I think one hard drive is dying because the computer is locking up frequently. :crap: It is a terrible situation. The problem is that I have too many drives. How can I easily determine where the defect is without testing each drive individually?
Drive Failure?
- Thread starter LunarMist
- Start date
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
This time, you have to.
In the future, it might be useful to number your SATA cables so they correspond to the ordinal number of the port as it's reported by Windows. Yes, this means testing the drives one at a time regardless.
In the future, it might be useful to number your SATA cables so they correspond to the ordinal number of the port as it's reported by Windows. Yes, this means testing the drives one at a time regardless.
I don't know if the motherboard controls the hard drives. I suppose the drives may happen to be connected to the motherboard or they could be on one of three add-in controllers. Does an old OS like XP or XP64 support SMART?
I remember seeing Smart Data under XP 32 bit. I never used the 64 bit red headed step child of an OS. You may have to enable some of it on the motherboard or controller like MaxBurn suggested.
You can see smart data in a tool like Argus Monitor. They have a breakdown of the code numbers here.
You can see smart data in a tool like Argus Monitor. They have a breakdown of the code numbers here.
ddrueding
Fixture
Yup
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
Maybe update your motherboards chipset drivers. (Inf files in Intel)
I don't think that the Intel is involved. One drive is on an Adaptec and the other on some other controller. I moved them around as well as the cables and it locked up again. Now I have removed 3 drives and switched them around. I'm planning to reformat each drive and then run a test in another computer. Does each brand need its own software for an in-depth test? IIRC WD has a data lifeguard test and Hitachi has a drive fitness test. How many hours are required for 2TB drives?
I like spinrite for tests like that but it seems it only works correctly in reading SMART data in IDE mode, tool is a little old. It said it was going to take 90+ hours to go through the 2TB seagates I just got but in my experience if the drive is bad it will show up much sooner like immediately or in an hour.
Other than that I would just go with each tool provided from manufacturers, aren't they bootable ISO's?
Other than that I would just go with each tool provided from manufacturers, aren't they bootable ISO's?
ddrueding
Fixture
There is usually a setting in the BIOS that makes USB key/mouse look like PS/2. I forget what it is called.
ddrueding
Fixture
I like when the fix is easy.
ddrueding
Fixture
...so long as the 48 is seconds and not minutes, you're fine.
ddrueding
Fixture
I would also point out that this is a lot easier if all your drives are in hot-swappable enclosures. Of course, even in my more extreme cases, rarely do things happen often enough to warrant the added expense.
Sure, if I had a server room.
There is only one removable, trayless bay in each computer. There is also a 2-drive "toaster" connected to one for temporary/backup use, and a 1-drive version for the other computer. The other drives are internal. I really should upgrade my 8-year old case with funky drive access, but that is another story.
There is only one removable, trayless bay in each computer. There is also a 2-drive "toaster" connected to one for temporary/backup use, and a 1-drive version for the other computer. The other drives are internal. I really should upgrade my 8-year old case with funky drive access, but that is another story.
ddrueding
Fixture
I actually really like the toasters. I have a pair of 2-drive units hooked up to my file server for quick, unscheduled, off-site backups (audits, recovery to another location, etc). I also have one on my desktop to read from people's laptop drives, etc.
ddrueding
Fixture
Funny, I was thinking of mentioning the same.
ddrueding
Fixture
Then I would check your cabling, including both data and power. I had the data cable to a raid card go out a few days ago. It was causing a drive to fair every couple days. Replace the drive, new drive fails in 4 days....bah.