HELP REQ: Hardisk Issues

Tilly · Aug 31, 2006

Not sure if right newsgroup, but here goes

Got a problem with my HD's, and before I go off and buy new ones,
thought I would come on here and hope some helpful soul can offer any
advice.

Basically, two HD's. Using HD Tach, they are reporting the following
average reads

Western Digital WD1200PB -> 3.91mbs
Maxtor 6Y080L0 -> 4.1mbs

Two months ago, from my last benchmarks using the same software I was
getting 44.7mbs and 42.1mbs respectively.

So there is something wrong in my setup somewhere. Sounds like it might
be the IDE cable. However, I have noticed a copy of error messages in
EVENT log.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7
Description:
The device, \Device\Harddisk1\D, has a bad block

I have even formatted this drive, and the error messages still come
back. CHKDSK has found no problems.

Any advice? Time to move to SATA, or can I expect to get some more life
out of these HD's

Any help, much appreciated.

Fabien LE LEZ · Aug 31, 2006

Basically, two HD's. Using HD Tach, they are reporting the following
average reads

Western Digital WD1200PB -> 3.91mbs
Maxtor 6Y080L0 -> 4.1mbs

Are they on the same IDE cable?
If so, did you try each one alone on its cable?

Folkert Rienstra · Aug 31, 2006

Fabien LE LEZ said:
Are they on the same IDE cable?

Which wasn't a problem 2 months agao but now is?

Folkert Rienstra · Aug 31, 2006

Tilly said:
Not sure if right newsgroup, but here goes

Got a problem with my HD's, and before I go off and buy new ones,
thought I would come on here and hope some helpful soul can offer any
advice.

Basically, two HD's. Using HD Tach, they are reporting the following
average reads

Why exactly only post the average, (which in HD Tach is not the average
at all).

Rod Speed · Aug 31, 2006

Tilly said:
Not sure if right newsgroup,

It is.

but here goes

Got a problem with my HD's, and before I go off and buy new ones,

That wont help.

thought I would come on here and hope some helpful soul can offer any advice.

Basically, two HD's. Using HD Tach, they
are reporting the following average reads

Western Digital WD1200PB -> 3.91mbs
Maxtor 6Y080L0 -> 4.1mbs

Two months ago, from my last benchmarks using the same
software I was getting 44.7mbs and 42.1mbs respectively.

So there is something wrong in my setup somewhere.
Yes.

Sounds like it might be the IDE cable.

That is certainly possible.

However, I have noticed a copy of error messages in EVENT log.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7
Description:
The device, \Device\Harddisk1\D, has a bad block

That wont be the problem since its just one drive
and you are getting lousy thruput on both drives.

I have even formatted this drive, and the error messages
still come back. CHKDSK has found no problems.

Any advice?

Check that the system is using DMA on those drives. Win
will turn the DMA off if it gets significant errors, for safety.

Post the Everest SMART data for the two drives,
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

Time to move to SATA, or can I expect
to get some more life out of these HD's

Its very likely a fixable problem.

Fabien LE LEZ · Aug 31, 2006

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:40:04 +0200, "Folkert Rienstra" wrote
(something)

You'll understand when you get older.
Now, it's past your bedtime, so off you go!

Tilly · Sep 1, 2006

Tried an alternative cable from another PC, same result. Throughput is
4mbs. Comparison to 2 months ago also shows that CPU usage is
different. Now CPU Utilization is 66%, two months ago 4%.

Notice Windows thinks it's running in PIO mode, DVD drives are running
in DMA mode. Will try reinstalling the IDE drivers to see if that
resolves it. Information from Everest below.

