Previous discussion threads

• All About Harddisk Thread V3, Discussion for Good Harddisk (Jun 2010 - Jan 2012)
• All About Harddisk Thread V2, Discussion for Good Harddisk (Oct 2008 - Jun 2010)
• Discussion for Good Harddisk, Harddisk Discussion (Oct 2005 - Oct 2008)

Check HDD Warranty

• Hitachi
• Seagate & Samsung
• Western Digital

Utilities

• Benchmarking
  • CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1c
  • ATTO Disk Benchmark
• Information
  • Comparison of S.M.A.R.T tools (Wikipedia)
  • CrystalDiskInfo 5.0.4
  • SpeedFan
• Testing
  • Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows (by Western Digital) (Seagate compatible)
  • Drive Fitness Test (by Hitachi)
  • HDDScan 3.3
  • Seatools for Windows (by Seagate)

Informative Forumer Posts

• Information about Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test by dkk.
• Information about Seagate's Seatools for Windows and Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows by dkk.
• QUOTE(wildwestgoh @ Jan 17 2013, 07:56 AM)
  Western Digital laptop (2.5") drives' thickness chart.
  http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/mobile/ (Z-height)
  
  Seagate laptop (2.5") drives' thickness chart.
  (Click Specifications below the chart.)
  http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drive...op-hard-drives/ (Height)

  

Terminology

• PATA
  Maximum transfer speed: 16, 33, 66, 100, 133 MB/s
  
  
• SATA
  • SATA 1.5 Gbps aka SATA 1 aka SATA I
    Maximum transfer speed: 150 MB/s
  • SATA 3.0 Gbps aka SATA 2 aka SATA II
    Maximum transfer speed: 300 MB/s
  • SATA 6.0 Gbps aka SATA 3 aka SATA III
    Maximum transfer speed: 600 MB/s
• S.M.A.R.T.
  "S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology; often written as SMART) is a monitoring system for computer hard disk drives to detect and report on various indicators of reliability, in the hope of anticipating failures."

Capacity

• 4.0 TB = 3,725.29 GiB
• 3.0 TB = 2,793.96 GiB
• 2.0 TB = 1,862.65 GiB
• 1.5 TB = 1,396.98 GiB
• 1.0 TB = 931.32 GiB
• 750 GB = 698.49 GiB
• 640 GB = 596.05 GiB
• 500 GB = 465.66 GiB
• 320 GB = 298.02 GiB

Further Reading

• Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population
  "In this paper we present one such study by examining the population of hard drives under deployment within Google's computing infrastructure."

This post has been edited by everling: Jan 30 2013, 08:28 PM

News

2012-01-23

• QUOTE(Western Digital)
  The company also announced it has made significant additional progress to restore its manufacturing capacity following the recent flooding in Thailand. It has continued to ramp HDD production in Thailand and yesterday resumed slider production which had been suspended since October 10. The company now believes its manufacturing capacity will be back to pre-flood capabilities in the quarter ending September 2012.
  http://www.wdc.com/en/company/pressroom/re...15-7c4c5346606c
  

2012-03-06

• QUOTE
  Western Digital will be allowed to acquire Hitachi’s 2.5” and SSD businesses, but not the 3.5” business. Instead Western Digital will be selling that business to Toshiba – factories and all – along with granting licenses for the necessary patents, which would allow Toshiba to effectively continue in the 3.5” market from where Hitachi left off.  This would firmly establish Seagate, Western Digital, and Toshiba as the 3 major players in the hard drive business across all product segments.
  
  [...]
  
  Finally, it would appear that this is as far as the EU and FTC are willing to let the hard drive market contract, at least at this time. Their various rulings have made it clear that they will block any attempt at consolidating the market to two manufacturers, so the wave of acquisitions that started in 2009 should be at an end.
  Western Digital To Sell Hitachi's 3.5” Hard Drive Business To Toshiba, Complete Hitachi Buyout

This post has been edited by everling: Mar 7 2012, 11:55 AM

Has the price of HDD generally gone down already or is there still time to wait? TQ

The prices have dropped since its peak, but still nowhere near what it used to be before the Thailand floods.

