Hitachi drives (later known as HGST, and now part of Western Digital) have a solid reputation for reliability, which is why so many of them are still running years later. While this longevity is obviously a benefit, it is also a potential problem, because a Hitachi drive that has survived for a decade is, by definition, a decade old, and age is the main risk. With that said, here’s an overview of recovering Deskstar, Travelstar and Ultrastar drives.
Hitachi and HGST drives were built to last, so many still in service are old, and old drives have suffered some mechanical wear. So if you have a long-serving Hitachi with important data on it, that is a strong case for a backup, and if it is already failing, it needs a mechanical recovery.
Knowing a little about the history helps, because the name appears in a few forms. Hitachi’s hard drive business became Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, which was rebranded HGST and subsequently absorbed into Western Digital, where the well-regarded Ultrastar enterprise line still lives on today. So a drive may display the Hitachi or HGST logo, or even carry WD branding, while being the same lineage. The consumer drives you’re most likely to meet are the Deskstar desktop range and the Travelstar 2.5-inch laptop drives, while Ultrastar drives are used in servers and NAS units. Many of these drives have been in use for a long time, which brings us to the main issue.
Hitachi and HGST drives are genuinely reliable (large-scale reliability studies have often rated them well), which is precisely why recovery requests for them tend to involve old drives. A drive that has quietly done its job since the early 2010s has racked up years of spinning hours, and its mechanical components (bearings, motor, heads) wear. Most of the failures we see are typical of ageing mechanical drives: the drive fails to spin up, or starts clicking after years of quiet operation, often preceded by the warning signs of a tiring drive. The point is not that Hitachi drives are unreliable, but that even good drives have a lifespan, and a long-serving one deserves a current backup.
At the other end are the Ultrastar drives, designed for servers, NAS boxes and data centres, and usually running in RAID arrays. Recovering a failed Ultrastar-based array differs significantly from recovering a standalone desktop drive: if one Ultrastar in an array fails, the priority is to not force a rebuild onto a replacement, as a rebuild creates additional stress on the remaining ageing drives and can tip a second one over. Rather than rebuilding the array online, each drive is imaged read-only and the array is then rebuilt offline. It’s the same careful approach behind any RAID recovery, and enterprise arrays are from £500 +VAT. Please send all the drives, labelled in bay order.
Age-related mechanical faults are firmly recoverable as long as they are handled correctly. A drive that will not spin or has failing heads is repaired just enough to read (with matched donor parts where needed), then imaged read-only, so your files come from a copy and the worn original is never pushed any further. A single Hitachi or HGST drive starts from £300 +VAT, and an Ultrastar array from £500 +VAT. All jobs begin with a free diagnostic and a fixed written quote, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data, so an old drive that has finally given up does not have to mean lost data.
Yes. Hitachi and HGST drives are very reliable, so many that do fail are simply old, with normal age-related wear such as a seized motor or failing heads. These are firmly recoverable: the drive is repaired just enough to read, using donor parts when necessary, and then imaged read-only. A single drive costs from £300 plus VAT after a free diagnostic.
Historically, yes: large-scale reliability studies have often rated Hitachi and HGST drives well, and as such many of these units are still running today. That being said, a drive that has served for many years is, by definition, old, and its mechanical components will eventually wear out. So even a highly reliable drive still deserves a current backup once it is many years old.
Copy all of your important data off this drive now. Even reliable drives have a limited lifespan because of their mechanical nature, and the older a drive gets, the closer it is to wear-related failure. Backing up a long-serving Hitachi before it fails is far cheaper and easier than recovering it afterwards. If it has already started clicking or is failing to spin, stop using it immediately and seek recovery.
They are the same lineage. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies became HGST, which was absorbed into Western Digital (WD), where the Ultrastar enterprise product line still continues. So a drive may be labelled Hitachi, HGST or WD while being the same family, and whatever the badge, recovery uses the same process for that type of drive.
Yes. An Ultrastar array is recovered by imaging each disk read-only and rebuilding it offline, instead of forcing a rebuild that could put additional stress on the other ageing drives. Please send all the drives labelled with their bay order. After a free diagnostic, enterprise and RAID recovery starts from £500 plus VAT.
A long-serving Deskstar or Travelstar that has stopped spinning is usually recoverable. Send it in and we’ll let you know what’s on it, with a free diagnostic and a fixed quote first.