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uv23 · Dec 21, 2003, 02:54 PM

Interesting news indeed. A friend of mine just got back from one of our more knowledgable/savvy hardware retailers and was strongly advised against buying a Hitachi Travelstar hd for his laptop. In fact, they are going to stop carrying the drive altogether due to too many problems/returns. Certainly has me reconsidering this drive as an upgrade fo rmy 12" Rev B.

Not intended as a troll. Just an interesting tid bit.

Spheric Harlot · 08:41 AM

The IBM Travelstars are NOTORIOUS. They failed left and right. [Edit: This is apparently INCORRECT. See the posts below]

Matter of fact, a good friend of mine just lost 30 GB of data a few weeks ago, due to a dead Travelstar laptop drive - including a full recording of one of the best gigs I've ever played, on the day my father died (unbeknownst to me).

IBM sold their entire hard drive business to Hitachi shortly after the big fiasco. I don't know what Hitachi has done with reliability since then, but I for one am not ever touching a Travelstar drive with a ten-foot pole, except to give it a GOOD whack into left field.

My opinion, FWIW.

-s*

tooki · Dec 22, 2003, 01:02 PM

I must disagree, there's no "notorious" drive failure with IBM/Hitachi drives. (There was the faulty run of Deskstar 75GXP 75GB drives, but it wasn't as widespread as internet hype would have you think.)

I have Travelstars in both my PowerBooks.

tooki

tgrundke · Dec 22, 2003, 03:54 PM

I have to second tooki here on this one - I've had a 20 gig Travelstar in my trusty ole' Pismo for well over a year now and it has been nothing but wonderful. Easy installation, great price, and runs as silent as I could have ever hoped for. I would be interested to hear of any real data in reference to these 'failures' you speak of.

Originally posted by tooki:
I must disagree, there's no "notorious" drive failure with IBM/Hitachi drives. (There was the faulty run of Deskstar 75GXP 75GB drives, but it wasn't as widespread as internet hype would have you think.)

I have Travelstars in both my PowerBooks.

tooki

ngrundy · Dec 23, 2003, 04:56 AM

Originally posted by tooki:
I must disagree, there's no "notorious" drive failure with IBM/Hitachi drives. (There was the faulty run of Deskstar 75GXP 75GB drives, but it wasn't as widespread as internet hype would have you think.)

I have Travelstars in both my PowerBooks.

tooki

On the DeskStar I have to strongly disagree.

I personally had 4 DeskStars die personally on me. A close friend has 3 go and a friend I know was replacing them at a rate of 10/day in a large installation.

Spheric Harlot · Dec 23, 2003, 08:39 AM

tooki, you appear to be correct:

The issue affects DeskStars aka "DeathStars". It is, however, *quite* widespread:
http://techreport.com/news_reply.x/3494

So perhaps my friend's Travelstar failure is merely incidental. However, the data loss incurred to me and the link above have destroyed *my* trust in the ***star products.

-s*

Shaddim · Dec 23, 2003, 05:10 PM

I like the Travelstar series, but I prefer Toshibas. That said, I have an 80GB 4200RPM in my Rev A 12" and it runs like a top.

tooki · Dec 24, 2003, 05:08 AM

Toshiba's laptop drives work fine but tend to get loud with age (something to do with the bearings).

tooki

Link · Dec 24, 2003, 07:09 AM

IBM resells their rejects as WD, who sells their rejects as hitachi.

They all have a bad record of dying with myself and my friends >_>

CatOne · Dec 24, 2003, 12:34 PM

Originally posted by Link:
IBM resells their rejects as WD, who sells their rejects as hitachi.

They all have a bad record of dying with myself and my friends >_>

Meh... Bulls**t. Hitachi took over HD production for IBM... there is no "this company resells company XXX's reject drives."

Why do you just make this up? Cite a reference if you're not pulling it from a southerly orifice.

Spheric Harlot · Dec 24, 2003, 01:15 PM

Originally posted by Link:
IBM resells their rejects as WD, who sells their rejects as hitachi.

I call BS.

quietjim · Jan 18, 2004, 12:21 AM

I put one of these drives in a Pismo last Thaniksgiving. No problems, the installation was a snap, no noticable difference from the original drive except it's so nice to have all the space! The Pismo does feel snappier, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

parsec_kadets · Jan 19, 2004, 02:04 PM

What can I say? I'm the only one among my friends to have owned a TravelStar and I'm also the only one to have had a drive failure in the last 5 years. Sure this is just anecdotal, but I'm never buying another IBM/Hitachi drive again. Also, who are you going to believe? A bunch of people on the internet, or a retailer who says that they're getting returned left and right? Considering the retailer has seen many, many more drives go through their store (and apparently come back) than most of us have, I would tend to trust the store.

bmhome1 · Jan 19, 2004, 06:28 PM

There are absolutely NO, NONE reports at xlr8yourmac.com's drive database about Travelstar drive failures. Deskstar's yes, Travelstars, NO. Thats unbiased, no agenda database results.

I bet your trusty local retailer just happens to have another brand drive they are pushing instead, of course.

Not that they get better markup or alienated their Hitachi/IBM supplier or money/profit vs. actual facts or anything.