Computer Hope
Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: Raptor on August 26, 2005, 05:29:42 AM
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Concerns:
Seagate 60GB ST360020A (ATA)
Diskread error when loading Windows.
Cure:
Using SeaTools Desktop (http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/) to determine that several sectors were damaged
Using DiscWizard Starter Edition (http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/drivers/discwiz.html) to write zeroes to the Hard Disk Drive.
Additional:
Windows XP setup would not load when the HDD was connected. Windows XP would load with the HDD disconnected.
AT system with AMD processor showed exact same symptoms.
After writing zeroes to the HDD, Windows XP setup would load and the diskread error dissapeared.
Can bad sectors be repaired by writing zeroes to the Hard Disk Drive?
Seagate told me that:
Normally writing zeros to the drive does resolve the issue of the bad sectors. The drive is shipped with plenty of spare sectors for instances such as these.
Any thoughts?
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It does not actually repair the bad sectors. It uses SMART to relocate them to the "spare" sectors, thus making the disk usable again. Once all spare sectors have been used you are headed for catasrophic failure. That is when SMART warns you of impending failure. If using a disk defragger that verifies writes (Norton Speeddisk is one) the defrag is somewhat slower but nothing will written to a sector that cannot be read.
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but nothing will written to a sector that cannot be read.
What causes these sectors to go bad? What actually happens to a bad sector? Is it dust that causes them to go bad?
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Mishandling, bad spot in the substrate, head contact with platter, old age, amongst others.
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How to prevent the head from hitting the platter? Use as many screws and fit them as tightly as possible in order to eliminate most vibration?
bad spot in the substrate
I assume there is absolutely nothing that can be done against this.
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Correct. These are normally manufacturing defects and may not be readily apparent. They might take a long time to show up or you might never know they are there. A good disk utility will find them and relocate the data, marking the sector bad in the process. After using fdisk and format on an older HD, it is a good idea to really put it through its paces with a thorough surface test. With a thorough test every sector is written and read multiple times before it is passed as good. A thorough test can take a long time to run (from hours to days) depending on the size of the HD, so most people never use it.
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A thorough test can take a long time to run (from hours to days) depending on the size of the HD, so most people never use it.
Where do I find such a test?
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Hard Drive Mechanic (http://www.highergroundsoftware.com/)
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Is neither the software HDD manufacturers offer for download nor Scandisk capable of doing so?
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I think scandisk does it.
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I think scandisk does it.
With what attributes?
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I think I am having the same problem with mt Seagate ST340014A 40GB. The HDD is the secondary slave. When it first happened, Windows cannot detect the HDD although it did a few times. Scandisk showed that it has some bad sectors when the computer restarted and it ended up that most of my files on the drives had been converted into .chk files. I almost broke into tears as I found out that its warranty had just been expired for one month! Strangely, the HDD worked normal again soon after and nothing happened until last week, when I got kinda I/O error and couldn't detect the HDD again. I wonder whether this can be solved by what Raptor suggested.
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when I got kinda I/O error and couldn't detect the HDD again. I wonder whether this can be solved by what Raptor suggested.
If you do not care for the data that is stored, you can try doing as I suggested.
The only way to 'activate' these spare sectors is by writing zeroes to the Hard Disk Drive and then rerunning diagnostic software. Or so it seems.
I am not sure if an I/O error is the same as a "diskread error". The computer I was repairing could have been infected by a virus which I somehow did not take notice of. (If this is the case, then AVG is not doing a very good job)
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Here is a scandisk.ini file. It shows all the options and settings for scandisk. If you are running it from boot floppy, modify your .ini file to whatever you want. When you run scandisk from the command prompt, the default number of passes is one. When running in windows and the thorough test is selected, the default passes is 5.
; SCANDISK.INI
;
; This file contains settings you can use to customize the ScanDisk program.
; The settings in this file do not apply when running ScanDisk in Windows 95,
; unless you are checking an unmounted compressed volume file. These settings
; will apply if you run ScanDisk from an MS-DOS prompt in single-application
; mode.
;
; -------------------------------------------------------------------
; The [ENVIRONMENT] section contains the following settings, which
; determine general aspects of ScanDisk's behavior:
;
; Display Configures ScanDisk to run with a particular type of
; display. The default display type is Auto (ScanDisk
; adjusts to the current display).