For example, from Viewnet price lists:

• Samsung 2TB HD204UI
  • 16-10-2011 : RM 249
  • 25-10-2011 : RM 289
  • 27-12-2011 : RM 449
  • 08-01-2012 : RM 399

No one has any real idea on when the prices will return to the pre-flood prices. Some says it will happen by mid-year, some says it won't happen until the end of the year.

Assume that, every two weeks after next week, will drop to 25myr, depends how the demand will move. Some said just in time for Ivy Bridge release, move back to 320myr for 2TB.

Hopes the price goes soon ASAP. Running out of HDD space soon.

Me too now consider to buy which brand of HDD.

Update from WD, pre-flood manufacturing capacity expected to be back in Sept end 2012.

http://www.tweaktown.com/pressrelease/6751...very/index.html

prices are going to be hovering around this range for quite some time more.

Realistic target : I have to change my initial predictions from August to end of the year...

+1, here is another link of the same source

http://www.bjorn3d.com/news/Western_Digita...again/1232.html

Well that is when it will reach the same production, but to reach back the volume that they lost during all this time. May take a bit longer for that so prices wont be exactly the same to pre-flood at that time I guess.

Hope is a hope
but i still love to see 1TB below Rm200 anytime soon = =

the current HDD price were around RM330 for 1tb.
hope it can drop until RM300 by the end of the month.

i have hitachi 2.5" hdd from 2007, the occasional when using got like a "beep" sound

then when reading the disk can hear "tak tak tak" sound from it

not sure if the hdd is failing, but i have backup most of the things from it.....is there anyway to salvage this hdd??

It is very unlikely that you'll be able to keep your five year old HDD for much longer. On the bright side, today's 2.5" HDDs are much better performers and should have larger capacities for a similar price point, despite the Thailand floods.

---

Added on January 26, 2012, 6:14 pmThanks you two. I have added it to the news section, but sourced from WD itself. Hopefully WD's copy will stay around indefinitely.

This post has been edited by everling: Jan 26 2012, 06:14 PM

Download Hitachi's diagnostic utility. It's called Drive Fitness Test. Burn it to a CDR, and boot from that. It should "fix" (ie mark) the bad sectors.

http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/#DFT

There's a link on that same page to check warranty expiration date. Key in the serial number, and it shows the expiration date. The serial number is printed physically on the hard disk. There are also utilities that will show the serial number. (Seagate's Seatools for Windows and WD's wdlg both do, and they also sometimes works on other brand's hard disks. It's usually better to use the manufacturer's own utility though, if it's available).

I also use this free utility that can do surface scan reads, and shows the time it takes to read each block. Blocks that takes a very long time to read might have problems.

http://hddscan.com/

Windows just popped up a warning saying that the HDD is in a bad shape and advised backup. How much time do I actually have before it actually fails?
Using a 1TB Samsung HDD, roughly 2-3 years old.

The warning is based on the SMART data, which may indicate a real problem. However empirical research has shown that the SMART data, as it is, are not good predictors for HDD failures. There is still a chance that your HDD may work fine for its expected lifespan, or it may fail in the next hour.

To get more information about your HDD, you could try using CrystalDiskInfo which details the SMART data. SpeedFan also details SMART data, and it also has an option to analyse your SMART data via a web-service. There are also other free tools that can analyse your SMART data and provide recommendations.

But even with these tools, it would still be difficult to predict when it will fail. I would play it safe and back up important data. If storage space is not an issue and the HDD is still under warranty, sending it in for warranty replacement may be a good option. Otherwise you could treat it like a time bomb and hope that nothing will happen.

Thank you for your advice. What are the recommended brand for 2TB HDD nowadays since Samsung HDD division is acquired by Seagate?
Its been a long time since I keep up with the IT news, it used to be that Samsung was the brand to go when they had the 1TB back then.

Huuuhuuu, price better drop. Running out of space now. Too much downloads and photos. Anyway, can anyone guide me on the most cost-effective way to have a central point to save all my things. Should I get NAS or should I get a Home Server or should I get a server? Pros & cons. Thanks lots.

