Hitachi Deskstar…

EvilOzzmess

EvilOzzmess

Banned
Hitachi Deskstar…

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate place to put this, apologies if it belongs elsewhere.

That said I just bought a Cavalry CAXB 2TB External HDD but instead of a WD drive like the 500GB CAUM Series I had bought in 2008 (still going strong with no problems whatsoever)… this one has a Hitachi Deskstar (HDS5C3020ALA632). :shock:

I’ve heard some pretty horrendous things about this series of drive (the “Deathstar” nickname being the prime point here) so I am wondering if there is anything I have to worry about? Any tests I should run? Newegg reviews on this drive are about 25% negative, that's a lot of dead/defective drives.


Right now I have half of a mind to box it back up and send it back to Amazon, purely because these drives are priced at $80… I paid $138 and change for this, expecting a WD drive to boot (the drives they had always used before). Bottom line is an enclosure + cables do NOT cost $50 on top of a HDD's price point...


Opinions?
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Acer Aspire 5738PG-6306
OS
7 Ultimate x64 SP1
CPU
Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.20GHz
Motherboard
Acer JV50 | Intel PM45 Chipset | BIOS Phoenix v1.21
Memory
4GB SDRAM DDR2 667
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Mobility Radeon 4570HD 512MB VDDR3 (2.25GB HyperMemory)
Sound Card
Integrated Dolby Home Theater HD Audio Support
Monitor(s) Displays
15.6" LED backlight HD/WS CineCrystal w/ Multi-Touch
Screen Resolution
Notebook: 1366x768 | Syncmaster P2370HD: 1920x1080
Hard Drives
Primary internal: 320GB WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0 @ 5400 RPM | Secondary external 1: 2TB Cavalry CAXB3702T0 @7200 RPM (USB 2.0) | Secondary external 2: 500GB Calvary CAUM @7200 RPM (USB 2.0).
PSU
AC Adapter
Case
Blue Clam shell
Cooling
OEM Bult-in.
Keyboard
Microsoft Wireless 3000 (USB)
Mouse
Logitech V220 (USB)
Internet Speed
31Mbps DL/25Mbps UL - Verizon fiOs/Netgear WNDR37AV
Other Info
EXTERNAL DISPLAY: 23" Samsung Syncmaster P2370HD | EXTERNAL SOUND: 300 Watt MX-KB30 JVC Stereo (AUX) | ROUTER: Netgear WNDR37AV 802.11a/b/g/n Dual-Band Gigabit | Satechi 12-Port USB 2.0 Hub | GAME PAD: SteelSeries 3GC USB 2.0 (JoyToKey Mapping) | DETAILED SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5265887&CatId=4938
The thing with Newegg reviews is that if you look at just about any hard drive, you will find tons of people who get these DOA, they die in 3 days, etc. But I've been buying and using hard drives for years and years and years. I've used just about every brand out there, and I've never had a problem with a new drive...be it a Maxtor, Connor, Hitachi, IBM, Samsung, Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, etc. i honestly wonder what people on NewEgg do with their hardware and components to suffer so much failure. I have many computer buddies, and we have all bought tons of hard drives, and we don't get a 25% failure rate on our purchases. I'd be shocked if we suffered a 2.5% failure rate.

The term "deathstar" comes from many years ago when the "Deskstar" line with an IBM product and the 30GB drives experienced significant problems. I've actually still got one and it's working fine. But any company can have problems, for example the Seagate 7200.11 had a huge issue with firmware which bricked drives. This doesn't mean that I won't buy Seagate anymore...but I wouldn't necessarily jump on a 7200.11 model.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self-Built in July 2009
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
CPU
Intel Q9550 2.83Ghz OC'd to 3.40Ghz
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1, F12 BIOS
Memory
8GB G.Skill PI DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 timings
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA 1280MB Nvidia GeForce GTX570
Sound Card
Realtek ALC899A 8 channel onboard audio
Monitor(s) Displays
23" Acer x233H
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
Intel X25-M 80GB Gen 2 SSD
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, 32MB cache. WD1001FALS
PSU
Corsair 620HX modular
Case
Antec P182
Cooling
stock
Keyboard
ABS M1 Mechanical
Mouse
Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
Internet Speed
15/2 cable modem
Other Info
Windows and Linux enthusiast. Logitech G35 Headset.
This Hitachi HD has been running 24/7 since Aug 2010, when I installed Win7 Prof from my TechNet subscription. ;)
 

