Seagate Hard Drive - Faulty?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Walker
  • Start date Start date
M

Mike Walker

Hi,
Is this drive faulty or not?
The full text of the report is below, but the bit I'm interested in is:-
Partition 1 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB
Partition 2 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB
The drive is a Seagate 40GB, split into 2 x 20gb
it has been working fine for about 6 months when it
lost the partitions, so I ran the quick Seagate test
and although it reported that the MBR was a FAIL
the rest of the tests where okay.
So I FDISK again, and ran the Seagate test,
which showed these errors.

The drive is under warranty so I can return it
but I don't want to send a working drive back if I can
fix it.

This drive is a slave on a 10 GB C: drive, windows
locks up when attempting to boot with the drive attached.

What are your thoughts?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------
SeaTools Desktop v2.00.09
Copyright (c) 2003 Kroll Ontrack Inc.
9/02/2003 @ 9:15 PM

The following information has been generated by the SeaTools Desktop. Use
this information to help you recognize and resolve potential data access
problems in a timely manner.


System Information:
BIOS Date 07/08/99
Conventional Memory size 639 K
Extended Memory size 58532 K
IO Channel type PCI


Drive Information:
DRIVE SIZE MODEL
----- --------- ---------------------
1 40.02 GB ST340015A
Serial Number = 5LA06X48
Int13 Num = 80, PHYS CHS = 4865x255x63.
ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 4865x255x63

PARTITION CYLINDER SIZE
---------- ------------ ----
# Type Start End MB
PRIMARY
1 Unknown 0 2549 20974
EXTENDED
2 Unknown 2550 4864 19041


Diagnostic Results:
Drive 1 (ST340015A)
SMART Status Check Result: Passed
90-Second Test Result: Passed
File Structure Test Result: Failed
Partition 1 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB
Partition 2 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB
Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed


S.M.A.R.T., (S)elf (M)onitoring (A)nalysis and (R)eporting (T)echnology, a
built-in hard disk drive failure prediction method reports an 'Alert' if a
problem has occurred. It reports 'Passed' if no problems are found and
'Unsupported' if a hard disk drive does not support S.M.A.R.T.


******************************************

Diagnostic Summary:
System Memory Test Result: Passed

Drive 1 (ST340015A)
SMART Status Check Result: Passed
90-Second Test Result: Passed
File Structure Test Result: Failed
Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed

Recommendation:
If you are not experiencing data loss and SeaTools reports File System
Structure errors, they may be caused by a lock-up or failure to shutdown
Windows correctly. Many times, these errors may be repaired through normal
system maintenance. If you are experiencing a hardware error, you should
isolate the cause and replace the failing component. If you are unsure how
to proceed with repairs, contact a computer professional. After completing
any maintenance tasks, run SeaTools again to verify that all errors have
been repaired. If errors continue to occur, the system may not be stable.
Again, contact a computer professional.



SeaTools Desktop v2.00.09
Copyright (c) 2003 Kroll Ontrack Inc.
 
Mike said:
Hi,
Is this drive faulty or not?
The full text of the report is below, but the bit I'm interested in
is:- Partition 1 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB
Partition 2 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB
The drive is a Seagate 40GB, split into 2 x 20gb
it has been working fine for about 6 months when it
lost the partitions, so I ran the quick Seagate test
and although it reported that the MBR was a FAIL
the rest of the tests where okay.
So I FDISK again, and ran the Seagate test,
which showed these errors.

The drive is under warranty so I can return it
but I don't want to send a working drive back if I can
fix it.

This drive is a slave on a 10 GB C: drive, windows
locks up when attempting to boot with the drive attached.

What are your thoughts?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- --
-----------------------
SeaTools Desktop v2.00.09
Copyright (c) 2003 Kroll Ontrack Inc.
9/02/2003 @ 9:15 PM
DRIVE SIZE MODEL
----- --------- ---------------------
1 40.02 GB ST340015A
Serial Number = 5LA06X48
Int13 Num = 80, PHYS CHS = 4865x255x63.
ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 4865x255x63

PARTITION CYLINDER SIZE
---------- ------------ ----
# Type Start End MB
PRIMARY
1 Unknown 0 2549 20974
EXTENDED
2 Unknown 2550 4864 19041


Diagnostic Results:
Drive 1 (ST340015A)
SMART Status Check Result: Passed
90-Second Test Result: Passed
File Structure Test Result: Failed
Partition 1 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB
Partition 2 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB
Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed
Click to expand...

You've created two partitions and not formatted them. Therefore, no file
system, or "Unknown" according to Seatools. Since it passed the complete
surface scan, I'm inclined to think the hard drive is OK. What I'm wondering
about was the apparent partition loss which prompted your use of Seatools.
It could very well be an issue with the IDE controller it was connected to.
I would view that controller as being suspect.
 
Mike;

Why don't you just submit the file results to Seagate. They should know
whether it's OK or not. I've never had an issue with Seagate or western
Digital replacing defective drives.
Doug
 
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