Help understanding SATA and master/slave configurarion (laptop)

[RySi]

Ok here is my issue. I will appreciate any help I can get. If this topic has been done before I apologize and ask that you all bear with me.

I owned a laptop. Things went sour eventually and I ended up removing my hard drive from the laptop. I got a new laptop and wanted some extra storage space. Flash drives just weren't working for me as they didn't provide enough gigs for what I wanted to store. I ended up buying an external hard drive kit (Rocket Fish) and put my old hard drive inside of it so that it would function as a USB drive. Things worked out swell for a while until I wanted to clear up the old data from my previous computer. When I tried to delete the old folders with my desktop info and in the folder labeled "Windows" (for example) and it said that I didn't have permission. I got frustrated when I realized that I now had seriously limited storage capacity. Aside form that my "new external hard drive" needed a power source or it would go to sleep. I ended up just buying a regular external (Iomega 500gb) and have it now. It doesn't have an external power source but seems to just turn off randomly or go to sleep which worries me. I have a lot of info on it. (That's another issue though) I am now resorting back to my Rocket Fish but can't just get the darn thing to be read as a USB and have permission to do whatever I want to on it. Instead I don't have permission to delete any of my old data. I looked up master slave configuration but then realized that my hard drive doesn't have jumpers. Still not sure what those are either. To make a long story short I just want to use my old hard drive as a USB but no one can seem to help me.

Oh and my hard drive is SATA I think.

[Geek-9pm]

SATA drives don't have jumpers for Master/Slave.

External USB gadgets are not as reliable as you would like.

You can get a SATA PCI card for you desktop.
In the USA they are about $30 from on line vendors.
Just search for SATA PCI card
ans find a vendor you like.

Take ownership of folders you can not delete.
http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php?topic=56138.0
 

[RySi]

I don't believe my original post posted so I will try this again. Do you know if using a usb to sata adapter would be of any use?

Do you know why my Iomega might just be turning off? It doesn't use an external power source and it doesn't have a power switch. The thing is still pretty new. It was working fine but now it just turns off while i'm using it. I have tried programs such as no sleep but nothing has worked. The light will turn off sometimes and my computer will stop reading the drive. There has to be a dependable way safely back up my data and make it portable.

Also taking control of the old hard drive has helped...some. I just have to take control of every individual file and there are just too many.

Thank you for the help you have given me.

[quaxo]

For your Iomega drive:
Where are you plugging the Iomega into?

Sounds like it's not getting enough power from the USB cable. A single USB hub (including sets of ports on the computer itself) shares power with all devices connected to it. If there's too many things plugged into the same hub, the drain becomes too much and the hub shuts some or all of the devices on it down to compensate. Some external hard drives that don't have an external power source are particularly guilty of causing this, as are some phones, MP3 players, and other devices that attempt to charge their batteries off the USB port. (I have a Maxtor drive that does this sometimes.)

Try plugging it into a USB port in a different part of the computer (if you're using the front then try the back, if you're using an external hub then try without, etc.). Also, try to remove any unnecessary USB devices.

[Geek-9pm]

I ended up buying an external hard drive kit (Rocket Fish) and put my old hard drive inside of it so that it would function as a USB drive.

This is from your original post.
Yes, that is often a piratical method of storing data outside of a laptop. I failed to notice that, so disregard my comment about usinf a SATA PCI card. Sorry about that.
After market USB devices are not always reliable. Sometimes they work very well. But not always. I have a hard full of USB MP3 plates that don't work half the time on my laptop until they are fully charged, which can rake lours.
However, our problem is with a laptop hard drive, not a mp3 player. Laptop hard drives have very low power requirements, but thee can also be other factors that affect performance as well as dependability. Even with USB storage units  with their own power supply and integrated design and factory certification, the failure rates are higher than with other proven external storage methods.

What I am trying to say, it is hard to find a solution to this kind of problem, other than replacing hardware.

