Seen a few reviews for the Hitachi Deskstar 5K4000 4TB and on paper seems like a nice disk to try.

 

Now finding one to buy is another matter? Has anyone ever seen one of these or have they been discontinued?

They do seem to be out-of-stock at a lot of vendors, but Amazon claims to have some:

http://www.amazon.com/HITACHI-0F14697-Deskstar-5K4000-INTERNAL/dp/B00B6TMG7O

 

Server Supply [http://www.serversupply.com/products/part_search/request.asp?q=HDS5C4040ALE630 ]

 

and  Discount Technology [http://discountechnology.com/Products?search=0S03364&partner=1010&utm_source=PriceGrabber&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=product ]

 

also lists them as in stock ==> but their pricing definitely leaves something to be desired 

..I also do see them at this side of the pond: http://geizhals.at/de/hitachi-deskstar-5k4000-4000gb-hds5c4040ale630-a711810.html

 

However, the model name "Deskstar" indicates a Hitachi consumer disks and that line was sold by WD to Toshiba.

But Toshiba does not list/offer any 4TB models: http://storage.toshiba.eu/cms/en/hdd/hard_disk_drives/

 

My Toshiba drives up to 3TB are even labeled with HGST model numbers.

 

There are some reports that these 5k spinners are build into external enclosures a lot...from WD...are they the same? I don't know.

When WD bought HGST they had to sell the 3.5 inch disk division to Toshiba. WD, Seagate and Toshiba are phasing out the Samsung and Hitachi names.

 

In any case this disk will probably not be restocked and will show up as a 4TB Toshiba product some time soon.

HGST website still claims to be a WD company...and still offers 3.5 desktop models.

http://www.hgst.com/internal-hard-drives/deskstar

 

However, the only 4TB models are listed in the external section.

The "Touro-Desk" comes with a 5k, while the "Touro Desk pro" cames with a 7k disk inside, see http://www.hgst.com/external-drives/desktop/all

 

Edit: sorry for my english...of course HGST is owned by WD now...but they still offer desktop drives in 3.5 size

Very very interesting.

 

I am seeing Hitachi 4TB 7K4000 Desktar Hard Drive being sold on special over here in the UK. Good price but I prefer the specs of the slower one.

Assuming you mean the ones linked to below then B&HPhoto have them and I've always had a good experience shopping with them.

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/835055-REG/Hitachi_0S03359_4TB_Internal_Hard_Drive.html

 

TheWombat

 

That looks like the ones....

 

unfortunately I am in a completely different hemisphere to this shop.

 

Think i will take a pass on these until they are more common again

HGST website still claims to be a WD company...and still offers 3.5 desktop models.

http://www.hgst.com/internal-hard-drives/deskstar

 

However, the only 4TB models are listed in the external section.

The "Touro-Desk" comes with a 5k, while the "Touro Desk pro" cames with a 7k disk inside, see http://www.hgst.com/external-drives/desktop/all

 

Edit: sorry for my english...of course HGST is owned by WD now...but they still offer desktop drives in 3.5 size

 

Has anyone bought one of these and opened it up? Do the drives look like Hitachi drives used to look like or do they look like WD drives? If they're Hitachi drives then they're likely leftover inventory. Or WD has an agreement with Toshiba to supply 3.5 inch drives for them but that seems unlikely. Hitachi had more name recognition in the hard disk market so WD may phase it out more slowly. A lot of people trusted Hitachi drives because that was IBM's hard drive division that Hitachi bought about 10 years ago.

 

But all Hitachi 3.5 inch manufacturing facilities and equipment, and related intellectual property, was transferred to Toshiba last year. More info: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5635/western-digital-to-sell-hitachis-35-hard-drive-business-to-toshiba-complete-hitachi-buyout.

Has anyone bought one of these and opened it up?

 

...here's a quote from a review on amazon.com

Inside, I found a single drive (yay!). The model is Hitachi Deskstar 5K4000 4TB 32MB Cache CoolSpin SATA 6.0Gbps 3.5-inch drive, P/N 0F14696.

here: http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Touro-Desktop-External-0S03396/dp/B007K4HA0W

 

As you said, 3.5" desktop business was sold/transferred to Toshiba...but they have no 4TB on their list (see my link above).

Has anyone bought one of these and opened it up?

 

...here's a quote from a review on amazon.com

Inside, I found a single drive (yay!). The model is Hitachi Deskstar 5K4000 4TB 32MB Cache CoolSpin SATA 6.0Gbps 3.5-inch drive, P/N 0F14696.

here: http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Touro-Desktop-External-0S03396/dp/B007K4HA0W

 

As you said, 3.5" desktop business was sold/transferred to Toshiba...but they have no 4TB on their list (see my link above).

 

Must be left over inventory then as WD literally does not even have the ability to produce these drives anymore. Those factories are now owned and operated by Toshiba. Some Toshiba drives people have been buying have shown up as Hitachi drives from firmware once installed in their system. Not sure why Toshiba doesn't have any 4TB drives yet though.

I've bought my last 2 from B&H. I have to say, they are just as dependable as the 2TB and 3TB versions before them. I have had a few die during 3 cycle preclears, but the ones that survived have been rock solid performers. I mourned the day Hitachi sold the business.