It'll be great to have a section showing noticeable/important history of price for HDD since most people's concerns are just that.

I'd like to get my hands on a proper database of the price lists. Unfortunately my copies are quite fragmented and I have only been keeping Viewnet prices lately, which goes back to March 2011.

Hi all, may I know is Western Digital AV-GP series good for RAID? Or just for 24/7 use only?

As I search some forums, it said most of the WD green drive (except for Enterprise HDD) is not suitable for RAID use.

everling - Many thanks for an awesome & informative 1st post!

With the events that happens a few weeks ago to cyberlockers, I may not need to buy additional HHD space.
I also hope I'm not the only one, thus impacting the demand for HDD and driving the price down again!

wat say you guys?

Thanks for your kind words. Part of it came from other forumers and I hope it would be useful to others.

I'm not significantly impacted by the current temporary loss of cyberlockers and I hope that I'll be able to limit myself to my current hardware. I'm not looking forward to unplugging my DVD drive again.

hard drives are so expensive now SIGH. wallet really bleed when i filled up my 5-bay synology with 3tb drives last month. i have switched from wd black to wd green now.

5-bay X 3TB = 15TB?

i was wondering the comparison with IDE and SATA

currently i research is SATA speed is faster than IDE
IDE have lesser lifespan than SATA
IDE is cheaper than SATA

any advantages on IDE and SATA
since i cant get the advantages on IDE via google

thank

IDE and sata don't really contribute to how long a device will last. they are just interfaces. I still have a bundle of IDE drves that are still working and lasted longer than some of my sata drives.

Also since when IDE is cheaper?

btw Sata was introduced as an upgrade for IDE

anyway do you mind to share both advantages for me?
thank

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA#IDE_and_ATA-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

Basically you can read yourself about it there. Btw as SATA is an upgrade for IDE, there is no logical reason for IDE to have any advantages over SATA

A few years ago, before SATA existed, IDE's advantage is that it exists and SATA did not.

A short while after that, you can get SATA hard disks, but all CD/DVD drives were still IDE.

If you have a very old m/b, with one IDE + 2 SATA sockets, and you already have 2 SATA hard disks, then the advantage of IDE is that you already have a free socket, which can support 2 devices.

Otherwise, there's no reason to buy new hard disk / DVD / CD drives with IDE instead of SATA.

wd green now only got 2yr wrty ler.

Advantage of IDE would be no need SATA controller... Duh that was how many years ago

Sorry a little off topic but I've always been against Synology prices. You pay a premium for what something that you can DIY or get at a fraction of the cost.

What MB/s throughput are you getting from those drives?

Anyway, during the long holidays, I dusted and resurrected out my old Q6600 workhorse desktop with 3 x 750GB Samsung F1 hardisk which has not been used for 2 years.

Anyway, did a quick bench on the RAID 0 150GB partition from the 3 drives.



Not too shabby in the midst of SSD drives and furthermore with my mobo still on SATA 2.

nowadays its hard to find latest mobo that has an ide port
so its always a better idea to go for sata than ide

IDE will get obsolete soon....because of its transfer rate...

Do your own homework. Google and Wikipedia is there. Guys don't feed this lazy troll.

i like SATA becoz its easily plug & play, save some space over IDE

hmm question looks like an assignment...

[Edit]Found where to buy 5.25-3.5" bay converter.

This post has been edited by HiT-AbLe: Jan 28 2012, 06:21 PM

Unfortunately it isn't SSD's read/write that is what sets it apart from HDDs. It is its access times, which can hit below 0.1ms, something that HDDs can't ever hope to touch. For certain situations, this very low access times can provide a performance improve well above 50x the fastest RAID arrays of HDDs can ever hope to achieve.

This post has been edited by everling: Jan 28 2012, 09:03 PM

Yes, thanks for the reminder. I am fully aware of this and one of the primary reasons why I run M4 SSDs on my notebooks.

In RAID5... you get 12TB only.



