Is this HD on its way out...?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kenneth
  • Start date Start date
With that command, I get:

"Corrupt Master File Table."
Click to expand...

At this point I agree with Billh, Spinrite is the best option if you
want to recover the HD, or even if you just want to play with spinrite
on this drive, in case you ever really need it at sometime in the
future.

Since the drive checks out, I would think a program was responsible,
and Nortons GoBack keeps coming to mind. Not running GoBack are you?
 
At this point I agree with Billh, Spinrite is the best option if you
want to recover the HD, or even if you just want to play with spinrite
on this drive, in case you ever really need it at sometime in the
future.

Since the drive checks out, I would think a program was responsible,
and Nortons GoBack keeps coming to mind. Not running GoBack are you?
Click to expand...

Howdy,

I vowed long ago never to use another Symantec product
(don't ask) so no... but:

I have duplicates of everything on the disc.

As I have said earlier in this thread, I have no need to
recover anything on the disk, I am just trying to determine
if I should replace the disk.

All the best,
 
Kenneth said:
Howdy,

About three weeks ago, when I tried to open a file on a 250
gig WD drive, I got the error "The file or directory is
corrupted and unreadable."

Based on what I read about that error, I decided that my
best bet was to re-format the drive.

After the format, I put it back into service, and all was
fine until today.

Today, I got the error again.

This time, I ran the Western Digital Diagnostics and chose
the most rigorous test method.

The disk passed...

Is it likely that this disk is on its way out, or could
there be another explanation for these errors?

Sincere thanks,
Click to expand...

What does SMART say? If you don't have a utility to
read SMART, download the Everest Ultimate trial from
lavalys.com, if you don't already have it. Lots of
useful stuff in this app, some locked out for the trial
version.

Wikipedia has a complete explanation of the SMART
parameters here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Monitoring,_Analysis,_and_Reporting_Technology
 
well I remember after running one of my western digital drives without good
cooling it died in about a year so I guess it might be it.

After western digital let me down like that I started using Maxtor hard
drives they still get toasty but haven't died yet.

Perhaps you could run the HDD out side its case or whatever its in to
attempt to give it max air flow then test it in windows or whichever program
your using.

Did you also say your running it in a USB style caddy? if so do you get the
same results when attaching the drive physically into the PC?


Steve
 
Kenneth said:
Howdy,

About three weeks ago, when I tried to open a file on a 250
gig WD drive, I got the error "The file or directory is
corrupted and unreadable."

Based on what I read about that error, I decided that my
best bet was to re-format the drive.

After the format, I put it back into service, and all was
fine until today.

Today, I got the error again.

This time, I ran the Western Digital Diagnostics and chose
the most rigorous test method.

The disk passed...

Is it likely that this disk is on its way out, or could
there be another explanation for these errors?
Click to expand...

There is a possibility at least that the drive could be bac anyway.
It happened to me once.
drive passed the mfg's diagnostic but just plain was bad.
The problem never occured again when the drive was replaced.
 
Howdy,

The switch of brands may be a fine idea, but it is my
understanding that modern disks cannot be "low level
formatted" by the end user.

Am I wrong about that?

Thanks,
Click to expand...


Today's supposed "low level format" is only writing zeros to
all data areas. It was an unnecessary suggestion as it
won't do anything more useful than merely recreating
partitions and filesystems traditionally.
 
95 degrees is nothing.
Click to expand...


95 degrees is something, because a drive then generates heat
and is hotter than 95F.

Some drives will overheat just sitting out upside down on a
table running. 95F also puts lesser margin on all aspects
of system cooling and requires a significantly higher
airflow rate. It's quite possible to run a system in 95F
environment, but the extra steps to counter this higher
ambient temp must be taken.

There seems a pretty easy way to check this, get the system
out of that cabinet, pull the cover off and point a fan at
it then see if the problem is reproduced... though at this
point heat "could" have done more damage like wearing out
capacitors which cause corruption before the drive gets the
data.
 
dadiOH said:
Yes. But for all practical purposes, no.

"Low level formatting" involves writing track/sector data to the
drive along with other data and a byte pattern. It was normally
done (via DOS) with 5 1/4" floppies, maybe with the little
floppies too, but took a long time even when disk capacity was 80
KB. Given the size of hard drives it would take bloody forever
now even allowing for the vastly greater CPU and drive speed.
Click to expand...

No, it is impossible. Low level format requires various precise
(and expensive) equipment that the end user does not have. They
place guiding tracks on dedicated cylinders, which in turn control
head positioning.
 
Steven said:
Just wondering has drive been exposed to high levels of heat?

Sorry if its allready been asked but i havent the time the moment
to look at all the other posts.
Click to expand...

Which is probably due to the laziness of other top-posters.