;
; Mouse Enables or disables mouse support. The default value is On.
;
; ScanTimeOut Determines whether ScanDisk should detect disk timeouts
; while performing a surface scan. The default value is Off.
;
; NumPasses Determines how many times ScanDisk should check each
; cluster during a surface scan. The default value is 1.
;
; LabelCheck Determines whether ScanDisk should check volume labels
; for invalid characters. The default is Off.
;
; LfnCheck Activates Scandisk to validate Long File Names, if they exist.
; The default is ON, to check Long File Names for problems.
;
; SpaceCheck Determines whether ScanDisk should check for invalid spaces
; in filenames. The default is Off.
;
; Mount Determines whether ScanDisk will mount unmounted DoubleSpace
; drives once it has determined they are error-free.
;
[ENVIRONMENT]
Display = Auto ; Auto, Mono, Color, Off
Mouse = On ; On, Off
ScanTimeOut = On ; On, Off
NumPasses = 1 ; 1 through 65,535 (anything over 10 is slow)
LabelCheck = Off ; On, Off
LfnCheck = On ; On, Off
SpaceCheck = Off ; On, Off
Mount = Prompt ; Prompt, Always, Never
Break in post due to length
; -------------------------------------------------------------------
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; The [CUSTOM] section determines ScanDisk's behavior when ScanDisk is
; started with the /CUSTOM switch. You can adjust these settings to
; create a customized "version" of ScanDisk. This can be especially
; useful for running ScanDisk from a batch file. The [CUSTOM] settings are:
;
; DriveSummary Determines whether ScanDisk displays full-screen
; summary information after checking each drive.
; The default is Auto (ScanDisk displays the summary
; only if it encounters errors on that drive).
;
; AllSummary Determines whether ScanDisk displays full-screen
; summary information after checking all drives.
; The default is Auto (ScanDisk displays the summary
; only if it encounters errors on any drive).
;
; Surface Determines whether ScanDisk will perform a surface scan:
; Never (Default) Does not perform a surface scan.
; Always Performs a surface scan without prompting first.
; Prompt Prompts before performing a surface scan.
; The /SURFACE command-line switch overrides this setting.
;
; CheckHost Determines whether ScanDisk will first check a host drive
; before checking any compressed drives located on that drive.
; Never (Default) Does not check the host drive.
; Always Checks the host drive without prompting first.
; Prompt Prompts before checking the host drive.
;
; SaveLog Determines what ScanDisk does with the repair log file:
; Off (Default) Does not save the repair log.
; Append Appends the log to the previous log, if any.
; Overwrite Replaces the previous log with the new log.
;
; Undo Determines whether ScanDisk creates an Undo floppy disk.
; The default is Never (ScanDisk does not create an Undo disk).
; The Prompt value causes ScanDisk to prompt you for a disk.
[CUSTOM]
DriveSummary = Off ; Auto, On, Off
AllSummary = Off ; Auto, On, Off
Surface = Never ; Never, Always, Prompt
CheckHost = Always ; Never, Always, Prompt
SaveLog = Append ; Off, Append, Overwrite
Undo = Never ; Prompt, Never
; The following settings determine the corrective action ScanDisk will
; take if it was started with the /CUSTOM switch and finds a disk error.
; The next five settings accept any of the following values:
; Prompt Causes ScanDisk to prompt you before fixing this problem.
; Fix Causes ScanDisk to fix the problem without prompting you.
; Quit Causes ScanDisk to terminate if it encounters this problem.
DS_Header = Fix ; Damaged DoubleSpace volume file header
FAT_Media = Fix ; Missing or invalid FAT media byte
Okay_Entries = Fix ; Damaged, but repairable, directories/files
Bad_Chain = Fix ; Files or directories which should be truncated
Crosslinks = Fix ; FAT-level crosslinks
; The next seven settings accept any of the following values:
; Prompt Causes ScanDisk to prompt you before fixing this problem.
; Fix Causes ScanDisk to fix the problem without prompting you.
; Quit Causes ScanDisk to terminate if it encounters this problem.
; Skip Causes ScanDisk to skip fixing this problem, but continue
; checking the disk.
