Full Version: Problem with an SATA disk

From: Whitelitr [#1]
30 Sep 2008
To: ALL

Hi All,

Got an email from a friend of a friend. He has a Dell E520 desktop Windows XP Home, SP2.

He has stated that is will boot but does not load XP. I think he means it will POST and not load XP. Anyway, he says it gets to XP and just hangs.

He managed to run a diagnostic and got thjis info

quote:

- SATA Disk S/N=9LS38T2M S.M.A.R.T. Long Self Test - error code 0F00:075D
- Read test - error code 0F00:0244, Block 156775816 - Uncorrectable data error
- Verify test - 0F00:1A44, Block 156775816 - Uncorrectable data error
- IDE Device failed - 0F00-065D

He then managed to use the XP reinstall disk to get the PC to boot to where he ran utilities to correct / fix, and then ran chdsk /r. After that completed, when he booted to the CD utilities again, it recognized his windows volume # / creation date, but still won't boot up, ran chkdsk again, no dice, still won't boot.

I am stumped and I have little experience with SATA drives as the primary drive.

Is this something where he should back up what he can and then wipe and reinstall? Or is it a hardware issue where the disk is dying?

Like I said, he is a friend of a friend and is a decent guy.....any help / thoughts would be appreciated.

From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#2]
30 Sep 2008
To: Whitelitr [#1] 30 Sep 2008

Those S.M.A.R.T. tests are very good. Drive manufacturers will authorize RMAs based on the results of those tests, they're so reliable. So, it sounds like that drive is headed for the big platter in the sky. If he can read it at all, it's time to pull whatever is recoverable off there.

Once that's done, removing the drive and checking its date of manufacture is a good idea. Most HDDs come with 3 year warranties, and some even give 5. If it's a Seagate or WD drive, they don't even argue with you. They'll just send you a new one (there's no repairing HDDs).

If a date isn't obvious, I believe both those manufacturers have utilities on their sites where you can just plug in the serial number, and it'll tell you if the drive is still under warranty.

From: Whitelitr [#3]
30 Sep 2008
To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#2] 30 Sep 2008

Wow that was quick...thanks for the response

If he is lucky he will be able to recover his files. And as for the date, he said the machine is about 1.5 yrs old, so maybe he is good there too.

Thanks again,....I will let him know.

From: Doc (DOC3402) [#4]
30 Sep 2008
To: Whitelitr [#1] 30 Sep 2008

Chances are that is a Maxtor drive in there. I would run their PowerMax tool on it and see if it won't fix it. If he has the ability to recover data first, that should be his primary goal.

From: Whitelitr [#5]
30 Sep 2008
To: Doc (DOC3402) [#4] 30 Sep 2008

OK..cool. I will let him know that too. Thanks.

From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#6]
30 Sep 2008
To: Doc (DOC3402) [#4] 30 Sep 2008

Is Maxtor Dell's favorite drive these days?

From: Doc (DOC3402) [#7]
30 Sep 2008
To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#6] 30 Sep 2008

As far as I can tell, it has been for years. Of course with the Seagate merge, there's no telling what you'll get

From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#8]
30 Sep 2008
To: Doc (DOC3402) [#7] 30 Sep 2008

If it is a Maxtor, they have a warranty checker, too. But, it is Seagate now, and it's tough to say without a model number what the warranty is. From what I can see on the site, it can be anywhere from 1 to 5 years.

On top of that, since it's a Dell computer Maxtor/Seagate may not honor drive warranties directly. He may have to go back to Dell.

From: Doc (DOC3402) [#9]
30 Sep 2008
To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#8] 30 Sep 2008

All good points. Things didn't get any easier for us with the merger.

Back to the PowerMax tool for a minute. I have saved several drives in Dell computers with it. I don't know how or why, but it sometimes works. I always put the questionable drive as a secondary and install Windows on a new drive, but I have not had a single failure once the PowerMax tool has run successfully. True, it doesn't always work, but it's free, and has a slightly less than 50% success rate on the boxes I've worked on. To me that makes it worth a shot. Besides, it's chargeable labor. (nod)

From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#10]
30 Sep 2008
To: Doc (DOC3402) [#9] 30 Sep 2008

All platters have a certain number of bad sectors on them. They find them during the LLF (Low-Level Format) at the factory, and map them into the HDD's EEPROM. Used to be 100 years ago, you had to do that yourself. You got a sheet with the drive that listed out the bad addresses, and did the LLF yourself before installing a filesystem and formatting that, then installing your OS. It was a time-consuming pain in the shorts with failure almost a given unless you were comfortable with hex editing and had the patience of a saint. They probably got back a bazillion drives that had nothing wrong with them before they finally figured out they'd better do the LLF before the drives leave the building.

