On 07/08/2012 9:45 PM, Ant wrote:
> Hello.
>
> I think I have a dying external HDD in an Antec enclosure (USB). I
> haven't used it for months until today when I wanted to do some backups.
> http://pastie.org/private/kyewx2ur1w74h5pah6lrdw from gsmartctl v0.8.6-2
> for Windows after an extended self test (supposed to take almost four
> hours to finish). Chkdsk, copy, etc. get stuck eventually. I tried two
> different Windows computers too and both had problems with this drive.
>
> Do I assume this is a physical HDD problem?
>
> Thank you in advance.


I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in that report,
apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it out of the enclosure and put
it directly inside your machine?

Yousuf Khan

Yousuf Khan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On 07/08/2012 9:45 PM, Ant wrote:
>> Hello.
>>
>> I think I have a dying external HDD in an Antec enclosure (USB). I
>> haven't used it for months until today when I wanted to do some backups.
>> http://pastie.org/private/kyewx2ur1w74h5pah6lrdw from gsmartctl v0.8.6-2
>> for Windows after an extended self test (supposed to take almost four
>> hours to finish). Chkdsk, copy, etc. get stuck eventually. I tried two
>> different Windows computers too and both had problems with this drive.
>>
>> Do I assume this is a physical HDD problem?
>>
>> Thank you in advance.


> I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in that report,
> apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it out of the enclosure and put
> it directly inside your machine?

> Yousuf Khan

That would be the next thing yes.

Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: (E-Mail Removed)
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans

Arno <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
> Yousuf Khan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>> Ant wrote

>>> I think I have a dying external HDD in an Antec enclosure (USB). I
>>> haven't used it for months until today when I wanted to do some backups.
>>> http://pastie.org/private/kyewx2ur1w74h5pah6lrdw from gsmartctl v0.8.6-2
>>> for Windows after an extended self test (supposed to take almost four
>>> hours to finish). Chkdsk, copy, etc. get stuck eventually. I tried two
>>> different Windows computers too and both had problems with this drive.

>>> Do I assume this is a physical HDD problem?

>> I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in
>> that report, apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it
>> out of the enclosure and put it directly inside your machine?

> That would be the next thing yes.

But he is significantly disabled, so it may not be that easy for him to do.

And will void the warranty if its still in warranty too.

On 09/08/2012 1:07 PM, Ant wrote:
>>>> I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in
>>>> that report, apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it
>>>> out of the enclosure and put it directly inside your machine?
>
>>> That would be the next thing yes.
>
>> But he is significantly disabled, so it may not be that easy for him to do.
>
> That's correct.

I'd say that the next easiest thing to try is to replace the USB cable.
I always find the thicker the USB cable the better it is.

Yousuf Khan

Yousuf Khan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
> Ant wrote

>>>>> I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in
>>>>> that report, apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it
>>>>> out of the enclosure and put it directly inside your machine?

>>>> That would be the next thing yes.

>>> But he is significantly disabled, so it may not be that easy for him to
>>> do.

>> That's correct.

> I'd say that the next easiest thing to try is to replace the USB cable. I
> always find the thicker the USB cable the better it is.

Given that a pending sector has now shown up, I think its more
likely that it's a faulty power supply or cable from that or it just
wasn't plugged into the mains strip properly etc.

Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

>>>>>>> I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in
>>>>>>> that report, apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it
>>>>>>> out of the enclosure and put it directly inside your machine?

>>>>>> That would be the next thing yes.

>>>>> But he is significantly disabled, so it
>>>>> may not be that easy for him to do.

>>>> That's correct.

I wouldn’t bother with that route now that it looks
like a power problem given that you would have
to get someone to help you to do that.

>>> I'd say that the next easiest thing to try is to replace the USB
>>> cable. I always find the thicker the USB cable the better it is.

>> Given that a pending sector has now shown up, I think its more
>> likely that it's a faulty power supply or cable from that or it just
>> wasn't plugged into the mains strip properly etc.

> Power strip looked OK to me. I checked its power brick too.

