Anyone having Problems with the Travelstar 7200RPMS? (ala Deathstar)

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forcemac101

[H]ard|Gawd
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Just wondering cuz I posted over at anand hot deals that I found some refurbs at the egg for $116.

A guy who claims to be from IBM Notebooks says the Hitachi 7200 rpm Travelstar is starting to fail at an alarming rate for them....

I am thinking BS...but just wondering...
 
I just got one a week or two ago so it's too soon to tell if it's failing or not, but it's been working great so far. AFAIK the "deathstar" nickname was given to IBM's 60GXP and 75GXP ide hard drive line. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
No Limit said:
I just got one a week or two ago so it's too soon to tell if it's failing or not, but it's been working great so far. AFAIK the "deathstar" nickname was given to IBM's 60GXP and 75GXP ide hard drive line. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
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Your not wrong.

And my Hitachi/IBM 60GB 7200 rpm HDD died bout a month ago. It lasted for about 1.5 years.
 
The problem with 5400rpm+ (esp 7200 rpm!) is that they need proper ventilation. We have a 100%... (yes 100%) failure rate (within 1 year) for our 60G Travelstars (but likewise with the Toshibas) because the Compaq/HP n610c notebooks we use DO NOT properly ventilate the drive and they stick the drive in one of the hottest spots on the laptop. You can't even touch this drive when it is pulled out!! It's that hot.

Sometimes after a failure, cooling the drive down allows it to operate again, but I wouldn't count on it lasting long.

If you have enough air flow, probably ok... but I'd take a 4200rpm 60G drive any day, just because of the reliability.
 
Yeah, I knew "deathstar" were teh GXPs, just wondering since the Hitachi's are basically IBMs in desguise since IBM sold the division......just hoping the Travelstar won't be the next "deathstar".


Also, I keep reading that this 7200 actually runs cooller than most 5400s? where are people getting that idea???
 
I haven't had problems with the last 3 laptop hitachi travelstar hard drives. My last one was in a Dell 8500 for 15 months (40GB 5400RPM) and I currently have a 60GB 7200RPM. It doesn't run hot as cjcox sees with the Compaqs... the Dell hard drive bay is in the lower left corner of the laptop, not near anything generating heat. I've removed the drive after the laptop was on (AC, HD always on) to make backups and it's just an average temperature, not hot.

The deskstar 7200RPM hard drives don't run hot. At worst (on AC power), there's only a 0.25W difference max between it and my old 30GB 4200RPM drive. On battery power, only the spinup power is higher and even that's just for a few seconds. It uses the same amount of power as toshiba 5400RPM drives, for example.
 
pxc said:
I haven't had problems with the last 3 laptop hitachi travelstar hard drives. My last one was in a Dell 8500 for 15 months (40GB 5400RPM) and I currently have a 60GB 7200RPM. It doesn't run hot as cjcox sees with the Compaqs... the Dell hard drive bay is in the lower left corner of the laptop, not near anything generating heat. I've removed the drive after the laptop was on (AC, HD always on) to make backups and it's just an average temperature, not hot.

The deskstar 7200RPM hard drives don't run hot. At worst (on AC power), there's only a 0.25W difference max between it and my old 30GB 4200RPM drive. On battery power, only the spinup power is higher and even that's just for a few seconds. It uses the same amount of power as toshiba 5400RPM drives, for example.
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We almsot have the same 8600s....except i opetedf or the 1gig and DVD/R
 
UnlimitedMP said:
What kind of life span do you think you'd get outta ur 7200 + dell 8600?
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A very long time. I'll either upgrade the 1.6A CPU to a Dothan 2GHz in a year, or sell it and buy another one. It was only $900. :D
 
I would like to drop in a 2.1 Dothan when they come down...I sure wish they mad some sort of 6600 video that would fit in the 9600 slot....that will be the weakest link..
 
Oops. Sorry I should have been more specific.

How long do you think the lifespan of the HD will last? Sure it's tough to tell but do ya think i could get 3+ years outta it before it dies/goes bad?
 
UnlimitedMP said:
How long do you think the lifespan of the HD will last? Sure it's tough to tell but do ya think i could get 3+ years outta it before it dies/goes bad?
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The drives have a 3 year warranty, so probably yes.
 
The Hitachi Drive in my Inspiron 8200 failed due to overheating in that little HDD carrier. The drive in the Inspiron 5000e which I'm using right now still works fine because it's rather far away from any other sources of heat, however, the HDD in an 8200 is practically next to the CPU.
 
The Travelstar is warm compared to the Seagate Momentus 5400rpm drive that I was using previously which was always hot to the touch. Luckily my hard drive is not located anywhere near other sources of heat in my laptop.
 
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