I suspect that PowerMax tool might be doing the same thing: finding new bad sectors and adding their addresses to the bad sector list in the HDD's EEPROM so they don't get used again. If it can read what's there, it probably makes a fragment of that part of the file so it can put what it finds there someplace else while keeping the file's integrity. That way, that sector need never be looked at again.

If that's what they're doing, then the reason it may not last is the drive really is looking at the end of its service life. Bad sectors continue to crop up, and the controller continues to fail the drive back to the OS, whose job it is to bitch about it out loud.

So, you're right in that it's worth a shot because you may get it going again, but if the S.M.A.R.T. utility is saying the drive is kukka, you're on borrowed time. Copy what's on the drive and take it out of service, or use it to back up poetry <grin>

From: Doc (DOC3402) [#11]
30 Sep 2008
To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#10] 30 Sep 2008

quote:

Copy what's on the drive and take it out of service, or use it to back up poetry <grin>

I use it to store my rap collection.

From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#12]
30 Sep 2008
To: Doc (DOC3402) [#11] 30 Sep 2008

Hehe! Even better.

The temptation is to continue using the drive, because it may last for quite a while yet. But, it may only go a week, or an hour. You can't tell. Why did the sector fail in the first place? Was that whole area weak to begin with? Was there a head crash? Once the sectors start to go, all bets are off.

You might justify it by saying "Well, if I lose a song or a picture, I won't miss it. I've got thousands on there." But, what if the next sector to fail happens to be where the Partition Table, or Master File Table, or File Allocation Table was stored? Smacking any one of those up will render the entire drive's contents essentially unreadable. Now how much would you pay?

From: Doc (DOC3402) [#13]
30 Sep 2008
To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#12] 30 Sep 2008

That's why I put them in as backups, and put in a new boot drive. So far, I haven't had one fail.

Now, also so far, I haven't had to run PowerMax on anything but Maxtor drives found in Dell computers. Is it something they are being provided by the vendor? Is it something they are doing during the build? Is it shipping methods? Beats me. As long as I get paid, I don't care.

From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#14]
30 Sep 2008
To: Doc (DOC3402) [#13] 30 Sep 2008

Speaking of handy tools, I found this load of manufacturer-supplied or -approved HDD utilities. It might be worth it to download them all and put them on a single CD, DVD, or thumbdrive. Looks like it pretty much covers any drive you're going to see.

Conner
Fujitsu
Hitachi
IBM
Maxtor
Quantum
Samsung
Seagate
Toshiba
Western Digital

From: Doc (DOC3402) [#15]
30 Sep 2008
To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#14] 30 Sep 2008

Wow! Good stuff. You should start a thread with an easily searched title for that list.

From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#16]
30 Sep 2008
To: Doc (DOC3402) [#15] 30 Sep 2008

Good idea. Done.

From: rumbarg [#17]
30 Sep 2008
To: Doc (DOC3402) [#11] 30 Sep 2008

I'd say Vogon poetry would be another good use for the drive.... you can just hope it'll fail.

rumbarg

From: Joe [#18]
30 Sep 2008
To: rumbarg [#17] 1 Oct 2008

Or an archive of Deadrats' and JustAGuy's posts. :P

From: Doc (DOC3402) [#19]
30 Sep 2008
To: rumbarg [#17] 1 Oct 2008

I think I'll pass on that one... but thanks for the suggestion. <grin>

From: IMNOTDRPHIL [#20]
1 Oct 2008
To: Doc (DOC3402) [#11] 1 Oct 2008

quote: Doc (DOC3402)

quote: Copy what's on the drive and take it out of service, or use it to back up poetry <grin>

I use it to store my rap collection.

I am one step lazier; I just store it all in /dev/null. I also put disco and any pop music made since the Beatles broke up in there. Oh, I forgot boy band music, 80s hair bands, and "emo" whine rock. Plus chick music- I can't stand chick music. I don't think any real guy likes the stuff, although some put up with it for obvious reasons B-)

.

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Full Version: Problem with an SATA disk

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