And it is not your fault for getting a combination that does not work well. The vendors are reluctant to warn your. Instead thy will offer you a 30 day warranty, which is just barely enough time to discover a weakness in the product. This is a general observation, I have no specific information about the product you choose.

[RySi]

I appreciate all the help. I have another question. I have taken control of the individual folders and begun deleting them but this is taking up too much of my time. If I just reformat the hard drive would it then be a clean slate for me use as a usb? It wouldn't somehow reinstall Vista onto it even though its not ina  computer anymore would it?

[Geek-9pm]

Yes, it Vista can delete an entire partition or volume. You can just try to format the entire partition or drive. Vista should remove all data from the drive. Vista  may ask you for your password to do this. You mist be loosed in as administrator, or a user with administrator privileges.

[patio]

It may need to be mentioned here that Windows cannot be properly installed to an external HDD...
Unless you use a sledgehammer and about 12 hours of patience to do it correctly...

[RySi]

Ok so I'm getting ready to format my "external" hard drive. You all are sure that even though it came from another laptop, formatting it won't stop it functioning properly? I'm not that experienced with operating systems. I always thought that the operating system would reset on the hard drive regardless. Keep in mind its not a regular external hard drive. Sorry if the questions are redundant.

Should I format in FAT 32?

[Geek-9pm]

Should I format in FAT 32?

Only if it is a small drive. Under 8 GB.
Otherwise, NTFS is better.

[RySi]

Ok I formatted my external hard drive in NTFS. I began to format regularly and when it took over eight hours I cancelled it. It then locked me out of my own drive and said:

"An unexpeccted error has occured. Check the System Event Log for more information on the error. Close the Disk Management console, then restart Disk Management or restart the computer."

When I tried to access folders inside of it or do a disc check it would display a message saying:

"The drive cannot find the sector requested"

I unplugged it from my laptop and when I plugged it back in it let me do a quick format. That worked out fine. I then had a completely free drive which didn't ask for permissions. That was good. I began transferring files to it and then I got another error message and it wouldn't let me access anything again. I unplugged it and since then it has been working fine. Out of curiousity though I went and downloaded a diagnostic check program from Western Digital (the makers of the drive. The results for my main C: drive all turned out fine. For my E: drive though, the one that is the external, it says

Smart Status: Fail

Re-allocated Sector Count
ID: 5
Value: 118
Threshold: 140
Worst: 118
Warranty: 1

Also this is from the Help section:

S.M.A.R.T. is an attempt to predict imminent drive failure by monitoring selected drive performance and calibration characteristics.  Each monitored characteristic (Attribute) is used to calculate an Attribute Value.  Attribute Values range from 1 to 253 with 1 being worst case, 253 being best case, and 100 being nominal.

 

For WD drives, the normalized attribute value will range from 1 to 100 or 1 to 200, depending on the attribute.  Error rate, total spin ups, spin up retries and calibration retries attributes are implemented as during normal operation (“on-line”); whereas, Multi-zone Error Rate test is performed “off-line”.  This test performs a read-verify-all operation and calculates an error rate.  These Attributes are updated and stored on the drive in the reserved area of the disk.  Also stored on the drive is a set of Attribute Thresholds that correspond to the calculated Attribute Values. An impending degrading or faulty condition is indicated when the calculated Attribute Value becomes less than or equal to its corresponding Attribute Threshold value.



I have no idea what this means. My question is will the "Re-allocated Sector Count" contribute to drive failure?  Will it function normally? Did this happen because of my format or was there already damage to my drive?

[patio]

The drive is getting ready to fail...
Backup what's important and replace it.

[Computer_Commando]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

[Geek-9pm]

As I tried to say earlier, this kind of problem is not what you will resolve in software and settings. The signs are hardware, not software. (Except in the case of hostile software.)

It must be hardware, you need to bury that drive in your backyard and forget where you put it.  If you can't bring yourself to do that, ask Patio. He has a graveyard for defunct hard drives.

Got get a new drive