CRC errors on a USB harddisk

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed wrote

The problem specifically occurs when I copy files FROM
the usb drive TO another drive, never the other way around.
I don't get error msgs when I put files on the usb drive or when
I delete those files, only when I copy them to another drive.

Odder and odder.

Maybe the event log entry is misleading, did you
see what the detailled help on that actually says ?

Where do I find those SMART stats?

I use Everest. Not sure if it will show the stats with a USB drive,
havent tried. If it wont get them with the drive internal to a PC.
That would settle the question of whether its really a bad block or not.
http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en

Hopefully maxtor has a diagnostic utility with usb support
which can be burned to a bootable CD (though I doubt it
from my last look at their support webpage).

Best way to use their web site for that is to select the drive and
see what diag tools they offer for the particular drive you have.

Perhaps I'll see if there is some utility to extensively
scan and check the usb disk in norton system works first.

I'd try a maxtor diag first.

 

[Rod Speed]

You don't get errror messages on writes,

Wrong. As always.

You get them on reads.

He just said he doesnt with scandisk, ****wit.

Write errors go undetected (unless they are sector not
found errors). They show up on the reads afterwards.

Thanks for that completely superfluous proof
that you've never ever had a ****ing clue.

 

[Odie Ferrous]

He just said he doesnt with scandisk, ****wit.

Thanks for that completely superfluous proof
that you've never ever had a ****ing clue.

Hi Rod.

On form, as usual - but get to the point, will you? You're beating
around the bush again. Try to be a little more direct. Succinct, even.

But keep it up - your posts are all good fun!!! You are *soooooooo
funnnnnyyyyyy!!!!*" (as they say in California anyway...)

You should have your own column in the local newspaper! (Rod's Peed -
or something like that.)


Odie

 

[Odie Ferrous]

He just said he doesnt with scandisk, ****wit.

Thanks for that completely superfluous proof
that you've never ever had a ****ing clue.

Hi Rod.

On form, as usual - but get to the point, will you? You're beating
around the bush again. Try to be a little more direct. Succinct, even.

But keep it up - your posts are all good fun!!! You are *soooooooo
funnnnnyyyyyy!!!!*" (as they say in California anyway...)

You should have your own column in the local newspaper! (Rod's Peed -
or something like that.)


Odie

 

[Rod Speed]

Some gutless ****wit desperately cowering behind
you'd expect from a desperately cowering gutless ****wit.

 

[Arno Wagner]

I bought the disk because I don't have any room to build in another
harddrive, so that isn't going to be easy.
I did use the drive internally in another computer temporarily and it
seemed to work ok. However, I did not try to fill up the drive with
files to check if there would be any problems when subsequently trying
to copy the files back to another disk.
Perhaps I'll do that to see if that works. But suppose that doesn't
give any problems, does that mean the USB enclosure is worthless?

That is a possibility. I had to throw one away because of random
errors that completely went away when the disk was connected directly.

I do notice the enclosure (which is from metal) doesn't have a fan and
tends to get quite hot.

Also not good.

Can diskdrives be mounted vertically as well as horizontally without
having to reformat them completely?

Has no influence today. Mount them as you like.

Arno

 

[name]

Rod Speed wrote
[..]

The surface scan is read only, presumably the problem is with writes.

The problem specifically occurs when I copy files FROM
the usb drive TO another drive, never the other way around.
I don't get error msgs when I put files on the usb drive or when
I delete those files, only when I copy them to another drive.

Odder and odder.

Maybe the event log entry is misleading, did you
see what the detailled help on that actually says ?

Where do I find those SMART stats?

I use Everest. Not sure if it will show the stats with a USB drive,
havent tried. If it wont get them with the drive internal to a PC.
That would settle the question of whether its really a bad block or not.
http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en

[..]

Hopefully maxtor has a diagnostic utility with usb support
which can be burned to a bootable CD (though I doubt it
from my last look at their support webpage).

Best way to use their web site for that is to select the drive and
see what diag tools they offer for the particular drive you have.

Perhaps I'll see if there is some utility to extensively
scan and check the usb disk in norton system works first.

I'd try a maxtor diag first.

Well, I did try the maxtor diagnotic utility on a bootable CD, and
since it didn't allow checking usb drives, I finally mounted the usb
drive internally.
Apparantly I opened up a can of worms. Not just did the utility report
an error on my 200 GB drive that I used in the USB enclosure (with
diagnostic code dea69571), it also reported an error on my other 120 GB
maxtor drive (with diagnostic code deaa9cb1), although that error seems
less severe, since it suggested I could try a repair (which I didn't,
since I want to see if there is stuff I can backup first).

Hmmmm, maybe it is true what they say about maxtor drives... that they
suck. I guess I should have stuck with WD.
Unless maxtor will replace both drives without any hassle, I will never
buy a maxtor drive again (and unfortunately I recently bought a 300 GB
maxtor drive as well).
Anyway, thanks to everyone in this thread for providing comments and
suggestions.

