[NTLUG:Discuss] New Data Disk Errors

[Robert Pearson]

On 5/16/07, Leroy Tennison <leroy_tennison at prodigy.net> wrote:
> Jim Goode wrote:
> > Adding a new data disk (Seagate 160GB, ATA, 7200 RPM). All appears to go
> > well, but I found errors in messages and can only create 4 directories on
> > the drive. Does this appear to be a hardware failure, or am I missing a
> > step?
> > Thanks,
> > Jim
> >
> > ...[snip]...
> >
> Doesn't sound good.  A couple of ideas.  Does SMART tell you anything?
> Second, my Seagate drive came with diagnostics (and I believe you can
> download them from their Web site as well), what does it show?  Finally,
> what distribution?  I'm assuming it's relatively recent, yes?

I had this problem with a couple of Seagate 160 GB drives "On the
First Format" attempt unless I used the Seagate utilities format. I
have no data to support this but it looked to me like there is a
partition entry in the partition table that can't be erased by normal
OS format capability.

This was true under both Linux and Windows for me.

I now use the disk drive manufacturers format utilities (Hitachi,
Seagate, Western Digital) when doing total erase and reformat.

I have had no problems creating and deleting partitions with OS
partition tools after that first "complete" disk format.

It was mystifying...