[SGVLUG] FW: Hard drive question

Matt Campbell dvdmatt at gmail.com
Tue Mar 18 15:17:48 PST 2008


Thanks Stephen,

As the drive is over a year old I assumed the manufacturer would be no help.  I purchased it through Fry's against my better judgment (never going to do that again!) so no help from the store.

Matt

-----Original Message-----
From: sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net [mailto:sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net] On Behalf Of serross at ix.netcom.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:56 PM
To: SGVLUG Discussion List.
Subject: RE: [SGVLUG] FW: Hard drive question


Have you tried to contact the drive maker? I was having trouble with a USB drive and contacted the maker and they had a solution.

Stephen

>
>Hi Claude,
>
> 
>
>Thanks for the help.
>
> 
>
>You can find the fdisk output you asked for at the end of this post, but
>seeing that this is a USB drive it probably won't be a lot of help. ;)
>
> 
>
>I did format it DOS on Linux, then take it back to Windoze, it failed format
>again.
>
> 
>
>I tried to see the drive with the low level utilities, but as it is in a USB
>case it was not recognized.
>
> 
>
>I guess the next thing to do is to remove it from the case and hook it up
>direct to the DOS utilities.
>
> 
>
>Great question about comparable Linux utilities to Partition Magic, anyone
>have thoughts?  Some day Linux will catch up with DOS... ;)
>
> 
>
>Matt
>
> 
>
>P.S.  I'm still confused after 20odd years of email about etiquette and top
>posting vs. the other options.  What is the consensus on this group?
>
> 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>
>From: sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net [mailto:sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net] On Behalf
>Of Claude Felizardo
>
>Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 11:50 AM
>
>To: SGVLUG Discussion List.
>
>Subject: Re: [SGVLUG] FW: Hard drive question
>
> 
>
>On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 11:03 AM, Matt Campbell <dvdmatt at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 
>
>> This was sent a couple of weeks ago, but was rejected by the server, 
>
>> anyone have any suggestions?
>
>> 
>
>> Matt
>
>> 
>
>> From: Matthew Campbell
>
>>  Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 1:02 AM
>
>>  To: 'SGVLUG Discussion List.'
>
>>  Subject: Hard drive question
>
>> 
>
>> I have an interesting problem I have been struggling with.
>
>> 
>
>> I have a 260G LaCie USB drive that I have been using under Windows for 
>
>> some time.
>
>> 
>
>> I had a data error on it, so I tried to format the drive.  I get the 
>
>> message "Format didn't complete successfully".  When I try and copy 
>
>> data to the drive I get a "write failed" error around 11% of the way
>through the copy.
>
>> 
>
>> I can fdisk, mkfs.exxt3 and copy 100Gig to it fine under Linux.
>
>> 
>
>> I can delete that partition under windows, but when I try and create a 
>
>> new partition it fails immediately.
>
>> 
>
>> I would like to transfer some video files to a Windows user with this
>drive.
>
>> I could DOS format the drive, but then it couldn't handle the large 
>
>> video files.
>
>> 
>
>> I don't think I can format the drive NTFS under Linux.
>
>> 
>
>> As far as I know there is no longer such a thing as a low level hard 
>
>> drive format.
>
>> 
>
>> So, what are my options?
>
>> 
>
>> Is there a file system I can create under Linux which can handle large 
>
>> files that the DOS user can read?
>
>> 
>
>> Is there a way to recover this drive so that it can be partitioned or 
>
>> formatted under Windoze?  Would wiping the partition table allow 
>
>> Windows to start fresh?
>
>> 
>
>> Is there a utility under Linux that can rescan the drive and mark any 
>
>> new bad sectors?  Is this what could be tripping up the Windows format?
>
>> 
>
>> Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
>
>> 
>
>> Matt
>
> 
>
>I really don't like external USB drives because you can't check the status
>of the drive.  It could be getting soft errors until it runs out of spare
>sectors then it's toast.
>
> 
>
>First guess, I'd say windows doesn't like the partition table.  What does
>fdisk -l /dev/sd? report?
>
> 
>
>Using Linux, you could delete all the partitions and then create one big
>partition and format it and have it check for bad sectors.  Use FAT32.  On
>my desktop here at work, I use partition id 0x0b which fdisk reports as "W95
>FAT32".  Largest file size for FAT32 is 4 GB I think.
>
> 
>
>Otherwise, you could use Linux to wipe out the partition table or possibly
>create the NTFS partition but let windows do the formatting.
>
> 
>
>However its sounds like the drive may have issues.  If possible, I'd put it
>into a desktop and try and use spinrite to perform a low level format.
>Catch is it requires DOS/windoze and you must have a valid partition table.
>I've used it to bring a marginal disk back to life but the drive would
>usually fail within a few years.
>
> 
>
>I also used to use partition magic 8 (yet another dos/windoze tool) and it
>works fine for FAT32 and ext2/3 partitions but it has issues with NFTS.  I
>really wish they'd update that tool but there's been no updates since
>symantec/norton bought them out.
>
> 
>
>If anyone has used comparable Linux tools, I'd like to hear about it.
>
> 
>
>claude
>
> 
>
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>
>Checked by AVG. 
>
>Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.21.7/1332 - Release Date: 3/17/2008
>10:48 AM
>
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>root at scar:9# fdisk -l /dev/sd?
>
> 
>
>Disk /dev/sda: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
>
>255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
>512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00070acf
>
> 
>
>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
>/dev/sda1   *           1          25      200781   83  Linux
>
>/dev/sda2              26        1937    15358140   83  Linux
>
>/dev/sda3            1938        2574     5116702+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
>
>/dev/sda4            2575       30515   224436082+   5  Extended
>
>/dev/sda5            2575       30515   224436051   83  Linux
>
> 
>
>Disk /dev/sdb: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes
>
>255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
>512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00093692
>
> 
>
>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
>/dev/sdb1   *           1       91201   732572001   fd  Linux raid
>autodetect
>
> 
>
>Disk /dev/sdc: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes
>
>255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
>512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0005e2ca
>
> 
>
>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
>/dev/sdc1   *           1       91201   732572001   fd  Linux raid
>autodetect
>
> 
>
>Disk /dev/sdd: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes
>
>255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
>512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0000329e
>
> 
>
>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
>/dev/sdd1   *           1       91201   732572001   fd  Linux raid
>autodetect
>
> 
>
>Disk /dev/sde: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes
>
>255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
>512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0008f5b0
>
> 
>
>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
>/dev/sde1   *           1       91201   732572001   fd  Linux raid
>autodetect
>
> 
>
>Disk /dev/sdf: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
>
>255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
>512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x35f75ecd
>
> 
>
>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
>/dev/sdf1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux
>
> 
>
>Disk /dev/sdg: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
>
>255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
>512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x933dd9ec
>
> 
>
>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
>/dev/sdg1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux
>
> 
>
>Disk /dev/sdh: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
>
>255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
>512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x692b8694
>
> 
>
>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
>/dev/sdh1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux
>
> 
>
>Disk /dev/sdi: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
>
>255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
>512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0xd16d742e
>
> 
>
>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
>/dev/sdi1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux
>
>root at scar:10# 
>
> 
>
> 
>



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