IBM Deskstar 120GXP

Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with these drives. I bought one of the "123.52" GB 120GXP (7200RPM) models by mistake while buying some other stuff. I have heard that these drives are dodgy and dont last very long. Has anything got anything to say about them?

I was thinking of keeping it and flogging off two of my 60GB maxtors (7200RPM D740X) (one drive is quieter and cooler than two) and keeping it. Anyone think this is a good/bad idea, I dont want to have the drive with all my CD images etc. on it die.

The latest IBM drives were so bad that there is even a FAQ for them (German only) which describes the typical noises of a dying or dead IBM drive.
The last time heard the 3rd noise (the one when the drive is already dead) was Dec 27th, 2001.

www.cooling-solutions.de

So you have had how many 120GXP drives die on you? -> stick with the maxtors.

I haven't lost IBM 120xxx drives.

I have lost a 30 GB and a 40 GB (plus a 6 GB, 8 GB and 20 GB, but these were not DTLA/IC, but earlier series, which usually didn't die that often). That was enough for me.

And reports in de.comp.hardware.laufwerke.brenner show that the lastest IBM drives aren't much better. They still die within months.

Most "IBM is good"-posts are posted there by stupid trolls who say "IBM is good! My IBM has worked fine for 8 weeks now and still works!" and obviously don't know that 8 weeks of hdd living is nothing to base a positive option on.

A reseller once posted that 50% of IBM drives came back dead.

I have an 60GB IBM 60GXP (ordered a 80GB 120GXP today ) and I've gotten the clicks-of-doom twice with a few months in between, what I've done then is power off the system, take out the drive and wiggle it around with my hand. And then it works flawlessly again (no clicks, fast transfers etc.)

I figured this out the first time when it wouldn't work whatever I did with it. The first time I was very gentle with it and held it horizontal as I carried it between my two computers.

Then I got mad at it and threw it onto my bed. Then it worked.
Everything can be solved with force.

I really don't know what to say about IBM drives. On the net, I've read tons of stories about ppl loosing their IBM drive.

I, myself own 4 IBM drives (DLTA, 60GXP and 75GXP series). The oldest of the 4 is about 3 years old and has been running 24/7 since. The other ones are younger and have been running fine (24/7!!) since I bought them.

Lots of ppl I know/adviced buy/bought IBM drives, and I just know 1 drive that went dead.... but that one was dropped on the floor from about 2m high (not so good ).

My conclusion: IBM harddisks are fast, cheap and good. I never had a single problem with them.

If I can believe tests, the fall-out is not so enormously high.... it's just that loads of ppl buy IBM drives, so it seems to be higher!

Dee-ehn: You are *the only one* I know who still has a working DTLA. Either you are very lucky, or:

People say that 90% of the drives which died were manufactured in Hungary! Maybe your ones were made somewhere else? Maybe only the Hungary-drives are crap? If this is true, maybe Germany got all the Hungary-drives?

Another theory is that IBMs suffer from changes in temperature: In this case 24/7 usage would be better than 12/5...

My newest WD 80 (Special Edition - 8MB buffer), is the quietest thing I've ever heard. 2 of these are quieter than ANY Maxtor I've ever had. I can't hear it at all in the case unless I open the side cover. But IMHO, 2 drives are always better than one.

My click-of-not-really-doom 60GXP is made in the Phillipines. My friends 120GXP (click-of-doom-free) is made in Hungary. I have not heard about any big problems with the 120GXP series, and keep in mind IBM sells HUGE volumes of their drives, and on various forums you don't hear much from the happy people that are satisfied with their drives...

Hmm all my IBM hdd's were bought in Germany! Next time when I reboot my system, I'll look up where they were produced!

That could be.... but IBM claims that (their) IDE hdd's aren't build for 24/7 use!

They have claimed it only after the DTLA-issue had arised...

All this talk about clicks of death made me quite nervous, since I've been hearing clicks from day 1 on my four weeks old 80 GB 120GXP series IBM HDD.
So I tested the HDD with the Drive Fitness Test program (free download) from IBM.
The result: 0x73 - Defective Device - This device was damaged by an excessive shock.
Contacted the vendor, but he won't take it back. Since IBM doesn't replace drives which were damaged this way. I trust the guy who sold it to me, so if I didn't drop it and he didn't then who's fault is it ???

Guess it's back to Maxtor, never had a single drive fail on me in the 5 years I've been using them.

Change your vendor.

After my last IBM 40 GB had died, I asked my vendor if it is possible to get another one.

IBM 40 GB was 270 DM at that time
WD 800 BB was 470 DM at that time.

