Hard Disk Drive Failure Analysis, HDDFA - Services: Your source for detailed root cause failure analysis of hard disk drives

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Test and Analysis

All drives, as received, are physically inspected for mechanical, environmental and handling damage.
All drives are powered up and starting behavior verified, including POST and calibration performance, as well as drive identify.
All accessible log data on the drives is accessed and examined for issues.
HDDFA does full surface read, write/read and erase/write/read scans of the subject drives for defects.
Proprietary failure analysis software is run on all operating drives.
S.M.A.R.T. data is collected for all operating drives at the beginning and end of all test cycles.
Non-operating drives are analyzed for failure mode and if necessary disassembled to verify the analysis.
Optional micro- and nano-analytical work may be performed*
Results of the above tests are analyzed and interpreted by HDDFA.
At the completion of test and analysis an extensive report is generated detailing the results and recommending corrective action.

*ESCA, Auger, SIMS, and X-ray; optical, scanning electron and scanning probe microscopy (AFM and MFM); thermal imaging and mapping, etc.

Schedule

Schedules are mutually agreed upon. Testing time required is generally one to two weeks from receipt of the drives at HDDFA’s facility for lots of less than 15 drives. Each drive takes up to 2 days of testing. The final analysis and report takes an additional 2-3 calendar days. Actual working time billed is usually one to three hours per drive.

Rates

Standard billing rate for HDDFA services is $195/hour for actual working time.

A special all-inclusive web price of $2495 may be applied to the failure analysis of the first 6 or fewer drives. Billing will be the lower price of HDDFA’s actual hours or the web special pricing on 6 drives. Additional drives are analyzed at the HDDFA’s standard hourly rate.

To Submit Drives for Analysis Please fill-in and
Submit the following FORM or contact us directly

	First Name*
	Last Name*
	Company*
	Address*
	City*
	State*
	Zip*
	Country
	Email*
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	Fax
	Number of Drives to Analyze
	Manufacturer
	Model
	How are the drives mounted in the system? Is viscoelastic material used? Details of the design?
	What cooling airflow is provided within the system and to the system?
	What is the systems operating environment? Temperature? Humidity? Shock? Vibration? Power variation?
	What power on duty cycle does the system see?
	What read and write duty cycle does the drive experience (what is the system application)?
	How are the drives sourced? OEM? Distribution? Retail?
	How is the system tested during and subsequent to manufacture?
	Other pertinent facts.
	Please send me a quote!

Packing/Shipping Drives

All drives should be individually packed in antistatic bags with a minimum of 2” of soft foam (not bubble wrap or “peanut” foam) between the bagged drives and a minimum of 3” of soft foam around the group of drives. There should be no free space in the carton which is not filled with soft foam. The carton should be of good quality cardboard and completely sealed on all edges with packing tape. See photos of suitable commercial packaging below.

Single Drive Multidisk