More on IBM 75GXP Drive Fiasco

FolkImplosion writes "Internal documents have been released suggesting that IBM was well-aware that its click-of-death 75GXP hard drives had a failure rate of as much as 10 times that of its competitors. IBM apparently sold drives it knew were faulty into distribution, and reportedly planned to deal with any issues with marketing spin rather than a fixing the problem. This new information should help bolster a class action suit that accuses IBM knowingly shipped defective 75GXP drives with abnormally high failure rates." The lawfirm pursuing the class action suit has a page of information, including the latest news report (pdf) on information coming out in the suits. See also our original story about the drive failures.

Comments

Reputation

[radionotme]

This can't do IBM's reputation much good - fortunately for them the damage should be minimised since they no longer sell hard disks directly (so little loss of business)

Re:Reputation

[ob1knob777]

I wonder if this was why they sold the hard disk business off to Hitachi in the first place. Maybe they knew about the high failure rate and wanted to wash their hands of the whole mess before it got too bad?

Re:Reputation

[Flywheel]

No - we fear them!
We know that IBM is capable of turning against strategic platforms overnight - they have done so in the past.
We are glad they're here, due to their ability to stabilize the world. But we love their technology (Primarily Designs and Fab's) - but we do not love IBM - we fear them!

Institutional behaviour

[heironymouscoward]

It's not rarely corporate policy to release faulty products. (Microsoft freaks, step aside, please.)

What happens is that internal politics turn problems into cover ups. Someone, somewhere decides that it's more logical to ignore the issue than to address it. The falacy continues up the line, since decisions are often based on information from 'down the line'.

The best thing IBM can do is to issue a general recall, offer generous replacement policies ("bring it in, we'll fix it on the spot") and try to recover their image as a reliable drive manufacturer. Otherwise their HD business is down the drain.

Oh wait! They sold it to Fujitsu! OK, sue their asses!

Re:Institutional behaviour

[wiggys]

The best thing IBM can do is to issue a general recall, offer generous replacement policies ("bring it in, we'll fix it on the spot")

But that's simply not good enough. If it was a graphics card or something then fair enough... it's just another piece of hardware and one is as good as another. But hard-drives are different as the data on them may not be replaceable if the unit fails, and even if you have it swapped for a new one for free then you have to transfer all the data over to the new one... which is a royal pain in the arse if you're multibooting different OSes.

Re:Institutional behaviour

[millahtime]

"...you have to transfer all the data over to the new one... which is a royal pain in the arse..."

I hate to point this out but should should do the whole backup thing. I mean even a high reliability HD occasionally fails.

Re:Institutional behaviour

[Evil Adrian]

The data probably isn't lost though; "click of death" sounds like the drive is failing because one of the moving parts (most likely the arm or the motor) is burnt out. That shouldn't affect the platter (and therefore the data) inside the drive, so a drive recovery place should be able to get the data off of the drive.

Data recovery gets expensive, though, so if IBM would foot the bill in addition to a drive replacement, that might make up for the gigantic problem they've created.

But then you factor in the inconvenience... really, IBM should replace the drive, WITH your data on it, AND issue you a gift certificate or something to make amends...

Re:Institutional behaviour

[jdkane]

If it was a graphics card or something then fair enough... it's just another piece of hardware and one is as good as another. But hard-drives are different as the data on them may not be replaceable if the unit fails,

For this reason it is the user's responsibility to ensure the data is backed up properly. IBM can be blamed for a high failure rate, but not for a hard drive failing. In the end, all hard drives eventually fail. If the data is non-replaceable then no doubt the user has a rigid backup plan in place to ensure safety of the data; if not then the user is acting unwise no matter what type of hard drive is in the machine.

Isn't that the way we do things now?

[millahtime]

Don't we build cheaper things that are less reliable so that you have to buy new ones more often. Many industries already do that. They can make a light bulb that goes for 10 or 20 years no problem. And I can buy one that is garunteed to go for 5 years. But there are still ones that have 2500 hours. This concept isn't something new.

IBM... pah!

[darth_silliarse]

Forget IBM drives, Seagate or Maxtor produce the best quality hard drives

Good, I want my money back

[digitalgimpus]

I bought one, and admit it was fast, loved it.

Read the article on the drives being defective, and didn't want to believe it.

Then my drive made a few clicks, but didn't crash imediately.

Turned my computer off, and ordered a new Seagate Barracuda IV. Copied data over. Never used that 75GXP to this day. Still sitting in a box.

IBM owes me. I had to get 2 HD's in a year, rather than one.

Mod parent up

[Liselle]

I don't have any mod points today, somebody make sure this AC gets noticed. Tort litigation is out of control. It should be the last contingency when a company will not be reasonable, not the first line of defense. Say no to greed.

I am Jack's obligatory quote

[Mikey-San]

". . . A plus B plus C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one."

Re:Lawyers to pocket $100M, consumers to get coupo

[onyxruby]

Your point is not without merit, especially with regards to coupon settlements. If coupons aren't good enough for the lawyers, they aren't good enough for the plaintiffs.

That being said, the class action lawsuit does benefit society with respect to one thing. It strongly influences how often a recall is done on shoddy or unsafe merchandise when it would otherwise not be done. By making not recalling known defective products more expensive than recalling known defective products, the public (which paid for those products in the first place) benefits. Without these class action lawsuits companies would shaft their customers on a far more routine basis than they already do.

Re:Minor correction

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a gun with six chambers. I put one bullet in a chamber, and left the other ones empty. Then I put the gun to my head, and pulled the trigger.

So anyway, you can chalk me up as a Russian Roulett success story. No complaints here.

IBM is big

[0x0d0a]

IBM is a huge company. The people making hard drives probably have very little to do with the people making Linux other than the same style of standardized HR forms. IBM in particular seems to operate divisions with a good deal of modularity, from what I've heard from people working there.