Major HDD recalls

Nija · 05-29-2003, 04:43 PM

Link via Slashdot.org

Major brand hard drive vendors recall defective products produced in China

Jimmy Hsu, Taipei; Wen-Yu Lang, DigiTimes.com [Tuesday 27 May 2003]

Three major brand hard drive vendors – Seagate Technology, Maxtor and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies – have started recalling some of their 40GB and 80GB products sold in Taiwan due to similar defects identified in the products, Taiwanese channel distributors said.

About 12,000-15,000 defective hard drives are estimated to have entered Taiwan. It is unclear whether the same groups of products, with an estimated defect rate of 10%, have also been marketed in other parts of the world, sources said.

Local distributors said they began to see soaring return rates on the hard drives since late April. Most of the returned drives reportedly suffered from bad sectors or problems being formatted, and were found to have come from the same sources in China.

Among the top four hard drive vendors worldwide, Western Digital is the only one unaffected by the incident, as the company does not have products manufactured in China, sources said.

It is suspected that high defect rate was caused by the inexperience of certain manufacturers in China as they were transitioning to new production processes, sources said.

Local agents declined to confirm the report. While Maxtor agent Xander International denied seeing an unusual defect rate, Seagate agents Synnex Technology International and Taiwan Aries stressed that customers would be provided with complete warranty services if they were sold defective products. Comments from Hitachi were unavailable
----------------------------------------------------

of course Seagate has refuted the claims

Just wanted to post this. just in case

Showtime · 05-29-2003, 08:46 PM

Damn, both of mine could be suspect. A 80 and a 40. Hopefully it's pretty much isolated to Taiwan.

-jel

bachviet · 05-29-2003, 10:36 PM

My friend has a Maxtor 80GB and I have a 160GB.

speedracer120 · 05-30-2003, 12:17 AM

I have WDs in my system, but one of them is suspect too. I had some clicking the other night and reminded me of my time with the 20GB deathstars.

NuTs62 · 05-30-2003, 06:01 AM

I have 2 WD 120's that I still haven't figured out whats wrong.. it developed some mysterious illness..

topane · 05-30-2003, 06:02 AM

I'm still running a pair of Deathstars in a RAID 0 array...

LegendKiller · 05-30-2003, 11:05 AM

Seagate does not manufacturer their drives in China, every drive I have was manufacturered in Singapore. I know for a fact that that is where the vast majority of their drives come from, however, they might have established manufacturing in china in the past 9 months.

However, I HIGHLY doubt this. I will ask one of my contacts, but for now, disregard anything that some crackpot website says.

LK

LegendKiller · 05-30-2003, 11:11 AM

The world's largest supplier of disc media, Seagate produces advanced magnetic disc media and substrates at locations in California, Northern Ireland, and Singapore. The Company's production processes include the Company's proprietary MINT (Magnetic Information Technology) system developed to produce the industry's lowest-cost, highest-density magnetic discs for hard drives.

Thats from their site

Seagate Technology has R&D and product sites in: Silicon Valley, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Longmont, Colorado; Bloomington and Shakopee, Minnesota; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Springtown, Northern Ireland; and Singapore. Manufacturing and customer service sites are located in: California; Colorado; Minnesota; Oklahoma; Northern Ireland; China; Indonesia; Malaysia; Mexico; Singapore and Thailand.

They COULD be assembling the drives in china. Again, I have NEVER Heard of this. All drives that I saw, analyzed, or tracked have been out of Singapore. Furthermore, their platters ARE made in Singapore, so saying that problems with bad sectors come from China would exclude Seagate.

LK

Nija · 05-30-2003, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LegendKiller
Seagate does not manufacturer their drives in China, every drive I have was manufacturered in Singapore. I know for a fact that that is where the vast majority of their drives come from, however, they might have established manufacturing in china in the past 9 months.

However, I HIGHLY doubt this. I will ask one of my contacts, but for now, disregard anything that some crackpot website says.

LK

and on that note...

Their retraction

Hey i gotta be paranoid when I'm running 2/3 of the mentioned drives

Markel · 05-31-2003, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by topane
I'm still running a pair of Deathstars in a RAID 0 array...

I made that mistake once....