Indeed: He took the IBM back and gave me a WD 800 BB for additional 200 DM! This is what I call a good vendor

Fryng: if your vendor doesn't want to cooperate (what I consider to quite bad!) you'd better contact IBM rightaway. On the IBM site you can request an RMA number, to get your harddrive replaced by IBM self!
Back to Maxtor? Hmm I wouldn't do it myself (maybe because I'm really satisfied with my IBM drives). I just had an experience with 3 defective Maxtor drives.. but again, this can happen with all brands.

ive had the 60gb deskstar model for about 10 months now and its doing fine. My computer is also very hot at times, so it seems I've been quite lucky (touch wood)

Regards,

byb

For me to understand now, do you consider the 120 series good or bad? It has been recorded on many internet sources that the 60 and the 75 series proved to have more defects than usual, it is true. What about the 120?

Is it true that the specification of 8(or 11)h per day applies to these drives, also?

I considered buying a pair of drives for my PCI raid controller. The IBM were good candidates because of speed and good price (I was going for the 40GB units in the 120GXP series). As I see it now, the benefits of these drives are lesser than the weaknesses, and I'm asking for a final word of confirmation or denial.

Have you got real working experience under 24/365 conditions with these drives? How well do they do in terms of reliability? I do not want any answers of type "I use it at 2h/day for the past 2 months" (all drives do that!!!)

*muhaha*

If you want to beta-test the "new" ones and want to risk to lose all your data, then get IBMs.

If you don't want to have to recover data next Christmas, as I did last year, get anything else.

I do not want any answers of type "I use it at 2h/day for the past 2 months" (all drives do that!

Wrong! I know of 2 DTLAs that died after one week with 8h/day.

My WD and Maxtors have run 24/7 for years with no problems, as ANY good drive should. Considering the lowering costs of drives, why would anyone wait to wear one out? Replace it with a nice new model every year!

... err, I mean :lol: :lol:

What kind of bangers are these drives.. And I was wondering how was ibm making its money nowdays

I'll wait till WD JB series becomes affordable (I need 2 drives)..

*muhaha*

I really really don't understand. I know quite some ppl that work in computerstores and they all claim that IBM is the most-sold drive around. They also claim that the number of defective units isn't that high.

As far as I am concerned, IBM drives work just fine. Mine are running 24/7 (as I stated above) and some of those have been doing that for quite some time now (I looked it up today, the one in my sisters computer was bought in 1996 and has been running about 23,99/7 since!). No complaints here.... my next drive will be an IBM... again! Just because I'm really satisfied....

In the past, some drives died on me as well. To be precise: 1 Seagate (out of the blue), 1 Conner (lightning), 1 Western digital (out of the blue) and 1 Quantum (headcrash).

My advice: read the 120GXP review on Storage review!

I just got a 80MB one for this pc a month ago, as u can see on my system config. It runs perfect. It scored higher than my Seagate HDD on SANDRA, and it was the cheapest 80GB drive as well on www.pricewatch.com, for 80 bux I think after s/h. You may want to read some reviews with google, www.google.com, but they all praised this series.

Hope this helps,
DFourthHorseman

So, how fast is your 386?

Don't trust too much on Sandra. For some purposes it's quite a nice program, but when it comes to performance testing... you'd better not rely on it too much...

I really do not know what to say. There is total chaos, mostly because of previous series high failure rates. I like the performance figures of 120GXP drives. I however do not like the possibility of losing a drive shortly after I buy it.

Since a HD is a more or less fragile part, a store may impose resistance to accepting a failed drive by claiming that this may have happened during transportation, installation etc.. People are people all times, uno.

So, I don't want to lose my time on something that may work or may not work and possibly get into cycles of discussion with my vendor, with IBM or with God, if I could have a good drive which does not bother me any further of its installation time.

Personally I think IBM has made some serious mistake sometime(s) during its drives' production. So ppl may get a good drive, or may get a bad drive as well. This is nightmare.

I can wait for the situation to stabilize.

*muhaha*

Are you familiar with the S.M.A.R.T. option most modern harddrives got? WIth this option, it's possible to decect failures and their cause... there is also a system that detects "damage by physical shock".

I don't really know what your talking about, I'm assumin its the HDD, its on my profile in the bottom, 80GB 7200RPM ATA/100. I guess I can try benching it with PCMark2002.

As for S.M.A.R.T., does most people have it enabled or disabled? I had it disabled during a troubleshooting period, and its still disabled. I just wanna know whether leaving it on or off, which will give me the longest life/stability/performance/etc on the HDD.

DFourthHorseman