ATA Device Properties:
Model ID WDC
WD1200PB-00FBA0
Serial Number WD-WMAES1616179
Revision 15.05R15
Parameters 232581
cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 600 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors 234441648
Buffer 8 MB (Dual
Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 74
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5
(ATA-100)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5
(ATA-100)
Unformatted Capacity 134149 MB

ATA Device Properties:
Model ID Maxtor 6Y080L0
Serial Number Y30H402E
Revision YAR41VW0
Parameters 158816
cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors 160086528
Buffer 2 MB (Dual
Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 57
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6
(ATA-133)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6
(ATA-133)
Unformatted Capacity 78167 MB

[ WDC WD1200PB-00FBA0 (WD-WMAES1616179) ]

01 Raw Read Error Rate 51 200 200 0
OK: Value is normal
03 Spin Up Time 21 140 135 3525
OK: Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 40 99 99 1724
OK: Value is normal
05 Reallocated Sector Count 140 200 200 0
OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 51 100 253 0
OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 88 88 8821
OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 51 100 100 0
OK: Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 51 100 100 0
OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 99 99 1646
OK: Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 122 253 28
OK: Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 200 200 0
OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 200 200 0
OK: Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 200 200 0
OK: Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 200 253 24
OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 51 200 155 0
OK: Value is normal

[ Maxtor 6Y080L0 (Y30H402E) ]

03 Spin Up Time 63 202 201 20410
OK: Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 0 253 253 1346
OK: Always passing
05 Reallocated Sector Count 63 253 253 2
OK: Value is normal
06 Read Channel Margin 100 253 253 0
OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
08 Seek Time Performance 187 252 246 34295
OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 231 231 5366
OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 157 253 252 0
OK: Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 223 253 252 0
OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 247 247 2609
OK: Always passing
C0 Power-Off Retract Count 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 253 253 22
OK: Always passing
C3 Hardware ECC Recovered 0 253 252 2861
OK: Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 253 253 2
OK: Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 252 252 1
OK: Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 199 199 0
OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
C9 <vendor-specific> 0 253 241 321
OK: Always passing
CA <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
CB <vendor-specific> 180 253 252 22
OK: Value is normal
CC <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
CD <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
CF <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
D0 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
D1 <vendor-specific> 0 199 199 0
OK: Always passing
63 <vendor-specific> 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
64 <vendor-specific> 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
65 <vendor-specific> 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing

Rod Speed · Sep 1, 2006

Tilly said:
Tried an alternative cable from another PC, same result.

If Win has turned the DMA off, due to too many errors seen
with the original cable, you have to turn the DMA back on
manually before it will use it with the replacement cable.

Throughput is 4mbs. Comparison to 2 months ago also shows that CPU
usage is different. Now CPU Utilization is 66%, two months ago 4%.

Again, due to DMA being turned off.

Notice Windows thinks it's running in PIO mode, DVD drives are running
in DMA mode. Will try reinstalling the IDE drivers to see if that resolves it.

It will fix the thruput problem guaranteed, and the cpu utilisation too.

Information from Everest below.

ATA Device Properties:
Model ID WDC
WD1200PB-00FBA0
Serial Number WD-WMAES1616179
Revision 15.05R15
Parameters 232581
cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 600 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors 234441648
Buffer 8 MB (Dual
Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 74
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5
(ATA-100)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5
(ATA-100)
Unformatted Capacity 134149 MB

ATA Device Properties:
Model ID Maxtor 6Y080L0
Serial Number Y30H402E
Revision YAR41VW0
Parameters 158816
cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors 160086528
Buffer 2 MB (Dual
Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 57
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6
(ATA-133)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6
(ATA-133)
Unformatted Capacity 78167 MB

[ WDC WD1200PB-00FBA0 (WD-WMAES1616179) ]

01 Raw Read Error Rate 51 200 200 0
OK: Value is normal
03 Spin Up Time 21 140 135 3525
OK: Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 40 99 99 1724
OK: Value is normal
05 Reallocated Sector Count 140 200 200 0
OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 51 100 253 0
OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 88 88 8821
OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 51 100 100 0
OK: Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 51 100 100 0
OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 99 99 1646
OK: Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 122 253 28
OK: Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 200 200 0
OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 200 200 0
OK: Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 200 200 0
OK: Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 200 253 24
OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 51 200 155 0
OK: Value is normal

That drive is fine.