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My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Built them myself, Science Experiments !
OS
Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
CPU
AMD fx8350 4ghz, AMD-32 2400mhz, AMD-64 3200mhz, AMDx64 2.8G
Motherboard
SIS 755, ECS-K8M890M-M (Ult 7600), GigaByte & others
Memory
2gb, 4gb on the Ult 7600, 4gb on Technet RTM, 32gb on FX8350
Graphics Card(s)
Draw my own Graphics, several nVidia cards
Sound Card
on motherboard
Monitor(s) Displays
19" flat scr, 28" I-Inc widescr,22" Emprex Widescr, 23" Acer
Screen Resolution
1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1920 x 1080
Hard Drives
6 pata Ide HD's & 2 Sata HD's
added 80gb external on Ult 7600 computer,
numerous extra 1tb, 2TB, 3Tb SATA HD's
A collection of ext HD Docks w/ HDs
PSU
430w, 550w, 600w, 700, 800, etc
Case
All Generic Full Towers
Cooling
Open Air & a few fans, some w/ colored LEDs
Keyboard
Compaq & Dell recycled from GoodWill
Mouse
Made in China Optical Wired Mouse
Internet Speed
Fast Cable InterNet
Antivirus
AVG Free on 24 different Desktops, NO Problems!
Browser
IE 8 is preferred, but use FireFox sometimes
Other Info
Linksys Routers, switches, & Hubs
Too Many USB Flash Drives to count, Biggest is 64GB !
Eight computers in my home network.
Sixteen computers at my business network.
Linked via TeamViewer !
Lots of old used spare computer parts everywhere!
Seems fair enough, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

It appears to be running OK right now, no odd noises, not too hot and it did pass Seagate's utility "short generic" along with the two WD's. Running the long generic now...

I'll go ahead and run chkdsk on it too and if it passes that then I'll be satisfied.


Sorry to be a nuisance... I'm just paranoid about new devices and hardware. Don't have a lot money so I have to be as sure as possible they won't fizzle out on me. HDD's seem to do that more often than anything else lol. And this is my first Hitachi anything so... just yeah. I'm sure we've all been 'here' before, right? :p
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Acer Aspire 5738PG-6306
OS
7 Ultimate x64 SP1
CPU
Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.20GHz
Motherboard
Acer JV50 | Intel PM45 Chipset | BIOS Phoenix v1.21
Memory
4GB SDRAM DDR2 667
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Mobility Radeon 4570HD 512MB VDDR3 (2.25GB HyperMemory)
Sound Card
Integrated Dolby Home Theater HD Audio Support
Monitor(s) Displays
15.6" LED backlight HD/WS CineCrystal w/ Multi-Touch
Screen Resolution
Notebook: 1366x768 | Syncmaster P2370HD: 1920x1080
Hard Drives
Primary internal: 320GB WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0 @ 5400 RPM | Secondary external 1: 2TB Cavalry CAXB3702T0 @7200 RPM (USB 2.0) | Secondary external 2: 500GB Calvary CAUM @7200 RPM (USB 2.0).
PSU
AC Adapter
Case
Blue Clam shell
Cooling
OEM Bult-in.
Keyboard
Microsoft Wireless 3000 (USB)
Mouse
Logitech V220 (USB)
Internet Speed
31Mbps DL/25Mbps UL - Verizon fiOs/Netgear WNDR37AV
Other Info
EXTERNAL DISPLAY: 23" Samsung Syncmaster P2370HD | EXTERNAL SOUND: 300 Watt MX-KB30 JVC Stereo (AUX) | ROUTER: Netgear WNDR37AV 802.11a/b/g/n Dual-Band Gigabit | Satechi 12-Port USB 2.0 Hub | GAME PAD: SteelSeries 3GC USB 2.0 (JoyToKey Mapping) | DETAILED SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5265887&CatId=4938
The Deskstar gained that nickname many years ago - many models ago. And it only came from one batch spanning two capacities.

The drives reliability have improved since then, but the deathstar reputation still lingers.


Similar to Seagates 7200.11 drives with bad firmware that bricked drives - except Segate bounced back easier :rolleyes:
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Systems by SmartEyeball
OS
8 Pro x64
CPU
i7 3770K 4.6GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77 WS
Memory
16GB G.Skill Trident X 2666mhz
Graphics Card(s)
x2 EVGA 780 Ti Superclocked SLI
Sound Card
SB X-FI Surround 5.1 PRO USB / ATH-AD900 Headphones
Monitor(s) Displays
x3 Dell U2410 / 58" Samsung
Screen Resolution
5760*1200/ 1920*1200
Hard Drives
2x Intel 520 240GB (RAID 0) * 2x WD Caviar Blacks 2TB (RAID 0) * 2TB WD Caviar Black * Sony Optirac DVD
PSU
Silverstone Strider Evolution 1200W
Case
Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition
Cooling
Noctua NH-D14
Keyboard
Topre Realforce // Ducky Shine MX Black // Filco Ninja TKL
Mouse
Thermaltake Theron (Highly Recommended) + Razer Imperator
Antivirus
MSE
Browser
IE, FF, WaterFox
Other Info
GT Extreme V2 Sim Racing Cockpit + 40" LCD and K/B Mouse stand ▼
Fanatec CSR Elite Wheel + Clubsport V1 Pedals + CSR shifter/7G-H ▼Saitek X52 Pro ▼ TrackIR 5 Pro
Buttkicker v2 Seat Rumbler with Dedicated 5.1 and Sub Woofer attached to frame ▼
=
Bloody Big Grin
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