{"id":3221,"date":"2023-08-18T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T10:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bananahdd.nl\/?p=3221"},"modified":"2023-08-19T00:02:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T22:02:56","slug":"ibm-travelstar-dhaa-2405-344mb-1994","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bananahdd.nl\/index.php\/2023\/08\/18\/ibm-travelstar-dhaa-2405-344mb-1994\/","title":{"rendered":"IBM Travelstar DHAA-2405 344MB (1994)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The DHAA-2405 is from IBM’s earlier days of the Travelstar name, a long-running series which surely most people reading this are familiar with. IBM had always been an impressive pioneer in the 2.5″ space, with development from IBM Japan adding to this feat. While the DHAA-2405 is not the highest end offering at the time from the company, it serves as a decent representation of a respectable effort given to the mobile market from the juggernaut of IBM.<\/p>\n

At least IBM had a special trait at the time: a quite pretty label colour choice.<\/p>\n

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Colour, for a change.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
  Drive Attributes<\/strong><\/em>\r\n  -------------------------------------\r\n  IBM Travelstar DHAA-2405\r\n  -------------------------------------\r\n  Capacity      344MB (formatted)\r\n  Mfc Date      1994\r\n  Format        2.5\"\r\n  Height        19mm\r\n  Interface     PATA\r\n  Platters      2\r\n  Heads         3\r\n  Cache         32KB\r\n  RPM           3800\r\n  CHS           915\/15\/49\r\n  Origin        Japan (IBM)\r\n  -------------------------------------<\/pre>\n
The DHAA-2405 is clearly a more mid-range part, having one head omitted. This wasn’t always the most common practice in 1994, but it allowed IBM to have quite a distinct range of capacities for the time. After all, 1994 is where IBM’s capacity points started to explode.<\/p>\n
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The label.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
IBM, for much of their history in the hard drive industry, usually had some of the best label designs around. However, for such an early 2.5″ unit from the company, this one lacks a lot of information. Sure, CHS values are great, alongside capacity, but there’s definitely more to be desired. The spindle RPM speed & date of manufacture is missing, which is a shame.<\/p>\n
This unit was produced in Japan, by IBM Japan. It’s always neat to see a drive directly from IBM’s factory in Japan, being one of several locations where these drives were built (the others being the UK & Thailand). Of course, we can’t ignore that colour either!<\/p>\n
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The rear.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Components face outwards, as you’d expect on a 2.5″ unit from 1994. This starts to show how thick a 19mm unit is, if you’ve never seen one in-person.<\/p>\n
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The base.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The base of the drive has little to show, aside from some insulation material. It’s worth commending IBM for combining the head-stack & spindle motor connection into one, which makes disassembly very simple.<\/p>\n
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The PCB.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The usual suspects are present, given the time period of this drive. It’s perhaps no surprise IBM used a custom IC as the central microcontroller, being a habit of theirs for the time period.<\/p>\n
Given the lack of manufacturing dates found anywhere on both the PCB or main assembly, it’s clear this drive was made in 1994 based on the dates present on individual IC’s.<\/p>\n
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The PCB’s backside.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The rear of the PCB states that it too was made in Japan. As usual, there’s nothing more of note on the backside of the board.<\/p>\n
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Performance metrics.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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IBM had many models.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In the past of IBM’s Travelstar’s, the DHAA-2405 was only one of many. Their history with 2.5″ drives wasn’t always smooth sailing as with these, but to say IBM had a few good early years would be an understatement. They’re certainly quite solid drives, if you can find one.<\/p>\n
If you missed the video I made on this drive, you can find it here:<\/p>\n