But we do know that the whole drive went missing at least
once, so it is pretty clear that its just a power problem.

> I am going to check on its unused ESATA cable instead of its USB2 cable.

I'd get another power pack if it was mine and try that.

Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> >> I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in
>> >> that report, apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it
>> >> out of the enclosure and put it directly inside your machine?

>> > That would be the next thing yes.

>> But he is significantly disabled, so it may not be that easy for him to do.

> That's correct.

Yes, I know. Still, it is the next thing to do, other things are
not likely to help at this time. "Easy" was not stipulated.

>> And will void the warranty if its still in warranty too.

> I have had both the enclosure and HDD for about five years. I am sure
> their warranties expired already.

> Abnyways, see http://pastie.org/4436298 for new reports of a sector
> problem found.

Indeed. One pending sector, likely at LBA 177892014. I would
also think it is not the original problem, since then the pending
secot should have shown earlier. They show up whenever a read
fails permanently.

To fix the pending sector, overwriting it is enough. Doing that
is a bit tricky, especially if you do not want to damage more data
than needed. What I use for these kinds of fixes is dd_rescue under
Linux. Thus would go something like this (assuming the Linux is,
e.g. a Knoppix USB-stick with dd_rescue added, and the sidk is sda):

1. Verify the sector is unreadable to make sure addressing, etc.
is right:

dd_rescue -s 177892014b -S 0 -m 1b /dev/sda /dev/null

This should give between 1 and 8 read errors (8, because
of 4k block-wise reads by the driver.

2. Overwtite

dd_rescue -s 0 -S 177892014b -m 1b /dev/zero /dev/sda


An alternative is a disk-editor that can deal with defective
sectors. Or putting a small partition over the area and filling it up.

Verification of the fix is by running a long SMART selftest.

Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: (E-Mail Removed)
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans

Yousuf Khan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On 09/08/2012 1:07 PM, Ant wrote:
>>>>> I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in
>>>>> that report, apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it
>>>>> out of the enclosure and put it directly inside your machine?
>>
>>>> That would be the next thing yes.
>>
>>> But he is significantly disabled, so it may not be that easy for him to do.
>>
>> That's correct.

> I'd say that the next easiest thing to try is to replace the USB cable.
> I always find the thicker the USB cable the better it is.

Hmm. Might be worth a try, but I doubt this is it. I would have
expected to see interface CRC errors if the cable was the cause.

Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: (E-Mail Removed)
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans

Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> >>>>> I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in
>> >>>>> that report, apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it
>> >>>>> out of the enclosure and put it directly inside your machine?

>> >>>> That would be the next thing yes.

>> >>> But he is significantly disabled, so it may not be that easy for him to
>> >>> do.

>> >> That's correct.

>> > I'd say that the next easiest thing to try is to replace the USB cable. I
>> > always find the thicker the USB cable the better it is.

>> Given that a pending sector has now shown up, I think its more
>> likely that it's a faulty power supply or cable from that or it just
>> wasn't plugged into the mains strip properly etc.

> Power strip looked OK to me. I checked its power brick too. I am going
> to check on its unused ESATA cable instead of its USB2 cable.

Do that. It might be almost as good as removing the disk from
the enclosure.

Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: (E-Mail Removed)
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans

Arno <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
> Yousuf Khan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>> Ant wrote

>>>>>> I can't see anything seriously wrong with the drive in
>>>>>> that report, apart from spin-up retries. Can you take it
>>>>>> out of the enclosure and put it directly inside your machine?

>>>>> That would be the next thing yes.

>>>> But he is significantly disabled, so it may not be that easy for him to
>>>> do.

>>> That's correct.

>> I'd say that the next easiest thing to try is to replace the USB cable.
>> I always find the thicker the USB cable the better it is.

> Hmm. Might be worth a try, but I doubt this is it. I would have
> expected to see interface CRC errors if the cable was the cause.

Nope, those are reporting CRC errors over the internal SATA
cable between the bridge and the physical hard drive, not
USB2 cable errors.