Boot_Sector = Fix ; Damaged boot sector on DoubleSpace drive
FSInfo_Sector = Fix ; Incorrect free space count
Invalid_MDFAT = Fix ; Invalid MDFAT entries
DS_Crosslinks = Fix ; Internal (MDFAT-level) crosslinks
DS_LostClust = Fix ; Internal lost clusters
DS_Signatures = Fix ; Missing DoubleSpace volume signatures
Mismatch_FAT = Fix ; Mismatched FATs on non-DoubleSpace drives
Bad_Clusters = Prompt ; Physical damage or decompression errors
; The next setting accepts any of the following values:
;
; Prompt Causes ScanDisk to prompt you before fixing this problem.
; Delete Causes ScanDisk to delete the damaged directory entries
; without prompting you first.
; Quit Causes ScanDisk to terminate if it encounters this problem.
Bad_Entries = Delete ; Damaged and irrepairable directories or files
; The next setting accepts any of the following values:
;
; Prompt Causes ScanDisk to prompt you before fixing this problem.
; Save Causes ScanDisk to save the lost clusters as files in the
; root directory without prompting you first.
; Delete Causes ScanDisk to delete the contents of the lost clusters
; without prompting you first.
; Quit Causes ScanDisk to terminate if it encounters this problem.
; Skip Causes ScanDisk to skip fixing this problem, but continue
; checking the disk.
LostClust = Delete ; Lost clusters
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I assume the surface scan is what you are speaking of. This has rarely taken over 5 hours to complete.
What exactly is this test that takes 'days'?
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Set the number of passes to a high number and see what happens. Can be set 1-65,535. On a large disk you will get tired before scandisk does. ;D
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I will look into that, thank you.
How do you prefer to test Hard Disk Drives?
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http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/chkdsk.mspx
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Depending on the size of the drive and how much trouble it has previously encountered, 5-10 passes.
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Depending on the size of the drive and how much trouble it has previously encountered, 5-10 passes.
And you only use Scandisk to verify the integrity of a HDD?
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If you do not care for the data that is stored, you can try doing as I suggested.
Of course I would like to keep my files stored on it if possible, although I'll have to rename all of them one by one again. I'm hoping for the HDD to "magically" work again...less hope though... Btw, is there any chance to copy the files into a good HDD?
The only way to 'activate' these spare sectors is by writing zeroes to the Hard Disk Drive and then rerunning diagnostic software. Or so it seems.
When you say writing zeroes to the HDD, does it means we fill all the sectors with zeroes and then storing our datas into the good sectors? What diagnostic software you may suggest?
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Btw, is there any chance to copy the files into a good HDD?
Mount it as a slave in a computer with a working HDD. Just be certain that it is not a virus causing the problems.
When you say writing zeroes to the HDD, does it means we fill all the sectors with zeroes and then storing our datas into the good sectors? What diagnostic software you may suggest?
Writing zeroes to the HDD destroys all data on every sector.
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Then how do I verify whether it is caused by a virus? The Windows is unable to detect the drive...and my Norton Antivirus' virus definition is always up to date.
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Tip:
XP has it's own built-in HD diagnostics which can be used or seen by running (from the "RUN" line):
START (or the "Windows" key on most keyboards) > Run > compmgnt.msc (case insensitive)
Do NOT use SMART under XP. Do NOT use manufacruter diagnostic software und XP.
WD's Data Lifeguard can cause data corruption and is almost impossible to uninstall completely.
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Then how do I verify whether it is caused by a virus? The Windows is unable to detect the drive...and my Norton Antivirus' virus definition is always up to date.
Can the BIOS still see your Hard Disk Drive?
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It does show the HDD as Primary Slave during the initial boot but when it boot into Windows, it is undetected.
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Does it also show in the BIOS?
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Yes it does shown in the BIOS as well.
Btw, I just discovered this last night - I have another XP installed on another partition as a back-up, and when I switched to the other XP, the "missing" drive is there and accessible! Which mean the drive is working normal in an OS and undetected in another OS. Is it a virus fault?
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Rather difficult to tell, perhaps you simply need to repair your installation of Windows XP.
Installing and Using Recovery Console (http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/reskit/en-us/prmb_tol_kfma.asp)
Perform a Repair Installation (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx)
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341)
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Thanks. I'll try it afterward.
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It was just a problem of bad registry entry after all. It was fixed by Norton's One Button Checkup.