 

[Rod Speed]

Whoops, couldnt remember if it was you with
the maxtor problem previously, obviously it was.

Rod Speed wrote

Well, I did try the maxtor diagnotic utility on a bootable
CD, and since it didn't allow checking usb drives, I
finally mounted the usb drive internally.

Apparantly I opened up a can of worms.

You did indeed.

Not just did the utility report an error on my 200 GB drive that
I used in the USB enclosure (with diagnostic code dea69571),
it also reported an error on my other 120 GB maxtor drive
(with diagnostic code deaa9cb1), although that error seems
less severe, since it suggested I could try a repair (which I
didn't, since I want to see if there is stuff I can backup first).

Hmmmm, maybe it is true what they say
about maxtor drives... that they suck.

Yeah, starting to look like it.

I guess I should have stuck with WD.

The failure rate with those is significant
currently. I personally use samsung now.

Unless maxtor will replace both drives without any hassle,
I will never buy a maxtor drive again (and unfortunately
I recently bought a 300 GB maxtor drive as well).

And that one appears to have problems too from your other post.

Anyway, thanks to everyone in this thread
for providing comments and suggestions.

I'd run Everest on all the drives and check the raw SMART
data. In fact post it here or put it on your web site etc.

Basically as a quick check on whether MaxBlast is having massive
brain fade, as is quite possible given all 3 drives are reported as bad.

 

[name]

Whoops, couldnt remember if it was you with
the maxtor problem previously, obviously it was.





You did indeed.



Yeah, starting to look like it.


The failure rate with those is significant
currently. I personally use samsung now.

Is there any website with objective info about various brands and
their respective failure rates?

And that one appears to have problems too from your other post.

Fortunately I still have the receipt for that one and purchased it
fairly recently, so exchanging it for a nondefective unit shouldn't be
difficult.

I'd run Everest on all the drives and check the raw SMART
data. In fact post it here or put it on your web site etc.

http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/smart120.jpg

Is this the raw SMART data you're referring to?
If it is, I'll post links to similar screenshots for the 200 gb and 300
gb drive as well.

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed wrote

Is there any website with objective info about
various brands and their respective failure rates?

Not that I have ever seen and I doubt its even possible.

Only the drive manufacturers have that data for drives
still in warranty and they are unlikely to make it available.

Fortunately I still have the receipt for that one and purchased it fairly
recently, so exchanging it for a nondefective unit shouldn't be difficult.

Is this the raw SMART data you're referring to?
Yep.

If it is, I'll post links to similar screenshots
for the 200 gb and 300 gb drive as well.

Post when ready, Griddley.

 

[name]

Rod Speed wrote

name <[email protected]> wrote

[..]
Is there any website with objective info about
various brands and their respective failure rates?

Not that I have ever seen and I doubt its even possible.

Only the drive manufacturers have that data for drives
still in warranty and they are unlikely to make it available.

Fortunately I still have the receipt for that one and purchased it fairly
recently, so exchanging it for a nondefective unit shouldn't be difficult.

Is this the raw SMART data you're referring to?
Yep.

If it is, I'll post links to similar screenshots
for the 200 gb and 300 gb drive as well.

Post when ready, Griddley.

http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/smart200.jpg
http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/smart300.jpg

BTW, I also downloaded WD's diagnostic utility (on bootable CD) and it
turned out that drive passed all tests without problems.

 

[Rod Speed]

This one doesnt look too bad, just one pending sector
and one offline. This is the drive the diag suggests that
a repair should help with. Likely that would fix it.

http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/smart200.jpg

This one doesnt look that great, the pending sector count is
likely what is producing the problems you have been seeing.
I'd use the maxtor diag report to get it exchanged under warranty.

http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/smart300.jpg

That one looks fine, no problems at all reported. Looks
like the maxtor diagnostic is having a massive brain fart.

BTW, I also downloaded WD's diagnostic utility (on bootable CD)
and it turned out that drive passed all tests without problems.

Yeah, clearly the maxtor diag is having a brain fart with that drive.

 

[name]

Rod Speed wrote
[..]
Is there any website with objective info about
various brands and their respective failure rates?

Not that I have ever seen and I doubt its even possible.

Only the drive manufacturers have that data for drives
still in warranty and they are unlikely to make it available.

Unless maxtor will replace both drives without any hassle,
I will never buy a maxtor drive again (and unfortunately
I recently bought a 300 GB maxtor drive as well).

And that one appears to have problems too from your other post.

Fortunately I still have the receipt for that one and purchased it
fairly recently, so exchanging it for a nondefective unit shouldn't
be difficult.

Anyway, thanks to everyone in this thread
for providing comments and suggestions.

I'd run Everest on all the drives and check the raw SMART
data. In fact post it here or put it on your web site etc.
http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/smart120.jpg

This one doesnt look too bad, just one pending sector
and one offline. This is the drive the diag suggests that
a repair should help with. Likely that would fix it.

