Hard Drives

Posts are shown from newest to oldest in order of release date. There’s no schedule here; each upload is spontaneous. Published posts are synchronised with a corresponding video release.

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

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

HGST Deskstar NAS HDN724040ALE640 4TB (2016)

by BananaHDD
When it comes to modern hard drives, these are true warriors of reliability. The Deskstar NAS series was released in early 2014, coming in capacities up to 6TB (from 2017, 10TB). These were not cheap drives at the time by any means, at least in Europe, being 30-40% more expensive than their competitors. Nonetheless, with ... Read More

Hitachi DK505-2 26MB (1989)

by BananaHDD
Here’s a real old-timer. The Hitachi DK505-2 is a drive with a very obscure past, the likes of which yield little information in this day and age. This particular model demonstrates itself as one of Hitachi’s much earlier offerings, before their concrete reputation and market share emerged in the early 2000’s. While this drive is ... Read More

IBM Deskstar 120GXP IC35L040AVVN07-0 40GB (2002)

by BananaHDD
The 120GXP’s came fairly close after the dreaded 75GXP line, although not before being preceeded by the 60GXP line. While many have better experiences with the 120GXP’s (myself included), this one hasn’t kept its side of the bargain. One of the more uncommon experiences where the drive failed catastrophically while in use, audibly crashing in ... Read More

Fujitsu XV10 MPF3102AT 10.24GB (2000)

by BananaHDD
By the early-2000’s, Fujitsu had quite the ongoing presence in the 3.5″ drive market. Unfortunately, it would soon come to an end in 2001, but this drive demonstrates some of Fujitsu’s last drives in the space when concerning contact start-stop consumer models. The XV10 is one of many series Fujitsu had with this particular HDA ... Read More

NEC D3756 105MB (1993)

by BananaHDD
As previously discussed on my post covering several dead D-series NEC drives, NEC had quite the history in the hard drive industry. NEC’s 3.5″ designs would enter in the early 90’s, like competitors at the time, the D3756 being a drive from the early days of their original designs. After many years of experience developing ... Read More

IBM Travelstar 25GS DARA-225000 25.38GB (2000)

by BananaHDD
In late-1999, IBM released what can only be considered to be one of the most ridiculous 2.5″ hard drives in the world: the DARA-225000. These were IBM’s flagship 2.5″ drive model, coming in at 17mm with a whopping 5 platters and 10 heads. Due to their thickness at a time where 12mm and 9.5mm drives ... Read More