SUMMARY: For months now users of IBM manufactured hard disk drives based on the Deskstar 60GXP and 75GXP models have been experiencing substantial frequent fail rates and data loss – Cameron "Mr.Tweak" Wilmot recently fell victim himself and suggsts what the problem may be, and possible solutions!
I tend to think this is not the case. IBM’s GMR method certainly doesn’t make matters any better for IBM or it’s team of engineers, but I don’t think this alone is the only cause of the “Click of Death” errors and general drive failure. Allow me to explain...
After discussing my problem with other users of IBM 60GXP and 75GXP drives who’ve been experiencing similar problems - I strongly believe the problem comes down to a lack of cooling and the fact these latest drives from IBM run so damn hot – Why get all technical minded, we all know when anything electrical gets hot its reliability is going to be lessened quite significantly. The instant you start hearing your HDD starting to tick over or give strange file errors or sounds, it’s paramount you instantly prepare yourself for the worse – Start backing up as much as you can and prepare yourself to wager war against your HDD.
I believe not only the platters are operating at a temperature unsustainable, but also the chips - More specifically, the controller chip on the externally visible circuit board of the bottom of the drive, as pictured above (The chip on the far right). If you do not keep this devilishly-warm chip adequately cooled, it will become buggy and unstable, possibly even useless in time if it goes without cooling – I have no black and white concrete proof of this, however quite possibly this could be a reason for the “Click of Death” sounds made when the drives become faulty, or at least contributing towards it.
Replacing HDD Circuit Boards, hope is not totally lost!
With the help of Jarrod Mast from Australia website Overclockers Melbourne, we have proven that replacing the circuit board of a few IBM 40GB 75GXP drives (thus replacing the controller chip, which heats up the most as it is accessed most regularly and thus the hottest operating) with the same circuit board from an exact same model of another working 75GXP drive fixes the problem, or at least renders the data accessible if the platters are still intact – This means you still may be able to access your all important data – Break out the champaign!
Please note we do not endorse actions like this nor do not recommend it, consider this our disclaimer. If your going to attempt this ensure a professional who knows exactly what they are doing performs the surgery. While I have a spare identical drive that matches that of my faulty drive in arms reach, I’m not going to attempt it for the simply fact I’m not qualified to do so.
As a business owner, or someone responsible for network security within your organization, you need to understand how to prevent attacks and eliminate network weaknesses that leave your business exposed and at risk.
Copyright © 1999-2008 Tweak Town Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.