Hmmm... I'll think I'll have it replaced anyway (if possible), while
the warranty still lasts. I don't like the idea of having any errors on
my disk.

This one doesnt look that great, the pending sector count is
likely what is producing the problems you have been seeing.
I'd use the maxtor diag report to get it exchanged under warranty.

That one will go back first. I do hope it wasn't the USB enclosure that
caused the drive to malfunction.

That one looks fine, no problems at all reported. Looks
like the maxtor diagnostic is having a massive brain fart.

I'll see if I can contact maxtor to see what they have to say about
this.
Kinda weird that their diagnostics software should fail on a drive
while it actually works ok.

Yeah, clearly the maxtor diag is having a brain fart with that drive.

Oh, sorry for the confusion, I meant I tried the WD's diagnostics on a
250 GB WD drive I have as well. I clearly have too many harddrives.

 

[J. Clarke]

Rod Speed wrote:
Rod Speed wrote
[..]
Is there any website with objective info about
various brands and their respective failure rates?

Not that I have ever seen and I doubt its even possible.

Only the drive manufacturers have that data for drives
still in warranty and they are unlikely to make it available.

Unless maxtor will replace both drives without any hassle,
I will never buy a maxtor drive again (and unfortunately
I recently bought a 300 GB maxtor drive as well).

And that one appears to have problems too from your other post.

Fortunately I still have the receipt for that one and purchased it
fairly recently, so exchanging it for a nondefective unit shouldn't
be difficult.

Anyway, thanks to everyone in this thread
for providing comments and suggestions.

I'd run Everest on all the drives and check the raw SMART
data. In fact post it here or put it on your web site etc.

http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/smart120.jpg

This one doesnt look too bad, just one pending sector
and one offline. This is the drive the diag suggests that
a repair should help with. Likely that would fix it.

Hmmm... I'll think I'll have it replaced anyway (if possible), while
the warranty still lasts. I don't like the idea of having any errors on
my disk.

They all have errors. It used to be that one of the steps in setting up a
machine was keying in the bad sector table, that came on a little piece of
paper taped to the drive. Now the bad sectors are handled transparently by
the onboard controller on the drive so that until things get real bad you
seldom see them and when you do they're transient. The occasional bad
sector developing in service is nothing to worry about--it's when you get a
pattern of them increasing regularly that you have troubles.

If you can identify the file in which the bad sector resides and erase or
copy that file, the bad sector will likely go away--it's only visible while
it has live data on it--as soon as the disk has an opportunity to write to
the sector it will map in a spare.

Now if you have a bad sector that won't go away when you write fresh data to
it, _then_ you for sure have a drive that's ready for the trash bin because
it means that the spare sectors have all been used up.

This is why SMART exists, so that you can tell that the drive is starting to
develop problems before it gets to that point--without it a drive would
seem to be working perfectly almost to the instant of total failure.

 

[Arno Wagner]

name wrote:

Rod Speed wrote:
Rod Speed wrote
[..]
Is there any website with objective info about
various brands and their respective failure rates?

Not that I have ever seen and I doubt its even possible.

Only the drive manufacturers have that data for drives
still in warranty and they are unlikely to make it available.

Unless maxtor will replace both drives without any hassle,
I will never buy a maxtor drive again (and unfortunately
I recently bought a 300 GB maxtor drive as well).

And that one appears to have problems too from your other post.

Fortunately I still have the receipt for that one and purchased it
fairly recently, so exchanging it for a nondefective unit shouldn't
be difficult.

Anyway, thanks to everyone in this thread
for providing comments and suggestions.

I'd run Everest on all the drives and check the raw SMART
data. In fact post it here or put it on your web site etc.

http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/smart120.jpg

This one doesnt look too bad, just one pending sector
and one offline. This is the drive the diag suggests that
a repair should help with. Likely that would fix it.

Hmmm... I'll think I'll have it replaced anyway (if possible), while
the warranty still lasts. I don't like the idea of having any errors on
my disk.

They all have errors. It used to be that one of the steps in setting up a
machine was keying in the bad sector table, that came on a little piece of
paper taped to the drive. Now the bad sectors are handled transparently by
the onboard controller on the drive so that until things get real bad you
seldom see them and when you do they're transient. The occasional bad
sector developing in service is nothing to worry about--it's when you get a
pattern of them increasing regularly that you have troubles.

I concur. One thing I have done successfully to keep read errors
like this toi develop is to do a complete surface scan (reading)
of each drive on or two time a month. The idea is that bad sectors
develop over time and may still be readable but recognised as
bad if the error did not have much time to develop. The result
is that there are no read errors, but occasionally a drive develops
some reallocated bad secotrs. I have had as much as 273 reallocated
sectors in one go, with a drive that never had any more bad
sectors in 2 years of running 24/7 afterwards afterwards. These
did not cause any read errors.

Arno