[NTLUG:Discuss] New Data Disk Errors

[Alvin Goats]

You have to get into some of the hardware before this makes much sense.

The drives are not totally configured until you run some software like 
their setup software or the ADVANCED settings in Linux fdisk and hdparm. 
It's generally quicker and easier to use their software.

One of the things it does is to set the cylinder/head/track number 
scheme to something that your computer can recognize and boot, the other 
is to set the real number of sectors to something the OS can use for 
real (the 250G drive I have on an old 333MHz PII is totally outside the 
capability of the BIOS, but not outside the capability of the OS). This 
is fixed by setting some advanced drive settings on the drive.

Another is setting the HD parameters, hdparm in Linux. These are set by 
the disk setup software as well and can be matched to your PC by simple 
timing tests and reading the BIOS. Once you know the key issues from 
these, you can calculate what to change or set on the HD to optimize and 
eliminate errors. Below is what hdparm can adjust.

Personally, I'd just use the setup CD and not have to go through all of 
the pain of hdparm and advanced fdisk settings...

One other thing... you have to use the 80 wire cables! These cables are 
terrible about damaging their wires which will also cause disk errors. 
I've had to replace these cables 3x in the past 3 years.

Alvin

hdparm - get/set hard disk parameters - version v6.6

Usage:  hdparm  [options] [device] ..

Options:
  -a   get/set fs readahead
  -A   set drive read-lookahead flag (0/1)
  -b   get/set bus state (0 == off, 1 == on, 2 == tristate)
  -B   set Advanced Power Management setting (1-255)
  -c   get/set IDE 32-bit IO setting
  -C   check IDE power mode status
  -d   get/set using_dma flag
  --direct  use O_DIRECT to bypass page cache for timings
  -D   enable/disable drive defect management
  -E   set cd-rom drive speed
  -f   flush buffer cache for device on exit
  -g   display drive geometry
  -h   display terse usage information
  -i   display drive identification
  -I   detailed/current information directly from drive
  --Istdin  read identify data from stdin as ASCII hex
  --Istdout write identify data to stdout as ASCII hex
  -k   get/set keep_settings_over_reset flag (0/1)
  -K   set drive keep_features_over_reset flag (0/1)
  -L   set drive doorlock (0/1) (removable harddisks only)
  -M   get/set acoustic management (0-254, 128: quiet, 254: fast) 
(EXPERIMENTAL)
  -m   get/set multiple sector count
  -n   get/set ignore-write-errors flag (0/1)
  -p   set PIO mode on IDE interface chipset (0,1,2,3,4,...)
  -P   set drive prefetch count
  -q   change next setting quietly
  -Q   get/set DMA tagged-queuing depth (if supported)
  -r   get/set device  readonly flag (DANGEROUS to set)
  -R   register an IDE interface (DANGEROUS)
  -S   set standby (spindown) timeout
  -t   perform device read timings
  -T   perform cache read timings
  -u   get/set unmaskirq flag (0/1)
  -U   un-register an IDE interface (DANGEROUS)
  -v   defaults; same as -mcudkrag for IDE drives
  -V   display program version and exit immediately
  -w   perform device reset (DANGEROUS)
  -W   set drive write-caching flag (0/1) (DANGEROUS)
  -x   tristate device for hotswap (0/1) (DANGEROUS)
  -X   set IDE xfer mode (DANGEROUS)
  -y   put IDE drive in standby mode
  -Y   put IDE drive to sleep
  -Z   disable Seagate auto-powersaving mode
  -z   re-read partition table
  --security-help  display help for ATA security commands


>>> ...[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...
>