Unable to format a hard disk, is it dead?

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

Rod Speed wrote

For certian kinds of damage, the fdisk will indeed partiton around.

Nope.

What are you claiming it does, create multiple partitions instead
of the one its told to create, or adjust the start or end of the partition
its told to create so that the bad is left in unpartitioned space ?

I've seen it happen.

Dont believe it.

Most of the time, however, ordinary bad
sectors are caught by the format utility later.

Windows ME doesn't work.

Bullshit. Works fine here.

The system restore doesn't work, the hibernation deosn't work.
Bullshit.

(there's a patch available for the system
restore, but it STILL doesn't work well)

Irrelevant to whether ME works or not.

The Windows Scandisk loads if you failed to
properly shut down (annoying restarts and all,

Irrelevant to whether it works or not.

the DOS

mode scandisk at least works right).

Getting into DOS mode is impossible (there isn't one),
Wrong.

and the safe mode is worthless.

Wrong again.

You can't create DOS boot disks with the format utility anymore,

You can however create bootable floppys.

which is an obsticle to BIOS flashing.

Irrelevant to whether ME works or not. There are
plenty of other ways to produce bootable floppys.

On top of that, it's unstable.

No it isnt.

AARGH.

Just mindless silly stuff.

 

[paulmd]

(e-mail address removed) wrote


Nope.

What are you claiming it does, create multiple partitions instead
of the one its told to create, or adjust the start or end of the partition
its told to create so that the bad is left in unpartitioned space ?


Dont believe it.



Bullshit. Works fine here.


Bullshit.

What happens on hibernation is that a certian percetage of systems fail
to return from hibernation. It hangs there forever, until the computer
is manually reset, and on next reboot it tells you that the compurer
failed to return from hibernation, do you wanna try again? This is the
one I've seen most often. On at least 5 different systems I've
personally seen.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=303368

Here's more fun with Me hibernation
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=296773

There's a fix for this, but you cant downloaod it with out actually
calling MS and ordering it.

And here's another fun one.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=273818

And another

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=296883

And another

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;250199
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302103/


Here's the flaw with the system restore, that ME shipped with.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=290700

More of the joys and pitfalls of ME system restore. These are not
fixed, and never will be.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=267176
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=267426

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=250231
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=261716

Irrelevant to whether ME works or not.



Irrelevant to whether it works or not.

It deosn't work well at all and may add an extra 10 minutes or more to
the boot time, because scandink keeps rechecking the same shit. This is
called a Major Flaw. As in it's such a pain in the ass, that this alone
qualifies as a reason to not use ME.

the DOS


Wrong.

There is a command line. That's not the same thing.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/269524/EN-US/

Wrong again.


You can however create bootable floppys.


Irrelevant to whether ME works or not. There are
plenty of other ways to produce bootable floppys.

It's called a workaround. As in perferred method doesn't work, let's
find some third party shit. Which is a pain in the ass. bootdisk.com is
my friend, too, but it's still a pain.


These are major flaws. THese were major selling points af ME. What
you're saying is a bit like selling a car with this ad.

Fuel tank cannot be filled above 3/4 due to hole somewhere
1 working brake (not sure which)
3 cylinders work most of the time
Moss growing on roof

Runs Great.

Mindows Me is a lot like that car, all of it's problems are fixable,
but I wouldn't sell it to any of MY friends.

No it isnt.

Only if you're lucky.

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

Rod Speed wrote

What happens on hibernation is that a certian
percetage of systems fail to return from hibernation.

A very small percentage, actually.

It hangs there forever, until the computer is manually reset, and
on next reboot it tells you that the compurer failed to return from
hibernation, do you wanna try again? This is the one I've seen
most often. On at least 5 different systems I've personally seen.

Irrelevant to whether ME works.

Most dont hibernate, and SE had a hell of a lot bigger problem
with shutting down, which most did much more than hiberate.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=303368

Here's more fun with Me hibernation
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=296773

There's a fix for this, but you cant downloaod
it with out actually calling MS and ordering it.

And here's another fun one.

And another

And another

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;250199
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302103/

Just as many for SE and XP.

Here's the flaw with the system restore, that ME shipped with.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=290700

More of the joys and pitfalls of ME system restore.
These are not fixed, and never will be.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=250231
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=261716

Just as true of SE.

It deosn't work well at all

Oh bullshit.

and may add an extra 10 minutes or more to the boot time,

You can always cancel it.

because scandink keeps rechecking the same shit.

No it doesnt.

This is called a Major Flaw.
Nope.

As in it's such a pain in the ass, that this
alone qualifies as a reason to not use ME.

Mindlessly silly.