This post has been edited by paultantk: Jan 29 2012, 12:47 PM

Now Seagate Barracuda hard drives come with 1 year warratny...? I asked at Viewnet this morning, they told me only 1 year.

Edit: Found my answer, and it's true.

This post has been edited by jon89: Jan 29 2012, 04:45 PM

Gratz with V4.

Btw, when will the HDD price back to normal?

Guys, my 3 years old Maxtor Basics 1TB shows the status "Caution" using CrystalDiskInfo.

The only yellow color warning is located at :

ID 05
Attribute Name: Reallocated Sectors Count
Current: 100
Worst : 100
Treshold :36

Is this bad or can it be fixed? If not, RMA the drive? It comes with 5 years of warranty. Good until Dec 2013. Just dont want it to fail suddenly and lose my data.

1 year with Viewnet. But have you gone to Seagate's website and check the warranty status on your hard disk? You key in the serial number and it tells you the expiry date.

---

Added on January 29, 2012, 8:20 pmDec 2013 is nearly 2 years away. Still a long time.

No idea if it's bad or not. But I know what you should do. Go to Seagate's website, download Seatools for Windows. Run the long test on your hard disk. It should clear any errors. (If there are too many errors, it will say so, in which case you can return the hard disk). Otherwise, wait a few months, check again. if no new problems develop, you're fine.

BTW: IINM, the new Seatools just silently "repair" bad sectors. The old version tells you if there are bad sectors, and then ask you if you want to "fix" them. WD's Data Lifeguard diagnostic for windows also works on Seagate drives, and does tell you if errors are found, before repairing them. You might prefer to use that instead. Or the free HDD scan utility's surface scan.

This post has been edited by dkk: Jan 29 2012, 08:20 PM

ytd my fren go viewnet collect back her rma WD black RE4 500gb but she being told to top up just RM40 to get a brand new 1tb WD black RE4, really worth it i guess.

my asus p8h67-m just bought last yr aug got ide port.

Hi guys this is first time im gonna RMA my harddisk... but browsing the below makes me confuse~~

http://websupport.wdc.com/warranty/rmainfo.asp?rnd=02205927

If anyone of you had ever RMA WD please guide me okay?

Heres what im gonna do: RMA 2 WD Green 1.0TB and 1.5TB.
Problem: Both harddisk there is some partition that will always prompt to chkdsk everytime log to win7 (error missing sector). I always skip because after scan few times, also prompt.

Following this website, they will come pickup but charge my credit card?

yup, they will charge your credit card if your hard disk is > 6 months.

Just dl-ed data lifeguard and run on 1.5TB green..... as expected.. CANNOT COMPLETE lol.

The problem with this drive is always hang halfway during accessing...problem of the "green" technology? hmmmm

I will refrain from buying WD Green anymore since both green are the only HDD i had that fail on me and need RMA

This post has been edited by BAlm: Jan 29 2012, 11:36 PM

I have two Greens, WD10EADS, that have been with me for almost three years. Their warranties expire this year. *touch wood*

---

Added on January 30, 2012, 12:40 amI have added dkk's information to the first post and linked back both of his informative posts. Thanks a lot dkk!

I've also removed the Western Digital warranty policy link as it seems to be out of date.

This post has been edited by everling: Jan 30 2012, 12:42 AM

Yup, already done that. It expires on March 2013. Hard disk manufactured date is on Jan 2012. So yea, only 1 year warranty.

*DO NOT RMA*. Your's is a Windows problem. Use Google. This problem is described in so many different places.

http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-suppor...y-computer.html

http://forums.techarena.in/windows-xp-support/662850.htm

To know whether you should RMA a hard disk, first download the diagnostic utility from the hard disk manufacturer. Then run it.

---

Added on January 30, 2012, 5:09 amIn that case, go ahead and RMA.

This post has been edited by dkk: Jan 30 2012, 05:09 AM

New Toys from Akihabara

Hitachi new release 3.5 inch HDD.

4TB HDD with 7200 RPM.

