If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Maxtor hard drives - don't surface scan!
Just a quick note to describe my (admittedly limited) experience with my
Maxtor hard drives and Windows. It seems that Windows, and DOS for that matter, don't play nice with my 80Gig Maxtor hard drives. Under normal circumstances, they are perfectly happy together. But as soon as Windows wants to get down and dirty and check the hard drives surface the hard drive wants none of it. I originally bought an 80gig drive a couple of years ago. I believe that it arrived with a flaw, which then was made worse by the fact that I was trying to do MS-based things to it - FDISK's verification process, specifically, which I believe is more-or-less the same as Scandisk's surface scan. While I was running FSISK, it started having problems. Then there was a horrible clicking noise, and then there were bad clusters all over the place. The hard drive was getting eaten up by the process, so I downloaded Maxtor's own utilities. It was already too late for that drive by that point (the utility hadn't come with the hard drive), so I got a replacement and used Maxtor's utility this time to set the drive up - with no problems. I was reminded of this whole episode this evening. Windows decided on booting that the drive might have bad clusters, and proceeded to do a surface check. It found a bad cluster, and then started hunting deeper. It found a couple and was going rather slowly, so given my earlier experiences I stopped it from carrying on and used Maxtor's utility again to check it. It found problems with the START, but the Advanced test was able to fix it. On a reboot Windows Scandisk flew through the check with no further problems. I am of the opinion that with my particular model of hard drive the Windows surface scan utilities will only make any problems worse. Like picking at a scab will stop it from healing. It seems reasonably likely to me that this is also the case with other Maxtor hard drives, and perhaps those of other manufacturers. I would strongly advise against letting Windows do a surface scan under any circumstances in which there might be a problem, and instead use the utilities supplied by the manufacturer of the hard drive. Perhaps I am extrapolating unnecessarily, but I thought I should share my experiences to prevent others from having to go through the frustrating episode that I did. CK -- "I'm not like them, but I can pretend..." |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
I originally bought an 80gig drive a couple of years ago. I believe
that it arrived with a flaw, which then was made worse by the fact that I was trying to do MS-based things to it - FDISK's verification process, specifically, which I believe is more-or-less the same as Scandisk's surface scan. While I was running FSISK, it started having problems. Then there was a horrible clicking noise, and then there were bad clusters all over the place. The hard drive was getting eaten up by the process, so I downloaded Maxtor's own utilities. It was already too late for that drive by that point (the utility hadn't come with the hard drive), so I got a replacement and used Maxtor's utility this time to set the drive up - with no problems. FDisk would NOT damage a drive unless the drive was already defective, or you had your BIOS settings wrong and overstepped the drive. I'm pretty sure that todays drives won't let you actually do damage by overstepping, either. I was reminded of this whole episode this evening. Windows decided on booting that the drive might have bad clusters, and proceeded to do a surface check. It found a bad cluster, and then started hunting deeper. It found a couple and was going rather slowly, so given my earlier experiences I stopped it from carrying on and used Maxtor's utility again to check it. It found problems with the START, but the Advanced test was able to fix it. On a reboot Windows Scandisk flew through the check with no further problems. Scandisk can scramble the data on a hard drive, especially if there are other issues (bad power, bad cable, etc.) but it won't physically damage a drive. I am of the opinion that with my particular model of hard drive the Windows surface scan utilities will only make any problems worse. Like picking at a scab will stop it from healing. It seems reasonably likely to me that this is also the case with other Maxtor hard drives, and perhaps those of other manufacturers. I would strongly advise against letting Windows do a surface scan under any circumstances in which there might be a problem, and instead use the utilities supplied by the manufacturer of the hard drive. Nope. Scandisk may find defects, but it won't create them. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
snip my initial ramblings /snip
FDisk would NOT damage a drive unless the drive was already defective, That's what I said, isn't it? That the drive was already defective. My point was that fdisk appeared to make it worse in a way that Maxtor's own utility didn't. or you had your BIOS settings wrong and overstepped the drive. I'm pretty sure that todays drives won't let you actually do damage by overstepping, either. The BIOS settings were fine. snip some more recent experiences /snip Scandisk can scramble the data on a hard drive, especially if there are other issues (bad power, bad cable, etc.) but it won't physically damage a drive. Out of interest, does anyone here know how the surface scan actually works? I am of the opinion that with my particular model of hard drive the Windows surface scan utilities will only make any problems worse. Like picking at a scab will stop it from healing. It seems reasonably likely to me that this is also the case with other Maxtor hard drives, and perhaps those of other manufacturers. I would strongly advise against letting Windows do a surface scan under any circumstances in which there might be a problem, and instead use the utilities supplied by the manufacturer of the hard drive. Nope. Scandisk may find defects, but it won't create them. See, now that's where I don't agree. There were some horrible noises coming out of the original drive during the surface scan. Given the mechanical abuse that appeared to be happening during the process, I don't think it's likely that no damage came about. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
"CK" wrote in message ... snip my initial ramblings /snip FDisk would NOT damage a drive unless the drive was already defective, That's what I said, isn't it? That the drive was already defective. My point was that fdisk appeared to make it worse in a way that Maxtor's own utility didn't. or you had your BIOS settings wrong and overstepped the drive. I'm pretty sure that todays drives won't let you actually do damage by overstepping, either. The BIOS settings were fine. snip some more recent experiences /snip Scandisk can scramble the data on a hard drive, especially if there are other issues (bad power, bad cable, etc.) but it won't physically damage a drive. Out of interest, does anyone here know how the surface scan actually works? A surface scan simply reads every sector one at a time, whether it is empty or has data in it. (Technically, all sectors have data... some of it just isn't useful). If the scan tries to read a sector that is damaged, you'll hear the head jumping all over (zipping to track zero and back) trying to ensure good alignment. A surface scan does nothing different than copying a file or running a program. If a surface scan does physical damage, the drive was ready to fail anyhow. I am of the opinion that with my particular model of hard drive the Windows surface scan utilities will only make any problems worse. Like picking at a scab will stop it from healing. It seems reasonably likely to me that this is also the case with other Maxtor hard drives, and perhaps those of other manufacturers. I would strongly advise against letting Windows do a surface scan under any circumstances in which there might be a problem, and instead use the utilities supplied by the manufacturer of the hard drive. Nope. Scandisk may find defects, but it won't create them. See, now that's where I don't agree. There were some horrible noises coming out of the original drive during the surface scan. Given the mechanical abuse that appeared to be happening during the process, I don't think it's likely that no damage came about. Imagine having a 10gig file on your hard drive. Copy it to another location. Everthing that a surface scan does will happen during the copy. The only difference is that the surface scan is more likely to find a bad sector and start zipping back and forth from the current track to track zero. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Intel 875PBZ, anyone? | Adrian | General | 22 | July 26th 03 06:31 PM |
Cd-rom drives not detected | Gaffer | General | 1 | July 25th 03 12:17 AM |
newb questions about SCSI hard drives | fred.do | General | 7 | June 26th 03 01:59 AM |
ZIP drives and the dreaded 'click' | Ron Cook | General | 2 | June 25th 03 03:32 PM |