There is a command line. That's not the same thing.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/269524/EN-US/

Its all most actually need. And its trivial to do
a real dos boot floppy if you actually need one.

It's called a workaround.

Its called a perfectly viable alternative for the few situations
where the ME bootable floppy isnt good enough.

Same is true of XP too and only a fool would claim that that isnt viable.

As in perferred method doesn't work, let's find some third party shit.

Nope, no third party shit is needed.

Which is a pain in the ass. bootdisk.com is my friend, too, but it's still a pain.

Nope, not when the ME bootable floppy is perfectly viable most of the time.

These are major flaws.

Nope, minor irritations.

THese were major selling points af ME.

Like hell they ever were.

What you're saying is a bit like selling a car with this ad.

Crap, nothing like.

Fuel tank cannot be filled above 3/4 due to hole somewhere
1 working brake (not sure which)
3 cylinders work most of the time
Moss growing on roof

Runs Great.

Mindows Me is a lot like that car, all of it's problems
are fixable, but I wouldn't sell it to any of MY friends.

Your problem.

SE had its own problems. So does every OS.

Only if you're lucky.

Mindless silly stuff.

 

[paulmd]

(e-mail address removed) wrote


A very small percentage, actually.


Irrelevant to whether ME works.

Most dont hibernate, and SE had a hell of a lot bigger problem
with shutting down, which most did much more than hiberate.

That's no excuse for ME's failures.

Just as many for SE and XP.



Just as true of SE.

SE doesn't even HAVE a system restore.

Oh bullshit.


You can always cancel it.

Leaving potential file system errors. That's worse.

No it doesnt.


Mindlessly silly.




Its all most actually need. And its trivial to do
a real dos boot floppy if you actually need one.



Its called a perfectly viable alternative for the few situations
where the ME bootable floppy isnt good enough.

Same is true of XP too and only a fool would claim that that isnt viable.

XP CAN create a MS-DOS startup disk via the format utility. ME can't.

Nope, no third party shit is needed.


Nope, not when the ME bootable floppy is perfectly viable most of the time.


Nope, minor irritations.

They interfere with doing work on a computer, costing time, and very
likely, money. That's not minor.

Like hell they ever were.


Crap, nothing like.




Your problem.

Are you saying YOU would?

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

Rod Speed wrote

That's no excuse for ME's failures.

SE is obviously much worse because its
failure affects the mode that most use.

ME did fix that particular problem.

SE doesn't even HAVE a system restore.

Yes, but it does have OTHER problems that ME fixed.

Leaving potential file system errors.

Nope, no potential file system errors in that particular situation.

And that isnt true with SE's failure to shut down properly which ME fixed.

That's worse.
Nope.

XP CAN create a MS-DOS startup disk via the format utility. ME can't.

ME can however create a bootable floppy that works fine for most stuff
and its completely trivial to create a real dos boot floppy if you need one.

No reason why the OS must be able to do
that with something that unusually required.

They interfere with doing work on a computer,

Hardly ever given that the bootable floppy that
ME can produce works fine for most stuff.

costing time, and very likely, money.

Oh bullshit. Its completely trivial to produce
a real dos floppy if you actually need one.

That's not minor.

Corse it is. Very minor indeed in fact.

Are you saying YOU would?

I certainly have used ME fine, and recommended it to others too.

You cant manage to work out how to use ME effectively ? YOUR problem.

True in spades of XP too.

 

[Stegozor]

before you throw out the drive, unreplace fdisk.

Well, now I installed Ubuntu, it's running properly. However, some
advices pointed out that next time I should use use FreeDOS FORMAT /U,
which takes a long time but checks the whole partition for bad sectors.
Also that I should "scan" the drive by creating a very big file with
known contents and checking the md5sum.

uh, i mean, get rid of free fdisk. run fdisk /mbr. use fdisk to delete all
partitions. create a partition or two with fdisk. try formatting. if it
still doesn't work, take the drive apart, remove the platters, go to cannes,
see if you can skim the platters across the sea. well, it's a reason to
take a vacation.


i've seen free fdisk cause similar problems on 3 different computers. you

Are you sure? In the FreeDos mailing-list, some people think that
FreeFDISK is the best FDISK ever released. As it came after FDISK from
Microsoft, and as it's been widely reviewed, I think the opinion makes
sense. Maybe the computers you talk about had dying hard disks? Anyway,
almost everyone thinks that my disk (not a Maxtor as I previously wrote,
but a Western Digital) has a serious problem with broken sectors. When I
find time and patience, I'll check it with some isos put together (md5),
and possibly look after another hard disk.

don't need it for your situation, so use fdisk. then throw out the drive.

My next boot disk will probably come from Freedos, but anyway, I'll keep
it homogeneous.

good luck

Seems I'll need it.