BananaHDD

Fuji Electric FK319A-240R 240MB (1993)

by BananaHDD
It’s worth taking some of this information lightly, as these drives offer very little documentation on the web. Fuji Electric have had a huge impact on the hard drive industry as a whole, being a massive parts supplier for many years. The company halted further internal drive development past the mid-90’s, resulting in their fully ... Read More

Early Toshiba Hard Drive Model Identification (FB/C/V) (1990-1996)

by BananaHDD
Disclaimer: The following information was collected & publicised based on strenuous research of Toshiba’s disk drive identification formats from models produced prior to 1996. This table does not reflect current Toshiba model identification, nor drives produced past 1996 with this model layout. The table below is not supported by any official Toshiba documentation, as this ... Read More

Hitachi DK228A-65 6.48GB (1998)

by BananaHDD
Hitachi had, since the mid-90’s, always been a fairly large player in the 2.5″ hard drive market, this drive demonstrating one of their often forgotten pre-IBM architectures. The DK228A-65 was released in May of 1998, featuring a first for Hitachi: a drive utilising GMR heads. Providing a recording capacity per-platter of roughly 30% more than ... Read More

Decoding Hitachi Hard Drive Model Numbers (pre-IBM, DK-prefix)

by BananaHDD
Hitachi’s model numbers for their disk drive division have been renowned for being reasonably well structured in the modern era, however when looking back at their pre-IBM merger days, the story is quite a bit different. After changing their long traditional label format, things became a lot clearer, but this means that drives manufactured by ... Read More

Western Digital Expert WD100BA-60AK 10.2GB (1999)

by BananaHDD
What is in essence a Western Digital produced DPTA-371020 from the Deskstar 34GXP series, a familiar sight makes itself known, but with a more unusual story. This drive hails from the era where Western Digital really were on their knees, experiencing sharp losses. Like NEC had done only a couple years prior, Western Digital turned ... Read More

Toshiba X300 Performance HDWR460 6TB (2021)

by BananaHDD
The X300 range is firmly based on Toshiba’s native drive designs, carried on from the days of their acquisition of Fujitsu’s disk drive division. Coming in a range up to 18TB as of the time of this post, the HDWR460 is one of the lower end options, just above the lowest capacity 4TB HDWR440. How ... Read More

Windows 95 Wallpapers – Sharp Mebius OEM Backgrounds (1996)

by BananaHDD
Rummaging through old hard drives from the 90’s and early 2000’s sometimes offers interesting results. A previous post covering a Fujitsu M2724TAM 1.6GB hard drive from 1997 revealed a Sharp OEM installation of Windows 95. The machine was a Sharp Mebius laptop of some sort, a domestically available unit within Japan, with the installation notably ... Read More

Samsung Apollo SHD-30280A & SHD-30560A 280MB/560MB (1995)

by BananaHDD
By 1995, Samsung already had a few years under their belt when dealing with standard 3.5″ PATA desktop drives. Nonetheless, Samsung were not known for their reliability in this period, much unlike their late-90’s era of designs. Performance wasn’t even something to consider with these, having a high rate of failure at the time of ... Read More

ExcelStor Technology CT210 10.2GB (2001)

by BananaHDD
ExcelStor began in the hard drive industry with their acquisition of Conner Technology PLC in 2001, alongside their assets. Finis Conner was certainly a legend of the hard drive industry, his mark remaining today. Nonetheless, it is a shame that his third hard drive corporation never took off as hoped. In March 2002, ExcelStor would ... Read More

Toshiba MK2024FC 86MB (1992)

by BananaHDD
Toshiba were the first manufacturer in the world to mass-produce drives using glass platter technology, beginning with the MK1122FC. The Toshiba MK2024FC followed this trend, being a next-iteration product using this technology, releasing in 1991. While many think of the 75GXP when it comes to glass-substrates on drive platters, Toshiba beat everyone else to the ... Read More