IBM 75GXP 45 gig hard drive problem

[moemac8]

It seems my HD spins alot, even when nothing is going on. Even after a reformat and install of Windows XP. Is this one of the IBM drives that was supposed to have problems. What exactly were the problems and what can I do to fix it. I downloaded IBM Disc Fitness Test and booted to it ran it and it found bad sectors and wanted to erase the disc or repiar the bad sectors. I let it repair the bad sectors but it always hangs after a certain point and will never finish.

Also I have two HDs each with two partitions, how do I tell which drive letter is on what actual HD.

 

[Budman]

You cant repair bad sectors, bad sectors are BAD for life & you'll need to replace the hd.

Frankly it's a miracle that hd lasted this long !!

 

[Budman]

What's up with the IBM 75GXP problems? How do I RMA if my drive is dead?

 

[TheModemWizard]

Welcome to the club. I have had three go down on me and I will never use these drives in my PC again.

-Tmw

 

[optimistic]

I've RMA'd one last week. Any my second one is being processed right now. The Hitachi RMA department has about a 5 day turn-around. I live in LA, CA. Hitachi is in Fremont? Or Union City CA.


Check here if your hard drive is still eligible for RMA.

 

[Wiktor]

Very good article there on anandtech, wasn't there when I last researched the issue (I have a 60GXP, so it concerns me too ).

 

[moemac8]

I think I just toss it and get me a Serial ATA HD, my new motherboard (Abit IS7-E) has it but I didnt want to buy a new drive

 

[Swanny]

RMA it if you still have warrenty left. The last one I sent in came back with a 120GXP as a replacement, which doesn't have the same problems.

 

[beatle]

My last 60GXP (40 gig) came back as a 180GXP.

 

[randomlinh]

my friend sent a 75GB in... came back as a 180GXP... VERY quiet... the next one he sent in (they were in raid for two years straight), came back as a refurb 75gxp

 

[jacktesterson]

the problem is its IBM

 

[ssanches]

Originally posted by: lnguyen
my friend sent a 75GB in... came back as a 180GXP... VERY quiet...

If you enjoy a quiet IBM HDD then you may have my dead 75GXP that's very very silent. Frankly I haven't heard it make any noise for the last couple years

Heck it's quieter than my Barracuda IV 40GB ST340016A

 

[Deskstar]

One of mine failed and I got a new one promptly from Hitachi under warranty. Then I tested my other four and found one was going bad, but more than 3 years old. Two failures out of 6 drives in 4 years.

 

[gatewaysrule]

How did you get that thing to last this long?! I have went through about 4 IBM death star hard drives already in one machine! Sounds like you're going to have to RMA it.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Budman
You cant repair bad sectors, bad sectors are BAD for life & you'll need to replace the hd.

Frankly it's a miracle that hd lasted this long !!

Actually, you can if it is not a physical problem on the drives data area. I used to have a 75GXP that woul occasionally develop bad sectors, and a low level format fixed it up.

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: Budman
You cant repair bad sectors, bad sectors are BAD for life & you'll need to replace the hd.

Frankly it's a miracle that hd lasted this long !!

Heh Budman, my old 75GXP 46.1gig is still going strong. It's used as the main drive too. I should probably be quiet cause I'm sure the 3yr warranty is up by now.
*knocking on wood*

Also, I would suggest doing a low level format to see if it can fix the bad sectors. It just might do the trick.

 

[Whitneymuse]

I kept hearing about the 75GXP and the class action law suit, blah blah blah. It was a YMMV thing, until about a year and 1/2 into my usage, I heard the so-called IBM "scratch of death". In fact, someone posted a .mp3 file that sounded like someone taking sometihng metal and periodically bringing it down on a metal turntable, lifting it, then laying back on the turntable. Couldn't repair, couldn't reboot it, could RMA it.

December 2002, got a brand new 60GB 180GXP in return for the 45GB and then IBM ((((poof)))) went out of the hard drive business. It's fine so far, very quiet AND, I don't use it; it's in it's anti-static bag and I use it exclusively to backup WD SE drives and Maxtor 8M cache drives.

That said, all drives have a history of problems. SReview has an ongoing survey of users' experience with drive manufacturers and all of them have problems. So, make certain to either go to a RAID and/or back up images of everything.