[ Maxtor 6Y080L0 (Y30H402E) ]

03 Spin Up Time 63 202 201 20410
OK: Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 0 253 253 1346
OK: Always passing
05 Reallocated Sector Count 63 253 253 2
OK: Value is normal

Thats two bad sectors that its reallocated, not unusual for a Maxtor.

06 Read Channel Margin 100 253 253 0
OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
08 Seek Time Performance 187 252 246 34295
OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 231 231 5366
OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 157 253 252 0
OK: Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 223 253 252 0
OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 247 247 2609
OK: Always passing
C0 Power-Off Retract Count 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 253 253 22
OK: Always passing
C3 Hardware ECC Recovered 0 253 252 2861
OK: Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 253 253 2
OK: Always passing

Its still got a couple more sectors that its unhappy about.

C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 252 252 1
OK: Always passing

And one that it hasnt reallocated for some reason.
Thats the one the event log is reporting.

C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 199 199 0
OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
C9 <vendor-specific> 0 253 241 321
OK: Always passing
CA <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
CB <vendor-specific> 180 253 252 22
OK: Value is normal
CC <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
CD <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
CF <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
D0 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0
OK: Always passing
D1 <vendor-specific> 0 199 199 0
OK: Always passing
63 <vendor-specific> 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
64 <vendor-specific> 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing
65 <vendor-specific> 0 253 253 0
OK: Always passing

The drive should be fine if you have at it with PowerMax.

Folkert Rienstra · Sep 1, 2006

Rod Speed said:
Tilly <[email protected]> wrote

Btw, you have very high Power Cycle Counts, once per 2 to 5 minutes

If Win has turned the DMA off, due to too many errors seen
with the original cable, you have to turn the DMA back on
manually before it will use it with the replacement cable.

Again, due to DMA being turned off.

It will fix the thruput problem guaranteed, and the cpu utilisation too.

For a while, until it turns it off again.
The reason for that has to be resolved first also.

Information from Everest below.

Click to expand...

ATA Device Properties:
Model ID WDC WD1200PB-00FBA0
Serial Number WD-WMAES1616179
Revision 15.05R15
Parameters 232581 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 600 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors 234441648
Buffer 8 MB (Dual Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 74
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
Unformatted Capacity 134149 MB

ATA Device Properties:
Model ID Maxtor 6Y080L0
Serial Number Y30H402E
Revision YAR41VW0
Parameters 158816 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors 160086528
Buffer 2 MB (Dual Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 57
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Unformatted Capacity 78167 MB

Click to expand...

[ WDC WD1200PB-00FBA0 (WD-WMAES1616179) ]

Click to expand...

01 Raw Read Error Rate 51 200 200 0 OK: Value is normal
03 Spin Up Time 21 140 135 3525 OK: Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 40 99 99 1724 OK: Value is normal
05 Reallocated Sector Count 140 200 200 0 OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 51 100 253 0 OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 88 88 8821 OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 51 100 100 0 OK: Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 51 100 100 0 OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 99 99 1646 OK: Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 122 253 28 OK: Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 200 200 0 OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 200 200 0 OK: Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 200 200 0 OK: Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 200 253 24 OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 51 200 155 0 OK: Value is normal

Click to expand...

That drive is fine.

That remains to bee seen, with DMA turned off for it.

[ Maxtor 6Y080L0 (Y30H402E) ]

Click to expand...

03 Spin Up Time 63 202 201 20410 OK: Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 0 253 253 1346 OK: Always passing
05 Reallocated Sector Count 63 253 253 2 OK: Value is normal

Click to expand...

Thats two bad sectors that its reallocated, not unusual for a Maxtor.

06 Read Channel Margin 100 253 253 0 OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
08 Seek Time Performance 187 252 246 34295 OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 231 231 5366 OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 157 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 223 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 247 247 2609 OK: Always passing
C0 Power-Off Retract Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 253 253 22 OK: Always passing
C3 Hardware ECC Recovered 0 253 252 2861 OK: Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 253 253 2 OK: Always passing

Click to expand...

Its still got a couple more sectors that its unhappy about.

C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 252 252 1 OK: Always passing

Click to expand...

