Bad Hitachi Deskstar

Ease

Ease

Ease

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Joined
14 Dec 2008
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628
Just got the Hitachi Deskstar 1TB (Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B 1TB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (0A38016)) - seemed an absolute bargain at the time, despite the rumours about "Deathstars".

I installed it, formatted it, etcetera, and it worked fine for a week. However today my computer wouldn't boot up at all. I unplugged all the hard drives (eventually, after several other attempted solutions) and found that it booted up fine so long as the Deskstar wasn't plugged in.

Any recommended solutions? I can't boot with it plugged in, so I can't format it easily. Should I RMA?
 
Yeah, it's going back I fear. Connect it through usb, and if the drive isn't completely dead you'll be able to get data off & wipe the drive before rma.

Hope it was cheap :)
 
Or enable AHCI in BIOS plus do registry tweak to allow Windows to keep working with the change. That will enable SATA hotplugging so you can boot without the disk then plug it in once in Windows, without the need for an external enclosure.
 
miniyazz, could you explain a little further? I assume I keep the power connected, and simply connect the sata cable once it's booted? What about this registry change? And what is AHCI? Thank you for the help!
 
AHCI is basically an implementation of SATA ports that incorporates more features than the default implementation (called IDE). Main differences are that it supports native command queuing (NCQ), which I imagine gives better random write performance (but don't quote me on it), and hotplugging - so you can plug in a SATA drive and it will recognise it within Windows, much like plugging in a USB device. I believe if AHCI is not enabled, you have to reboot to detect things like eSATA external hard drives.

However, if AHCI is not enabled when Windows is installed, you cannot just change the setting in the BIOS from IDE to AHCI, or Windows will not boot. There's a setting in the registry to change, see this Microsoft support article.

Once enabling AHCI, you will be able to plug in a SATA hard drive on the fly into your motherboard and Windows will detect it without needing a reboot.

You should leave the power cable in the drive when booting and then plug in the SATA one once in Windows, yes, but as long as the power cable is a SATA power connector (not Molex) you are unlikely to run into problems if you plug it in while the computer is on. The Molex ones were prone to sparking, which tends to cause the PSU to detect a surge or something similar and shut off, as well as potentially causing damage to the drives.
 
never plug the Sata power and Molex (4pin power)in at the same time, it likey damage the drive on power up

the Sata power and Sata data cable way is hot plug, with raid or AICH mode selected
 
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