Price: 28,800 // RM1,141.82



This post has been edited by RegentCid: Jan 30 2012, 12:43 PM

The price turn me off
BTW with my favourite file sharing deactivated,its harder for me to backup my files.

[Question]
Striped volume vs RAID-5

I have 1 SSD as OS and 3 * 1TB.
The reason I didn't set them on RAID is because I need AHCI mode to ensure my SSD running at optimum.
Question is, should I go back to RAID mode and RAID-5 my 3 storage instead of doing Striped Volume in Windows 7?

Notice you posted this before a while back... But it's still not available here.

Are you running critical data that you require RAID 5?

Put the 3 drives in a separate NAS box and run it as eSATA or as Gigabit.

Old one was 5200 RPM....this new one was 7200 RPM

whatever it is, don't ever let them charge your credit card unless you wanna be cheated by them.
you can read my case here:
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=2203437&hl=

which they have kept my money and did nothing!

What's the meaning of critical data?
I don't want separate drives it look "messy" where you have D E F and you don't know where to put what.

Did you try informing your bank of this fraudulent CC charge and have them revoke it? If successful, the banks would punish the offending company.

If you don't know what's critical data means you don't have any important files that you cannot afford to loose lah...

RAID 5 can be designated as one single drive letter. Why does it need to be D E F?

That was his reason for using RAID-5, to get only one partition out of three HDDs.

Anybody here know the hitachi cinemaster hard disk?

perhaps its better if we hope External Harddisk prices drop first
because that would create alot of purchase of External Harddisk rather then Internal,
unless aiming for new rig or NAS system,
a lack of profits in internal will lead em to act faster

I think this is going round and round in circles... I thought Shufflerz's problem was because he's using SSD, he wants to set all SATA ports to AHCI and therefore cannot do "hardware" RAID for his other 3 normal hardisk.

My suggestion to him was to take out the 3 hardisk, find a 3 or 4 bay enclosure and connect the PC with eSATA (cheap ones) or the connect via Gigabit switch (more expensive type). The eSATA NAS enclosures can run RAID 5 via a separate SATA RAID controller card installed in the PC or a real standlalone NAS enclosure having it's own RAID 5 controller and connects via Gigabit network. In either case, the RAID 5 volume can be set as a single drive.

After that he says he does not want to take out the hardisk because it will become D E F drives?

Sorry, my bad.

yup, and i was told that this is not a fraud case because it's an authorized transaction which i approved. so nothing the bank can do cause now the issue is between me and the merchant.

so yeah, i'm screwed.

does WD black scorpio worth 2 get it now?? the price r 100% higher b4 thai flooded.

Spoken like a person who has never had to reformat and reinstall his OS every 3 months or so because of virus, worms, etc.

Hey guys take a look at this article. It clearly shows that anybody who buy HDD now are pretty much getting rip off by HDD maker.

They dont suffer any "serious" shortage anymore, just that they want to make everyone believe it so they can sell at double the price.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/storage/displ..._Shipments.html

So if u dont really need a HDD now dont buy, try to find things to delete, do a clean up on ur HDD is far better than getting rip off by HDD maker.

The situation is actually more dire than that. Particularly with statements like


By the end of March 2012, Seagate (wiki) and WD (wiki) will assume control of 90% of the HDD market (wiki), leaving only Toshiba (wiki) as the wild card. Seagate and WD's key products is the HDD, so it will be in their best interests to keep the prices high. Maybe Toshiba could try to spoil this, but it would have a small effect since it has only 10% of the market.

Hi there,

I have a 2 year old Scorpio Blue 320GB 5400 which I use for keep my personal data, photos n etc.

recently, the harddisk giving me trouble and can't detect anymore, have "tek tek tek" sound once plugged.

Called up WD, they as me to send to factory to claim warranty since it still under warranty.