And one that it hasnt reallocated for some reason.

Gee, maybe because it has user's data in it that user doesn't want to
part with, without user knowing?

And it may well be one of the two above, that aren't reassigned either.

Thats the one the event log is reporting.

Not very likely.

C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 199 199 0 OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing

Click to expand...

[snip]

The drive should be fine if you have at it with PowerMax.

Depends on what you let it do to it, obviously.

Rod Speed · Sep 1, 2006

Btw, you have very high Power Cycle Counts, once per 2 to 5 minutes
Nope.

For a while, until it turns it off again.

You dont know that it will do that if its a bad cable thats been replaced.

The reason for that has to be resolved first also.

Information from Everest below.

Click to expand...

ATA Device Properties:
Model ID WDC WD1200PB-00FBA0
Serial Number WD-WMAES1616179
Revision 15.05R15
Parameters 232581 cylinders, 16
heads, 63 sectors per track, 600 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors 234441648
Buffer 8 MB (Dual Ported,
Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 74
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
Unformatted Capacity 134149 MB

ATA Device Properties:
Model ID Maxtor 6Y080L0
Serial Number Y30H402E
Revision YAR41VW0
Parameters 158816 cylinders, 16
heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors 160086528
Buffer 2 MB (Dual Ported,
Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 57
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Unformatted Capacity 78167 MB

Click to expand...

[ WDC WD1200PB-00FBA0 (WD-WMAES1616179) ]

Click to expand...

01 Raw Read Error Rate 51 200 200 0 OK:
Value is normal
03 Spin Up Time 21 140 135 3525 OK:
Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 40 99 99 1724 OK:
Value is normal
05 Reallocated Sector Count 140 200 200 0 OK:
Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 51 100 253 0 OK:
Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 88 88 8821 OK:
Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 51 100 100 0 OK:
Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 51 100 100 0 OK:
Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 99 99 1646 OK:
Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 122 253 28 OK:
Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 200 200 0 OK:
Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 200 200 0 OK:
Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 200 200 0 OK:
Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 200 253 24 OK:
Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 51 200 155 0 OK:
Value is normal

Click to expand...

That drive is fine.

Click to expand...

That remains to bee seen, with DMA turned off for it.

If the drive wasnt fine, that would show up in that smart report.

[ Maxtor 6Y080L0 (Y30H402E) ]

Click to expand...

03 Spin Up Time 63 202 201 20410 OK:
Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 0 253 253 1346 OK:
Always passing
05 Reallocated Sector Count 63 253 253 2 OK:
Value is normal

Click to expand...

Thats two bad sectors that its reallocated, not unusual for a Maxtor.

06 Read Channel Margin 100 253 253 0 OK:
Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 0 253 252 0 OK:
Always passing
08 Seek Time Performance 187 252 246 34295 OK:
Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 231 231 5366 OK:
Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 157 253 252 0 OK:
Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 223 253 252 0 OK:
Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 247 247 2609 OK:
Always passing
C0 Power-Off Retract Count 0 253 253 0 OK:
Always passing
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 253 253 0 OK:
Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 253 253 22 OK:
Always passing
C3 Hardware ECC Recovered 0 253 252 2861 OK:
Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 253 253 0 OK:
Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 253 253 2 OK:
Always passing

Click to expand...

Its still got a couple more sectors that its unhappy about.

C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 252 252 1 OK:
Always passing

Click to expand...

And one that it hasnt reallocated for some reason.

Click to expand...

Gee, maybe because it has user's data in it that user
doesn't want to part with, without user knowing?

Nope, those are the pendings.

And it may well be one of the two above, that aren't reassigned either.

Not very likely.

Very likely, actually.

Depends on what you let it do to it, obviously.

Pathetic, really.

Tilly · Oct 7, 2006

Sorted now! It was an issue with a corrupt IDE driver clashing with
Daemon tools - Daemon tools would not let new driver be installed. Had
to boot in SAFE mode and not load the system driver for Daemon tools.
This allowed driver to be installed correctly, and everything is back
to running on DMA and I have my 42mbs throughput back.

Thanks for all your help.