Please do not top-post. Your answer belongs after (or intermixed
with) the quoted material to which you reply, after snipping all
irrelevant material. See the following links:

--
<http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html>
<http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html>
<http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html>
<http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/> (taming google)
<http://members.fortunecity.com/nnqweb/> (newusers)
 
There is a possibility at least that the drive could be bac anyway.
It happened to me once.
drive passed the mfg's diagnostic but just plain was bad.
The problem never occured again when the drive was replaced.
Click to expand...
Howdy,

That is the direction I am moving...

Given the value of my time against the cost of replacing the
disk, I will probably just pop another in.

All the best,
 
well I remember after running one of my western digital drives without good
cooling it died in about a year so I guess it might be it.

After western digital let me down like that I started using Maxtor hard
drives they still get toasty but haven't died yet.

Perhaps you could run the HDD out side its case or whatever its in to
attempt to give it max air flow then test it in windows or whichever program
your using.

Did you also say your running it in a USB style caddy? if so do you get the
same results when attaching the drive physically into the PC?


Steve
Click to expand...

Hi Steve,

No, it is not in a caddy. It is a conventionally installed
internal drive.

"Testing" it outside its case will not do too much for me
because the problem arose after about two years of use, then
I reformatted, then it happened again, after about three
weeks.

I could not conveniently leave it outside of the enclosure
for another three or four weeks to check it out.

Thanks,
 
Kenneth said:
The WD Diagnostics includes SMART, and says "Passed."

All the best,
Click to expand...

Did you check the smart log itself to see if there have
been any errors recorded? There may be errors that
haven't accumulated to the threshold level of a failed test.
Any Data value other than "0" for test 01 is problematic.
If Data values for 01, 05, 07, 0A, 0B, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8 are
all "0", then the drive has had no hardware related errors.
 
Did you check the smart log itself to see if there have
been any errors recorded? There may be errors that
haven't accumulated to the threshold level of a failed test.
Any Data value other than "0" for test 01 is problematic.
If Data values for 01, 05, 07, 0A, 0B, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8 are
all "0", then the drive has had no hardware related errors.
Click to expand...

Hello again,

No... I did not know that I could. Right now, the machine is
not accessible, but I will check the log as you suggest.

Thanks,
 
Well, for one, if a RAM stick was failing it could also cause data
corruption, which would result in receiving the same message.
 
Well, for one, if a RAM stick was failing it could also cause data
corruption, which would result in receiving the same message.
Click to expand...

Hi again,

Indeed, it could, but about two weeks prior to the first
occurrence of the error, I had run a memtest+ for about 25
hours with no errors.

Certainly the memory could have developed a problem after
that, but prior to the errors, but it would be a heck of a
coincidence.

All the best,
 
Yes. But for all practical purposes, no.
Click to expand...

True it's not the sort of thing most computer users would do since you need
third-party software to engage the format subroutine in the drive's
firmware. Google hard-disk recovery tools and you'll easily find something
with that feature.
"Low level formatting" involves writing track/sector data to the drive
along with other data and a byte pattern. It was normally done (via
DOS) with 5 1/4" floppies, maybe with the little floppies too, but
took a long time even when disk capacity was 80 KB. Given the size of
hard drives it would take bloody forever now even allowing for the
vastly greater CPU and drive speed.
Click to expand...
However, it *could* be done if one knew what one was doing, had a
program to do so (or could write one directly accessing the disk drive
controller) and had eons to wait.
Click to expand...

There are a bunch of utilites out there that will let you send the format
command to the drive. I did it a few times several years ago and got mixed
results. Some drives seem to implement it as a no-op while others take
gobs of time doing something to the platters. I assume it is as you said
that a pattern is written to the drive including a gap on each track of
known length and other data which is going to be particular to the software
running on the drive's controller board.

I suppose there are good reasons as to why it generally takes so long to do
the low-level format, but it's not clear that it would take proportionately
longer on hard-disks of contemporary size since they are also so much
faster than earlier models. To wit, in my laptop I have a tiny little
Fujitsu 120G drive that sustains 40MB per second. That's just crazy in
comparison to what I could get out of a fast Seagate drive ten years ago.
Progress is your friend.

If low-level formatting doesn't seem to do anything, you'll just have to
live with the fact that hard-drives (yours included) are closed systems
without user-serviceable parts inside. :(


Dr. Beard
 
Kenneth said:
About three weeks ago, when I tried to open a file on a 250
gig WD drive, I got the error "The file or directory is
corrupted and unreadable."

Based on what I read about that error, I decided that my
best bet was to re-format the drive.

After the format, I put it back into service, and all was
fine until today.

Today, I got the error again.
Click to expand...

Sometimes you have to zero fill the drive to get it back to factory
specs.
 
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