But how to retrieve the datas from the HDD ya?

i really need hdd badly.. so WD My Passport Essential is come with 5.4 or 7.2 krpm? i need external hdd can any1 recommend me? thanks~

they (seagate & western digital) need extra money so that they can build factory on the tibet range
thats why they still not dropping the price.
welcome to the world of capitalism. makes more money and lets the idiots (who buys) suffers!

i got one external WD HDD..passport...
yday i copy some files from my office pc...when i reach home and plug in my laptop the hdd cannot be read...after a while it shows "drive not formatted"
if i format sure all things gone! what can i do?
today i reach office plug in my office pc still the same. try colleague pc still the same..
i dunno if this can be discuss here. anyone can help>?

ive a RAID10 for my pc. but today i found tat 1 of my mirror harddisk has failure. currently im using 640gb x4. but very hard to find 640gb 3.5" HDD.

so i wanna ask that can i use 2.5" HDD 640gb 5400rpm for replacement?

I'm now using a WD 160GB hdd and its temperature can reach up to 70°C. Is it normal or too hot? What is the maximum safe temperature for hdd?

WAAAAAAY too hot.
That's critical levels of a temperature that can be sustained by a HDD.

No HDD should ever go above 50c at load.
Give or take, even in a notebook... a HDD shouldn't be hotter than 55c (even at 50c, that's way too hot).
Your HDD could be toasted anytime at 70c.

any hdd expert can help me?

So what i gonna to do? I have 2 hdd in my computer, one is around 34c and another one around 65c, so i think my cooling system is ok. I want to know wat causes the hdd become so hot.

It could be a faulty temperature sensor. The WD2500KS (250GB capacity) is known to report it incorrectly by around 19°C higher, but I am not sure about the 160GB series. You could try touching your HDD gently to test its real temperature. I think anything above 60°C would be unbearably hot to the slightest touch. If it is just tolerably warmer to the touch, it may be below 50°C or you are quite used to handling hot stuff.

---

Added on February 9, 2012, 6:15 pmI just thought of a less painful method to test.

Put your computer on standby/sleep. Let your HDDs cool down to room temperature (either let it sleep for a few hours or test with your hand). Wake up your machine and immediately examine the temperature report. If it is immediately ~20°C higher, then you know that the temperature report is faulty.

This post has been edited by everling: Feb 9 2012, 06:15 PM

Could be a faulty USB cable that causes the issue?
Could also be the connector.

Do you hear any strange noises from the external HDD when it's turned on? Like clicking or screeching noises?


Do what everling suggested:

no strange noise. got led light and hdd is spinning. no strange noise. no screeching noise.
i'll try changing the cable

i want to buy an external hdd but searching for the website..found samsung...seagate and western digital is the best..

hmm..asking for comment..which of them is better to buy??

hi guys how to determine the speed of external hardisk, besides the 5400rpm n 7200rpm...?

None of them really stands out.

Guys, I've been roaming around digital mall and alot of IT shops in selangor except lowyat. Seems like there is no supply for 2.5" momentus XT hard disk. some don't even sell 2.5" is there shortage? Hope someone can enlighten me.

wake up this morning, open my laptop only to discover it has failed on me T_T ... anyone here can recommend me a place to recover my data back?

I don't recall of anyone reporting a successful data recovery through a data recovery service. I suppose it might be because they're simply very expensive, so most forumers didn't bothered.

ya, thought so..

one company replied my email asking for 1.2k minimum and might gone up to 3k

but if they cannot recover it, they won't charge.. but the condition of the HDD sent might worsen

This post has been edited by eone: Feb 13 2012, 11:04 AM

My WD3200BEVT Scorpio Blue laptop HDD is also running at 50c constantly which I'm quite worried. In fact it has been averaging 50c-55c and sometimes as high as 59c for over a year...

I understand that normal temperature for the HDD should be around 30 to 40 but then there's really nothing much I can do, even after I cleaned the dust the temperature doesn't seem to be affected much, wonder what's the problem with it, anyone has a similar experience?

Laptop Lenovo G450 if it matters...

Generally, even in a laptop... your HDD shouldn't be running above 50c.
Honestly, not much you can do.

It could also be a sensor fault as well on reading the temps.
Try a few different temp monitors and see if they fluctuate significantly alot or not between them.

Other than that, backup your important info regularly.