Is my drive bad or what?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jon
  • Start date Start date
J

Jon

I ordered a drive from ebay, and it seems to work fine. However,

1. I have RARed/encrypted files, and when I tried to unRAR them, it
failed, saying the file was corrupt. The only reason this can happen
(according to the RAR folks) is if something in the chain makes an
error. I think if my processor were making errors I would have noticed
it by now.

2. I have tried installing Libranet linux about 432432154325 times. I
have verified the CDs several times, and they always come out as
correct. However, I have fresh installed it several times in a row with
the exact same settings and it behaves differently each time.

I have run windows XP's disk checker several times and it never says
that anything is wrong. Is there a better check?
 
Previously Jon said:
I ordered a drive from ebay, and it seems to work fine. However,
Click to expand...
1. I have RARed/encrypted files, and when I tried to unRAR them, it
failed, saying the file was corrupt. The only reason this can happen
(according to the RAR folks) is if something in the chain makes an
error. I think if my processor were making errors I would have noticed
it by now.
Click to expand...
2. I have tried installing Libranet linux about 432432154325 times. I
have verified the CDs several times, and they always come out as
correct. However, I have fresh installed it several times in a row with
the exact same settings and it behaves differently each time.
Click to expand...
I have run windows XP's disk checker several times and it never says
that anything is wrong. Is there a better check?
Click to expand...


Main memory is more likely suspect. Disk data is protected by
checksums and you should get errors, unless the errors are
introduced in the chipset. The data-cable is also protected
by checksums.

Advice: Get memtest86 ( http://www.memtest86.com/ ) and run it
for some hours. If that does not turn up problems, invetigate
further.

Arno
 
Jon said:
I ordered a drive from ebay, and it seems to work fine. However,

1. I have RARed/encrypted files, and when I tried to unRAR them, it
failed, saying the file was corrupt. The only reason this can happen
(according to the RAR folks) is if something in the chain makes an
error. I think if my processor were making errors I would have noticed
it by now.

2. I have tried installing Libranet linux about 432432154325 times. I
have verified the CDs several times, and they always come out as
correct. However, I have fresh installed it several times in a row with
the exact same settings and it behaves differently each time.

I have run windows XP's disk checker several times and it never says
that anything is wrong. Is there a better check?
Click to expand...

None of the above would indicate a problem with your hard drive.
Have you tested your RAM with memtest86?


-WD
 
Arno said:
Advice: Get memtest86 ( http://www.memtest86.com/ ) and run it
for some hours. If that does not turn up problems, invetigate
further.
Click to expand...

I am going to run memtest during the night. Is there a similar program
for checking hard drives more thoroughly than windows XPs error checker,
or is the windows checker pretty thorough?
 
Previously Jon said:
Arno Wagner wrote:
Click to expand...
I am going to run memtest during the night. Is there a similar program
for checking hard drives more thoroughly than windows XPs error checker,
or is the windows checker pretty thorough?
Click to expand...

I have no idea about the XP checker. I use XP only for gaming
and nothing else. Uusually a S.M.A.R.T. surface-scan is enough
to find problems. The only thing more thourough I know
is spinrite (http://grc.com/spinrite.htm). No idea how much
better it is.

Arno
 
Arno said:
I have no idea about the XP checker. I use XP only for gaming
and nothing else. Uusually a S.M.A.R.T. surface-scan is enough
to find problems. The only thing more thourough I know
is spinrite (http://grc.com/spinrite.htm). No idea how much
better it is.
Click to expand...

I will try the SMART scan. I ran memtest all night and it didn't find
errors. Also, I got a partition cleared on my windows hard drive (not
the one I think is bad) and linux installed on it with no problems so
far. I think it's the hard drive. Maybe it has intermittent problems.

Jon
 
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