Data Recovery from IBM Deskstar hard disk drives - part 2

Family: 60GXP
Models: IC35L060AVER07 (61.49 GB), IC35L040AVER07 (41.17 GB), IC35L030AVER07 (30.73 GB), IC35L020AVER07 (20.57 GB), IC35L010AVER07 (10.27 GB)

Family: 75GXP
Models: DTLA-307075 (76.86 GB), DTLA-307060 (61.49 GB), DTLA-307045 (46.11 GB), DTLA-307030 (30.73 GB), DTLA-307020 (20.57 GB), DTLA-307015 (15.36 GB)

Family: 120GXP
Models: IC35L120AVVA07 (123.52 GB), IC35L100AVVA07 (102.93 GB), IC35L080AVVA07 (82.34 GB), IC35L060AVVA07 (61.49 GB), IC35L040AVVA07 (41.17 GB),
IC35L020AVVA07 (20.57 GB)

Family: 180GXP
Models: IC35L180AVV207 (180 GB), IC35L120AVV207 (120 GB), IC35L090AVV207 (80 GB), IC35L060AVV207 (60 GB), IC35L030AVV207 (30 GB)

Corruption of IBM Deskstar NV-RAM - Data recovery information

Symptoms: A fault that sometimes affects the IBM series of Deskstar hard disks is a corruption of the NV-Ram data. When this failure occurs a distinctive sound from the hard disk will be heard (see below). When this failure occurs the drive will no longer be recognised in the BIOS and it is important to power the drive down immediately and not power it back on again, as continuous use will further compound the problem

What is the cause of this failure?: The data contained within the NV-Ram chip quite commonly becomes corrupt. When this happens the drive fails with symptoms that are often confused with the infamous IBM Deskstar 'click of death’. However the problem here is generally far different from that, and correct early diagnosis is essential. NV-Ram contains specific data essential for hard disk initialisation. The data contained in this chip is specific to the firmware version of the drive; once this has become corrupt it is impossible to tell what firmware version the drive uses until a repair has been done on the drive. This often leads to companies mis-diagnosing the actual fault and attempting to replace head stacks or change controller boards, both of which can potentially ruin any chance of data recovery.

Noisy IBM Deskstar hard disks - audio examples: Here are two audio files that you can use to help diagnose your hard disk, note how similar the two disks sound.

What should I do?: Call the Data Clinic and talk your problem through with us on 0871 977 2525, or fill out our auto-form and we'll call you back

Links:
> Data corruption on some 25P05AVG chip leads to hard drives becoming inaccessible
> If you have a problem with and IBM or Hitachi laptop drive visit our IBM / Hitachi laptop hard disk drive data recovery page
> Back to the MAIN data recovery page

Please note that all modern hard disk drives are manufactured to very high standards, fail infrequently and have very similar rates of reliability.

Above: The controller board of an IBM Deskstar hard disk contains many interesting things including the NV-Ram chip. The contents of this chip can corrupt leading to the data contained on the hard drive becoming inaccessible by normal means.