In 2012, Hitachi was bought by Western Digital in a deal worth $4.3 billion. The acquisition gave Western Digital a much needed boost in the hard drive market, as well as a foothold in the lucrative SSD market. The two companies had been in talks for months prior to the announcement, and the deal was finally completed in March of 2012.
The floods of 2011
Obviously, the talks of Western Digital acquiring Hitachi went on for a while, but I think the floods of 2011 might have pushed Western Digital even harder to diversify its options for producing hard drives.
On July 28, 2011, Thailand suffered the worst flooding in its history. The floodwaters inundated more than 2,000 factories, including many that manufactured computer hard drives. The disruption to the world’s supply of hard drives caused prices to skyrocket.
The 2011 floods were the result of a perfect storm of unusually heavy rains, poor land management, and inadequate infrastructure. The rains began in July and continued into October, causing the Mae Klong, Chao Phraya, and Yom rivers to overflow their banks. More than 1,400 people were killed and 13 million were affected by the floods.
The floods caused an estimated $45 billion in damage, making it one of the most costly natural disasters in history. Thailand’s hard drive industry was particularly hard hit, with factories inundated and production halted for months.
The disruption to the hard drive supply caused prices to spike. In the weeks after the floods, the price of a hard drive doubled. The price increases were felt worldwide, as hard drives are a key component in PCs, laptops, and other devices.
The hard drive shortage caused by the Thai floods was exacerbated by a fire at a Western Digital factory in Malaysia. The fire, which occurred in September, destroyed about a fifth of Western Digital’s hard drive production capacity. The hard drive shortage and price increases caused by the Thai floods had a ripple effect throughout the tech industry. Many businesses that use large amounts of storage, such as video production companies, were forced to ration their storage usage or switch to alternatives such as cloud storage.
The price increases were short-lived, however, as the hard drive industry quickly recovered. Within a few months, prices had returned to pre-flood levels.
Why Western Digital Wanted Hitachi
In 2012, Hitachi was bought by Western Digital. This was a big move for Western Digital, as it allowed the company to expand its reach into the Asian market. The acquisition also gave Western Digital access to Hitachi’s innovative technology, which has helped the company to grow its business.
Western Digital has since operated HGST as a wholly owned subsidiary. The rationale behind the acquisition was to give Western Digital a stronger foothold in the enterprise storage market, as well as to gain access to HGST’s innovative technologies and manufacturing capabilities. The purchase also helped Western Digital to better compete against its main rival, Seagate Technology.
What happened to the Hitachi brand?
Western Digital phased out the HGST and Hitachi brands in 2018. Now all those drives are branded as Western Digital drives.
Do Hitachi or HGST or Western Digital drives beep any differently?
The beeping in a drive can be caused by a couple of different things including:
- The drive is not receiving power
- There is a problem with the data cable
- There is a problem with the firmware
- There is a physical problem with the drive
The most common of these issues is that there is a physical problem with the drive. The most common issue by far is that the heads are stuck to the platters inside the drive. Because the heads are stuck to the platters the platters are not able to spin and therefore the motor can not spin as it is trying to. The beeping sound is usually coming from the motor trying to spin and failing.
In our experience, there isn’t a difference in the beeping sounds between the Hitachi, HGST, and Western Digital drives.
Can Data Be Recovered From Hitachi Drives that are beeping?
Yes! There are a lot of options for Hitachi hard drive recovery:
- You can use Software to recover the drive if the issue is not an internal problem.
- You can open the drive yourself to unstick the heads (this is not recommended as you can damage the drive and destroy the data forever very easily).
- You can send your drive to a data recovery company to perform the recovery for you.
The best method to get data from a beeping hard drive is to send it to a data recovery company that will perform data recovery on the drive. Here is a list of good data recovery companies:
- Yellow Brick Data Recovery
- Three Hundred Dollar Data Recovery
- Rossman Repair Group
- Advanced Data Recovery
- Data Recovery Solutions
- Disk Doctors
- Prosoft Data Rescue
- SalvageData Recovery
- SecureData Recovery
- Stellar Data Recovery
When your computer crashes and you lose important files, you’ll need to find a data recovery company to get your information back. Here are a few things to look for:
- Make sure the company has experience with your type of computer. Different computers use different file systems, so you’ll want to make sure the data recovery company you choose has experience with the type of computer you have.
- Ask about their success rate. A good data recovery company should be able to give you an idea of their success rate for recovering data from crashed computers.
- Find out what their turnaround time is. Some data recovery companies can take weeks or even months to recover your data. You’ll want to know how long you can expect to wait before you get your files back.
- Ask about their fees. Some data recovery companies charge by the hour, while others charge a flat rate. Be sure to ask about fees before you agree to have your data recovered.
- Get a written estimate. Once you’ve decided on a data recovery company, be sure to get a written estimate of the cost of recovery. This will help you budget for the expense and ensure that you’re not surprised by the bill.
Are Hitachi Drives Any Good?
There’s no doubt that Hitachi makes good drives. The company has been in the business for over two decades and continues to innovate. In terms of hard drives, they offer both desktop and mobile options. The former are available in both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch form factors, while the latter are exclusively 2.5-inch.
The 3.5-inch drives are designed for desktop PCs, all-in-ones, and home servers. They come in capacities ranging from 500GB to 8TB. The 2.5-inch drives, on the other hand, are meant for laptops, notebooks, and Ultrabooks. Capacities start at 500GB and go all the way up to 4TB.
Both types of drives are available in either SATA or SAS interface. The former is the more popular of the two and is used in most consumer-grade devices. The latter is designed for enterprise servers and storage arrays.
In terms of performance, Hitachi drives are some of the best in the business. The company’s enterprise-grade drives, in particular, are known for their high reliability and consistent performance.
One of the things that sets Hitachi drives apart from the competition is their use of cutting-edge technologies. For example, their HelioSeal platform allows for higher capacities in a smaller form factor. This is made possible by shingled magnetic recording (SMR) and energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR).
The company’s innovative technologies don’t stop there. Their exclusive Adaptive Size Optimization (ASO) technology ensures that data is optimally stored on the drive platters. This results in faster data access and reduced power consumption.
When it comes to hard drives, Hitachi is a company that you can trust. Their drives are reliable, high-performing, and packed with features. If you’re in the market for a new drive, Hitachi should definitely be on your shortlist.