HDD Problem

[risk_reversal]

I wonder if someone can help please.

I have a dual boot system 98SE / XP specs as per sig.

I use BootMagic as my bootloader (this is installed on the first primary partition).

My system has 2 SATA I HDD which are partitioned as detailed below:

HDD1 250Gb Seagate ST3250823AS

|| Primary partition 98se || Primary partition XP || extended partition with DATA ||

HDD2 250GB Seagate ST3250310AS

|| Extended Partition with DATABACKUP || Backup of Primary partition 98se [Hidden] || Backup of Primary partition XP [Hidden] ||

I only boot to the o/s(s) located on HDD1, the copies on HDD2 are for backup purposes. All the partitions whether primary or extended are FAT32 and I mainly use Partition Magic in DOS mode in respect of formating & any partition work.

Now for my problem(s)

The system was running fine until recently. HDD1 is now giving me lock up problems. Irrespective of whether I have booted into 98SE or XP the system irregularly locks or looses responsiveness and then locks. Immediate reboot leads to a dos screen which says ‘insert boot media’.

Now if I power off (ie hold power button for 5 secs , not switching off at mains) the system and wait 20 mins or so everything returns to normal and the system will boot to either XP or 98SE.

The 2 HDDs are always detected by the bios irrespective of whether there is an error or not.

Some more Info

If after a lock up I immediately boot to Seatools.

1. If I run the ‘File Structure’ test, I get bad sectors from the very beginning ie Bad Sector 1, Bad Sector 2, Bad Sector 3,etc…

2. If I run the Extended Test / Disk Integrity check, I get no errors showing (cannot be 100% of this as I lost my notes).

Now if having waited the 20 mins or so for the system to ‘get back to normal’ and then run the same 2 Seatools progs (as per above), I get no errors at all.

My rigs is o/ced but this problem also happens at stock cpu setting.

I also uninstalled Boot Magic in case this was the culprit but no joy there also

How to proceed from here

I have checked the data / power cables connecting the HDDs and ensured the data cables are snug on the mobo’s SATA connectors. I am also 99% sure that the HDD data cables are fine. PSU voltages all look fine also.

Could it be that for some reason or other the MBR/Partition are intermittently slipping in and out of a ‘corrupt state’. Is this possible?

Many thanks for any info provided

Cheers

[jlreich]

If you run a test and it marks the corrupted sectors as bad, then run another test it will likely not find errors because they have already been marked as bad and are no longer being used.

If the drive is continuing to develop more bad sectors and you later run a scan it will find more and mark them bad. You can repeat this cycle many times as the drives heads further and further south.

From your description it is also possible that the drive is overheating. If overheating does not seem to be the issue I would suggest taking the drive out of service. ;)

Sounds to me like the drive is going bad and needs to be replaced. Particularly if you are getting the no boot device error which means that the bad sectors are developing at the beginning of the drive where the MBR and other important info is stored. A few bad sectors at the end of the drive can generally be considered no problem, but at the beginning of the drive you will continue to run into problems. Or an even worse scenario would be the drives controller is going bad.

[mjc]

If you don't get any errors after letting it sit for a while...then overheating is a very likely candidate.

[risk_reversal]

Many thanks for your replies

If you don't get any errors after letting it sit for a while...then overheating is a very likely candidate.
I presume that you are refering to HDD temps.

The HDDs are immediately behing a 120mm front intake case fan (Lian Li PC7 PlusII case which has a total of 3x 120mm fans). The idle temps are HDD1 31C HDD2 34C, under load they get up to about 39-41C (depending on ambient temp). This is not a new case and my hw configuration has not changed for a while.

Other temps ie cpu, mobo, etc equally are also well within safe zones.

Cheers

[mjc]

I'm willing to bet that the drive in question is overheating...and it wouldn't surprise me if the overheating was in a bearing. It probably isn't getting hot enough to register, before it quits.

Or one of the chips on the drive's PCB is getting hot...one that isn't monitored.

In either case, though, it sounds like it is time to replace it...

[risk_reversal]

Many thanks for your added comments mjc.

I'm willing to bet that the drive in question is overheating...and it wouldn't surprise me if the overheating was in a bearing. It probably isn't getting hot enough to register, before it quits.

Or one of the chips on the drive's PCB is getting hot...one that isn't monitored.

I must admit that I am confused about this but I need to find the root cause of the problem and replacing the HDD is a good starting point, if only to rule it out. Odd though, because everytime I have run the Seatools diagnostics (in dos) recently, which can last for several hours, the problem has not manifested itself.

Perhaps as jlreich said it may even be the drive's controller.

Let me ask you guys a final question.

I am currently making preparations for changing the 'suspected' faulty HDD as I have a spare working unit at hand. Is it safe to copy the existing primary and extended partitions from this 'iffy' hard drive to a new drive.

Many thanks for your help

Cheers

[mjc]

I'd do it by way of an image file...

OK, that is really odd, because, one of the problem OSs is Win98, right?

Well, W98 is really a GUI on top of DOS...

[risk_reversal]

I'd do it by way of an image file...

Well normally, what I would do is use Partition Magic (sry) and boot to dos via floppy diskettes and then just copy the partitions from one HDD to another.

This is the method I have always used and never had any probs before. But obviously I am a bit nervous this time hence me asking.

Not to sure about how to make an image, I suppose a bit of searching would fill in the blanks.

Look mjc, I will change the HDD and copy partitions as per my method and post back the results.

Many thanks for your help

Cheers

[Paul Komski]

Is it safe to copy the existing primary and extended partitions from this 'iffy' hard drive to a new drive
Its quite safe and unless there is a lot of corrupt data on the problem drive then its a perfectly good way to go. Direct copying with PM should work just fine as would the use of dd from a Linux live CD or with CopyWipe (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/copywipe.php) on a floppy or CD.

[risk_reversal]

Many thanks for the help Paul Komski.

Cheers