SAN
371
25L1930
DDRS-39130W
2.5" & 3.5" EXTERNAL MOBILE USB & FIREWIRE
09N4211
09N4255
22P7196
MCA
56F8896
6128277
79F4015
PS2
6128227
06G6421
WD-3158
1/3HT
320
1/3HT ATA2
70G8512
1/3HT SSA
DFHC-31080
DFHC-32160
ATA
22R5035
25R6903
73P8006
ATA66
DJSA-210
31L9820
ATA100
07N8327
DTLA-307045
IC35L020AVER07
CF+
00N8073
07N5571
07N5605
EIDE
00N8201
33L4956
90H0610
ESDI
0667-85
90X8627
DK516-12
ESMD
DK515C-78D
DK516C-16
FC
06P5707
07N3280
19K0653
FHT ESDI
0671-E15
FHT MFM ST506
0665-30
DK512-12
DK522C-10
HHT IPI-2
0664-P1S
HHT MCA PS/2
WD-3160
WD-3168
WD-380
HHT SSA
DCHC-38700
DFHC-34320
Hitachi
MODELS Deskstar, Endurastar, Microdrive, Travelstar, Ultrastar
IDE / 3.5" PC DRIVE
32938
08K0994
DK226A-21
MOBILE / LAPTOP / NOTEBOOK / 2.5" DRIVE
0A25023
DK226A-21U
GYGB110788
SCSI / SERVER / RAID / NAS / SAN
07N6831
DK31AH-36-LW
DK32EJ-36-NW
ST506
DK511-3
DK511-8
DK521-5
SATA
0A30229
0A31637
14R9462
ULTRA ATA-100
HDS722512VLAT20
HDS722516VLAT80
HDS728080PLAT20
AT
DK211A-51
DK211A-68
DK221A-34
ATA-2
DK212A-10
DK213A-18
DK223A-81
ATA-4
DK228A-65
DK238A-32
DK239A-48
ATA-5
DK22AA-18
DK23CA-10
DK23DA-30F
ATA-100
IC25N020
08K0635
14R9200
ATA-150
HDS722525VLSA80
HDS724040KLSA80
ESDI
DK512-8
DK514-38
DK516-15
SEND
DK512S-12
DK512S-19
DK514S-38D
FAST ATA-2
DK225A-14
DK225A-21
FIBRE CHANNEL
07N9370
DK32DJ-18FC
DK32EJ-14FC
ENDURASTAR
22K5606
22K5621
22K5632
MICRODRIVE
08K2531
0A40301
13G1778
EXCELSIOR
ESJ840C
ESJ880C
PATA
0A25015