I've bought my last 2 from B&H. I have to say, they are just as dependable as the 2TB and 3TB versions before them. I have had a few die during 3 cycle preclears, but the ones that survived have been rock solid performers. I mourned the day Hitachi sold the business.

 

Toshiba has always made very good, durable, reliable mobile drives. That's why Apple uses them in their iPod classic. I think the 3.5 inch business is in good hands with them so don't mourn yet.

I RMA'd a WD 3TB Green that I had pulled from a My Book external. Serial showed as valid under warranty so I sent it in a crossed my fingers. The accepted it and sent me a 4TB My Book in return. Cracked it open and it was a Hitachi 5K4000 inside, manufactured in December of 2012. So WD is using them in their own branded external drives too it appears.

it was a Hitachi 5K4000 inside, manufactured in December of 2012.

 

VERY interesting.  Unfortunately, that's hardly a "source" ... since you'd have no idea what drive might inside of any specific MyBook without opening it up & voiding the warranty.

 

it was a Hitachi 5K4000 inside, manufactured in December of 2012.

 

VERY interesting.  Unfortunately, that's hardly a "source" ... since you'd have no idea what drive might inside of any specific MyBook without opening it up & voiding the warranty.

 

 

Actually I think there is a way. The serial numbers of the My Book appear to be the same as the serial number of the drive itself that is inside the enclosure. For instance, when I RMA'd my drive I put in the serial number printed on the internal drive label and it recognized it as the My Book model number, not the WD30EZRX model number of the drive itself. This was also the case with the model/serial of the 4TB My Book that the RMA status page lists that they sent me, and the serial number of the actual Hitachi drive. WD and Hitachi use different serial number schemes so if you pick up a My Book retail box and look at it's serial number you should be able to tell, without even opening the box or cracking open the enclosure, if the drive inside is a Hitachi or a WD depending on what serial number scheme it uses. This will obviously only work if in retail stores where you can look at the box so it won't help for ordering them online.

Actually I think there is a way.    ...    so if you pick up a My Book retail box and look at it's serial number you should be able to tell, without even opening the box or cracking open the enclosure, if the drive inside is a Hitachi or a WD depending on what serial number scheme it uses.

 

Okay -- so what's the "scheme" that Hitachi uses?  e.g. most of my WD drives start with either "WMA" or "WCA" ... is there a similar initial string that makes it simple to identify the drive as a Hitachi?

 

Here is a screen cap of my RMA status page:

 

 

 

 

You're right that all WD drive serials seem to start with W. Mine are all "WC" or "WM" and I have a laptop drive that starts with "WX". Based on the serial numbers of various Hitachi drives the first two digits are always letters and the last digit is always a letter, with various combinations of letters and numbers in between. WD serial numbers also don't seem to ever use any letters after the first 5 digits. Based on those few clues I think it should be pretty easy to figure out which is which from the serial number.

Thanks -- that's very interesting.  I'll have to glance at a few 4GB MyBooks in the store and see if they have serial numbers that indicate Hitachi drives 

Just a quick note. I scored 5 of 5K4000s off eBay for ~$140 each, and they were all still sealed. That puts me at a total of 9 in my system. I have 3 cycle precleared 4 of them and they are perfect. The fifth is cooking right now. They have a manufacture date of Jan 2012, so I only have a little over 1.5 year warranty left, but still, they are out there. Before that I was buying them from B&H.

I RMA'd a WD 3TB Green that I had pulled from a My Book external. Serial showed as valid under warranty so I sent it in a crossed my fingers. The accepted it and sent me a 4TB My Book in return. Cracked it open and it was a Hitachi 5K4000 inside, manufactured in December of 2012. So WD is using them in their own branded external drives too it appears.

I've bought 2x 4TB Hitachi drives recently (at different times) and both were made in December 2012, which makes me think maybe that's when they stopped making/branding them as Hitachi?

 

I RMA'd a WD 3TB Green that I had pulled from a My Book external. Serial showed as valid under warranty so I sent it in a crossed my fingers. The accepted it and sent me a 4TB My Book in return. Cracked it open and it was a Hitachi 5K4000 inside, manufactured in December of 2012. So WD is using them in their own branded external drives too it appears.

I've bought 2x 4TB Hitachi drives recently (at different times) and both were made in December 2012, which makes me think maybe that's when they stopped making/branding them as Hitachi?

 

 

Good theory. It could be that WD continued to use the Hitachi facilities to make Hitachi branded drives until December 31st when they were all turned over to Toshiba January 1st.

Isn't WD producing Hitachi drives under the HGST brand now? I have seen these all over on Newegg and Amazon. Not sure if they are exactly the same manufacturing process but they look the same as the Hitachi drives.

Yes, WD owns and operates HGST.

 

There is no requirement for WD to stop manufacturing HGST drives. The regulators required WD to sell assets enabling Toshiba to make 3.5 inch drives. Those assets are not specifically HGST. It was a bit of a political snowball. WD actually purchased the TSDT plant, so more of a resource swap than anything else.