40Gb Western Digital hard drive - followup
in [Repair]
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From: mike on 2 Jun 2010 15:24 Jeff Liebermann wrote: > I buy piles of them from the local recyclers. Those are the ones that > work. You should see the piles and piles that didn't. > Damn, that can be time consuming, for sure. I'd like to compare notes on using mhdd, but I didn't take any notes, so probably would get a bunch of stuff wrong if I tried to recollect correctly; plus, I discovered issues with the test machine's that I used, the 1st one I think is a MB problem and the 2nd one a cdrom that was causing the MB to misbehave. However, after getting familar with the program, I do feel that it does a pretty good job of pointing out a hopeless drive. On a slightly different subject, when I got curious about the definition of 'low-level format', I did some googling on the subject and checked out the Wikipedia for a bit and now I don't know whether I even did any low-level formatting in the last few days, though I do know that I used to in the early 80's - oh, well I guess that's "progress' for ya. Anyway, of the 3 hard drives that had been trashed by E-machines PSU failures, the WD 40Gb one is still working fine ( it's in the machine I'm posting from) so, after scanning it once and not seeing anything suspect I figure I'll just keep using it unless it starts acting up. Theres' also a 40 Gb Seagate that used not to be able to pass any of the mfg's utilities which, after running a few of the operations in mhdd now passes muster with the mfg's utilities, so I loaded ubuntu onto it and will start using it sos I can see whether or not it's a lasting fix. There's also an 80Gb Seagate drive which was not even addressable by any means, and mhdd was not able to address it either so I guess it must be totally screwed, forever, no matter what, it's still just an inert lump...had hopes of making it ert, but so it goes sometimes...:) Thanks for the help, Mike
From: Jeff Liebermann on 2 Jun 2010 20:43 On Wed, 2 Jun 2010 12:24:19 -0700 (PDT), mike <mlightner(a)survivormail.com> wrote: >I'd like to compare notes >on using mhdd, but I didn't take any notes, so probably would get a >bunch of stuff wrong if I tried to recollect correctly; We'll, I wouldn't mind, but there's a problem. I don't keep any obviously defective drives and only save the paperwork on the good drives. The ones in between are kinda arbitrary. I'll keep results on the newer and better drives, but not on the older marginal junk. It's really not that much of a time burner. I have several test machines and boards, and usually let them run overnight. >However, after getting familar with the program, I do >feel that it does a pretty good job of pointing out a hopeless drive. My rule-of-thumb is that if the diagnostic says it's bad, it's almost certainly bad. If the diagnostic says it's good, it might be, but might also be bad due to some reason that wasn't obvious or tested. I once tested a drive (with a different program) that had obvious bearing spin (very noisy), but tested good. >On a slightly different subject, when I got curious about the >definition of 'low-level format', I did some googling on the subject >and checked out the Wikipedia for a bit and now I don't know whether I >even did any low-level formatting in the last few days, though I do >know that I used to in the early 80's - oh, well I guess that's >"progress' for ya. Low level format is usually done by the factory, and never again. It's places the sector numbers and servo tracks on the platter. There are programs that plug into the diagnstic port of the drive that will recreate the sector numbers, bios preload area, diagnostic tracks, and landing zone allocation, but not the servo tracks. If the drive seems to require a new primary format, give up now. Hint: I have a 15 year old Conner CP1060S 1GB drive sitting in my SCO Unix 3.2v4.2 server. It's been running continuously since about 1995(?). Three mother boards (486DX2/66), one video card, and one Wangtek tape controller card have blown up during this time. The secret to long HD life is leave it running all the time and protect it from power and static electricity glitches. I have other servers that have done almost as well, but this one is my oldest. -- Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
From: mike on 3 Jun 2010 21:38 On Jun 2, 8:43 pm, Jeff Liebermann <je...(a)cruzio.com> wrote: > We'll, I wouldn't mind, but there's a problem. I don't keep any > obviously defective drives and only save the paperwork on the good > drives. The ones in between are kinda arbitrary. I'll keep results > on the newer and better drives, but not on the older marginal junk. > It's really not that much of a time burner. I have several test > machines and boards, and usually let them run overnight. Hmm, I guess I need to get a little bit better organized... > My rule-of-thumb is that if the diagnostic says it's bad, it's almost > certainly bad. If the diagnostic says it's good, it might be, but > might also be bad due to some reason that wasn't obvious or tested. I > once tested a drive (with a different program) that had obvious > bearing spin (very noisy), but tested good. I've got a couple noisy (smaller capacity) ones, it's tempting to keep using them, just to see how long they last. > > >On a slightly different subject, when I got curious about the > >definition of 'low-level format', I did some googling on the subject > >and checked out the Wikipedia for a bit and now I don't know whether I > >even did any low-level formatting in the last few days, though I do > >know that I used to in the early 80's - oh, well I guess that's > >"progress' for ya. > > Low level format is usually done by the factory, and never again. It's > places the sector numbers and servo tracks on the platter. There are > programs that plug into the diagnstic port of the drive that will > recreate the sector numbers, bios preload area, diagnostic tracks, and > landing zone allocation, but not the servo tracks. If the drive seems > to require a new primary format, give up now. > > Hint: I have a 15 year old Conner CP1060S 1GB drive sitting in my SCO > Unix 3.2v4.2 server. haven't seen the name 'Conner' for quite awhile now, I'd forgotten about them... It's been running continuously since about > 1995(?). Three mother boards (486DX2/66), one video card, and one > Wangtek tape controller card have blown up during this time. The > secret to long HD life is leave it running all the time and protect it > from power and static electricity glitches. I have other servers that > have done almost as well, but this one is my oldest. That's pretty amazing, for sure!
From: Jeffrey D Angus on 4 Jun 2010 13:31 mike wrote: > On Jun 2, 8:43 pm, Jeff Liebermann <je...(a)cruzio.com> wrote: >> Hint: I have a 15 year old Conner CP1060S 1GB drive sitting >> in my SCO Unix 3.2v4.2 server. > > That's pretty amazing, for sure! Of course the drive is going to last for ever. It's already in Hell. ;-) Jeff -- �Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.� Frank Leahy, Head coach, Notre Dame 1941-1954 http://www.stay-connect.com
From: Meat Plow on 4 Jun 2010 15:57
On Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:31:46 -0500, Jeffrey D Angus ǝʇoɹʍ: > mike wrote: >> On Jun 2, 8:43 pm, Jeff Liebermann <je...(a)cruzio.com> wrote: >>> Hint: I have a 15 year old Conner CP1060S 1GB drive sitting in my SCO >>> Unix 3.2v4.2 server. >> >> That's pretty amazing, for sure! > > Of course the drive is going to last for ever. It's already in Hell. ;-) > > Jeff Seagate Cuda 4.3 gig SCSI in a Compact Prosignia 300, 16 MB built in RAM running Novell Netware 3.12. Runs 24/7 since 2003. Both the server and drive are from around mid 90's. |