05-29-2003, 04:43 PM	#1
Nija Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: May 2001 Location: City of The Dead Posts: 13,552	Major HDD recalls Link via Slashdot.org Major brand hard drive vendors recall defective products produced in China Jimmy Hsu, Taipei; Wen-Yu Lang, DigiTimes.com [Tuesday 27 May 2003] Three major brand hard drive vendors – Seagate Technology, Maxtor and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies – have started recalling some of their 40GB and 80GB products sold in Taiwan due to similar defects identified in the products, Taiwanese channel distributors said. About 12,000-15,000 defective hard drives are estimated to have entered Taiwan. It is unclear whether the same groups of products, with an estimated defect rate of 10%, have also been marketed in other parts of the world, sources said. Local distributors said they began to see soaring return rates on the hard drives since late April. Most of the returned drives reportedly suffered from bad sectors or problems being formatted, and were found to have come from the same sources in China. Among the top four hard drive vendors worldwide, Western Digital is the only one unaffected by the incident, as the company does not have products manufactured in China, sources said. It is suspected that high defect rate was caused by the inexperience of certain manufacturers in China as they were transitioning to new production processes, sources said. Local agents declined to confirm the report. While Maxtor agent Xander International denied seeing an unusual defect rate, Seagate agents Synnex Technology International and Taiwan Aries stressed that customers would be provided with complete warranty services if they were sold defective products. Comments from Hitachi were unavailable ---------------------------------------------------- of course Seagate has refuted the claims Just wanted to post this. just in case __________________ "Nija is the dark soul of gotapex. We don't like to talk about him." - LPMiller

05-30-2003, 06:02 AM	#6
topane turducken all the time Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Between the wheels Posts: 5,055	I'm still running a pair of Deathstars in a RAID 0 array... __________________ Shall we buy a new guitar? Shall we drive a more powerful car?

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

05-29-2003, 08:46 PM	#2
Showtime Lakers fanatic Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: L.A. ->SoCal<- O.C. Posts: 7,338	Damn, both of mine could be suspect. A 80 and a 40. Hopefully it's pretty much isolated to Taiwan. -jel

05-29-2003, 10:36 PM	#3
bachviet What's Da Pho*? Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: SoCal (714) Posts: 13,296	My friend has a Maxtor 80GB and I have a 160GB.

05-30-2003, 12:17 AM	#4
speedracer120 Rear Admiral Upper Half Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: HB,CA/PA Posts: 3,437	I have WDs in my system, but one of them is suspect too. I had some clicking the other night and reminded me of my time with the 20GB deathstars.

05-30-2003, 06:01 AM	#5
NuTs62 Vice Admiral Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: San Francisco Posts: 4,763	I have 2 WD 120's that I still haven't figured out whats wrong.. it developed some mysterious illness..

05-30-2003, 11:05 AM	#7
LegendKiller Vice Admiral Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Northern VA Posts: 4,927	Seagate does not manufacturer their drives in China, every drive I have was manufacturered in Singapore. I know for a fact that that is where the vast majority of their drives come from, however, they might have established manufacturing in china in the past 9 months. However, I HIGHLY doubt this. I will ask one of my contacts, but for now, disregard anything that some crackpot website says. LK

05-30-2003, 11:11 AM	#8
LegendKiller Vice Admiral Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Northern VA Posts: 4,927	The world's largest supplier of disc media, Seagate produces advanced magnetic disc media and substrates at locations in California, Northern Ireland, and Singapore. The Company's production processes include the Company's proprietary MINT (Magnetic Information Technology) system developed to produce the industry's lowest-cost, highest-density magnetic discs for hard drives. Thats from their site Seagate Technology has R&D and product sites in: Silicon Valley, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Longmont, Colorado; Bloomington and Shakopee, Minnesota; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Springtown, Northern Ireland; and Singapore. Manufacturing and customer service sites are located in: California; Colorado; Minnesota; Oklahoma; Northern Ireland; China; Indonesia; Malaysia; Mexico; Singapore and Thailand. They COULD be assembling the drives in china. Again, I have NEVER Heard of this. All drives that I saw, analyzed, or tracked have been out of Singapore. Furthermore, their platters ARE made in Singapore, so saying that problems with bad sectors come from China would exclude Seagate. LK

User Name
Password
Remember Me?