Maxtor Annoyance

[Mercutio]

I kind-of think this is more on-topic for the Toolbox than the Computers forum so I'm putting it here:

I went to download the latest version of PowerMax from Maxtor. On the Current Download Page, I noticed this little gem:

Note: PowerMax v 4.21 will not detect ATA or SATA hard disks connected to embedded or add in RAID controllers, NVIDIA Force 3, Force 4, VIA KT 600 and KT800 [assuming they mean the KT880] chipsets. If the hard disk is connected to an unsupported controller, it will have to be moved to an alternate system, or controller for diagnosis.

In other words, Powermax only works for SATA on Intel motherboards, and not at all on most Athlon64s. And what the hell is wrong with the KT600?

It does appear to work on a K8T800.

I thought everyone would appreciate a heads up on this. After all, it wouldn't do for a technician to assume that a manufacturer's diagnostic software will work on every PC!

 

[blakerwry]

Last time I tried their was no way to create the powermax bootable disk in linux (powermax came as a win32 .exe that created a bootable floppy) This causes maxtor reps to become angry and arrogant.

Looks like maxtor now offers powermax in a standard form now, an .iso image.


Previous to this I had just been doing online RMA and selected the reason for RMA was "noise" because it was the only option that did not require a powerMax failure code.


Atleast they improved something... not really much they can do to support non-standard hardware though. Afterall, if the drives cannot be accessed in DOS their program just doesn't work.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm willing to put up with having to go into DOS to run a BIOS flash or a hardware diagnostic.

While we're on the subject, Win32 has been around for 12 years, Linux has been "on the radar" of most hardware vendors for at least five. Why the HELL isn't there a standard library out there for low-level hardware access in real, modern OSes? Obviously it can be done. Gigabyte boards can run a BIOS update in Windows. Seagate's diagnostic tool can be run as a java applet for chrissakes.

 

[P5-133XL]

All that has happened is that they have put in a warning notice, that all manufacturers should include. To my knowledge, no HD diagnostic programs, from any manufacturer, can detect HD's plugged into any raid card or onboard raid controller regardless of the raid status of the individual HD, and that has always been the case.

I've always had to move the HD plugged into a raid controller to do diagnostics. All maxtor has done is say the obvious...

 

[Buck]

Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Tools diagnostic program will work with their drives connected to their branded RAID controller card.

 

[Mercutio]

I've always had to move the HD plugged into a raid controller to do diagnostics. All maxtor has done is say the obvious...

I have no problem with it not working while attached to a RAID card. It's a major issue, though, if it doesn't work with a completely standard onboard IDE controller for something as common as a KT600 - and losing support for *any* drive on a KT880, nforce3 and nforce4 means that a substantial portion of Athlon64s can't be used to diagnose a drive.