HITACHI DESKSTAR

The 'Deskstar' is the name of a product line of computer hard drives. It was originally produced by IBM until Hitachi bought IBM's hard drive division in 2003. From then on it was called the 'Hitachi Deskstar'.
The last of the Deskstar series produced under IBM name was the 180GXP.
After Hitachi had acquired IBM's storage division, Hitachi still sold Deskstar 120GXP and Deskstar 180GXP, but under the Hitachi brand.

Contents

Deskstar 75GXP failures

Details

Products

IBM models

Hitachi models

External links

Deskstar 75GXP failures

The IBM Deskstar 75GXP, and several other models made around the same time, became infamous for their reportedly high failure rates. This led to the drives being colloquially referred to as "Deathstars".
Despite failures being reported within the manufacturer warranty period (3 years), a class-action lawsuit is underway in the USA to claim refunds from Hitachi for all affected drives. The decision of this lawsuit will provide the best indication as to whether there is actually a manufacturer fault with these hard drive models.
Since the lawsuit, existing Deskstar 120GXP drives had been rerated to 333 power-on hours per month, even though the spec is not new at the time[1].

Details

A firmware update (details) gives a clue to some of the issues:

★ Possible data corruption due to a problem with S.M.A.R.T. background operations.

★ Application of wear levelling to avoid the heads dwelling too long over the same area
The drives were also known for commonly head crashing. The combination of two relatively new (at the time) technologies, GMR heads and glass platters may be largely to blame for the issues.

Products

IBM models

★ Deskstar DALA-3540

★ Deskstar DALS-3540 (SCSI)

★ Deskstar DJAA-31270/31700

★ Deskstar DSAA-3270/3360/3540/3720

★ Deskstar DSAS-3270/3360/3540/3720 (SCSI)

★ Deskstar XP
:
★ DPEA-30540/30810/31080
:
★ DPES-30540/30810/31080 (SCSI)

★ Deskstar 3
:
★ DAQA-32160/32700/33240

★ Deskstar 4
:
★ DCAA-32880/33610/34330

★ Deskstar 5
:
★ DHEA-34330/36480

★ Deskstar 8
:
★ DHEA-38451/36481/34331

★ Deskstar 14GXP
:
★ DTTA-371440/371290/371010

★ Deskstar 16GP
:
★ DTTA-351680/351290/351010/350840/350640/350430/350320

★ Deskstar 22GXP
:
★ DJNA-372200/371800/371350/379100

★ Deskstar 25GP
:
★ DJNA-352500/352030/351520/351010

★ Deskstar 34GXP
:
★ DPTA-373420/372730/372050/371360

★ Deskstar 37GP
:
★ DPTA-353750/353000/352250/351500

★ Deskstar 40GV
:
★ DTLA-305040/305030/305020

★ Deskstar 75GXP
:
★ DTLA-307075/307060/307045/307030/307020/307015

★ Deskstar 60GXP
:
★ IC35L010AVER07, IC35L020AVER07, IC35L030AVER07, IC35L040AVER07, IC35L060AVER07

★ Deskstar 120GXP
:
★ IC35L120AVVA07-0, IC35L100AVVA07, IC35L080AVVA07-0, IC35L060AVVA07-0, IC35L040AVVA07-0, IC35L040AVVN07-0, IC35L020AVVN07-0)

★ Deskstar 180GXP
:
★ IC35L180AVV207-1, IC35L120AVV207-0, IC35L120AVV207-1, IC35L090AVV207-0, IC35L090AVV207-1, IC35L060AVV207-0 (40, 40 optimized, 60 GB), IC35L030AVV207-0)

Hitachi models

★ Deskstar 120GXP
:
★ IC35L120AVVA07-0, IC35L100AVVA07, IC35L080AVVA07-0, IC35L060AVVA07-0, IC35L040AVVA07-0, IC35L040AVVN07-0, IC35L020AVVN07-0)

★ Deskstar 180GXP
:
★ IC35L180AVV207-1, IC35L120AVV207-0, IC35L120AVV207-1, IC35L090AVV207-0, IC35L090AVV207-1, IC35L060AVV207-0 (40, 40 optimized, 60 GB), IC35L030AVV207-0)

★ Deskstar 7K80
:
★ HDS728040PLA320, HDS728080PLA380 (SATA)
:
★ HDS728040PLAT20, HDS728080PLAT20

★ Deskstar 7K160
:
★ HDS721616PLA380, HDS721680PLA380 (SATA)
:
★ HDS721616PLAT80, HDS721680PLAT80

★ Deskstar 7K250
:
★ HDS722540VLAT20, HDS722580VLAT20, HDS722512VLAT20, HDS722512VLAT80, HDS722516VLAT20, HDS722516VLAT80, HDS722525VLAT80
:
★ HDS722540VLSA80,
★ HDS722580VLSA80, HDS722512VLSA80, HDS722516VLSA80, HDS722525VLSA80 (SATA)

★ Deskstar T7K250
:
★ HDT722520DLA380, HDT722525DLA380, HDT722516DLA380 (SATA)
:
★ HDT7225DLAT80, HDT722516DLAT80, HDT722520DLAT80

★ Deskstar 7K400
:
★ HDS724040KLAT80
:
★ HDS724040KLSA80 (SATA)

★ Deskstar 7K500
:
★ HDS725050KLAT80

★ Deskstar E7K500
:
★ HDS725050KLA360, HDS725050KLA361) (SATA)

★ Deskstar T7K500
:
★ HDT725050VLAT80, HDT725040VLAT80, HDT725032VLAT80, HDT725025VLAT80
:
★ HDT725050VLA380, HDT725040VLA380, HDT725032VLA380, HDT725025VLA380, HDT725050VLA360, HDT725040VLA360, HDT725032VLA360, HDT725025VLA360 (SATA)

★ Deskstar 7K1000
:
★ HDS721075KLA330, HDS721010KLA330 (SATA)

External links

★ IBM Deskstar 75GXP Class Action Website

★ Official Hitachi Deskstar Page

★ Dead deathstar dissected The loss of oxide from the glass platters may be more severe than the expected failure mechanism for these drives