On 09/08/2012 5:20 PM, Ant wrote:
> In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Yousuf Khan<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> 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.
>
> I will have to find another USB2 cable. I assume any will do for this
> connection as shown on http://store.antec.com/Product/acces...5-77150-4.aspx
>
> I did find its ESATA cable so I will try that first and it will be
> faster too!

You should've mentioned that this thing also had an eSATA connection. If
you can get it on that, that would be even better. The faster the
connection, the less chance of data being missed.

Yousuf Khan

Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
> Rod Speed wrote
>> Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

>>> 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.

> Hmm, I would have to get another one then.

Yeah, that’s what I meant.

> It might be easier just remove the HDD into a PC OR maybe use one of those
> adapters externally?

I wouldn’t bother with that approach now given
how awkward it is for you to do that now that we
have good evidence it’s a power pack problem.

> I can't do any until next week though.

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

>> Indeed. One pending sector, likely at LBA 177892014.

I doubt that given that that wasn't reported as a pending
sector initially and that that's nowhere near the red block
HD Tune reports.

>> 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.

> Well, that block seems to be the same one that kept showing up
> since yesterday with multiple smartctl's extended self tests (10%
> completed and failed after about 15 minutes (out of almost four
> hours) or so) and HD Tune v5.00 Pro trial.

Doesn't explain why it didn't show up in the SMART data as pending
until lately.

>> 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.

> Doesn't Windows' chkdsk.exe and other software tools
> automatically mark these problematic sectors bad?

Not if the drive itself doesn't report the sector as bad.

> After I saw that red block, I thought the software
> would mark it as a bad sector/cluster. However,
> chkdsk.exe results didn't show any bad sectors (0 KB).

Presumably because the sector could be read on retrys.

> Hence, why I am running a very long chkdsk.exe /r /f
> since yesterday (hopefully, it is done and idling by now)
> to fix any problems. It did not find any at 88% before
> I left it yesterday.

On 10/08/2012 10:07 AM, Ant wrote:
> On 8/9/2012 8:45 PM PT, Arno typed:
>> 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.
>
> Doesn't Windows' chkdsk.exe and other software tools automatically mark
> these problematic sectors bad? After I saw that red block, I thought the
> software would mark it as a bad sector/cluster. However, chkdsk.exe
> results didn't show any bad sectors (0 KB). Hence, why I am running a
> very long chkdsk.exe /r /f since yesterday (hopefully, it is done and
> idling by now) to fix any problems. It did not find any at 88% before I
> left it yesterday.

If you have a pending sector, then the only way to get it to the bad
sectors list is to do a write to that sector. The registered version of
Hard Disk Sentinel can do something like that (it's a destructive
operation, and is also good for data wiping the disk to DoD standards).

I don't think Linux's DD can do this kind of a write, as it doesn't have
access to the underlying disk geometry.

Yousuf Khan

Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
> Rod Speed wrote

>>>>> 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.

>>> Hmm, I would have to get another one then.

>> Yeah, that’s what I meant.

>>> It might be easier just remove the HDD into a PC OR maybe use one of
>>> those adapters externally?

>> I wouldn’t bother with that approach now given
>> how awkward it is for you to do that now that we
>> have good evidence it’s a power pack problem.

> Hmm, I can't seem to find its replacements on
> http://store.antec.com/Product/acces...5-77150-4.aspx
> ... I find it weird that they use PS/2 connection for its power.

Yeah, and given that I wouldn’t bother to replace it myself.

Bet that’s the problem, that pathetically inadequate power connector.

Even a replacement won't fix that.

> I might have to buy a new/different enclosure.

Yeah, I like the Samsung Story USB3 external drives myself.

Very solid aluminium case, no fan, but the physical hard drive doesn’t
take a lot of power given than it’s a 4500 RPM green drive.

Didn’t mention it previously because you said you wanted a 2.5"
drive and I haven't tried Samsungs, just because I want best $/TB
because I get them for overflow of the PVR because I am too lazy
to clean up the ones I have with drives so cheap now.

A 2/5" drive would have the advantage that you could likely
get away with no external power supply at all in some situations
when the USB connectors provide enough power. Not all do tho.
No big deal when you can use an external USB power supply when
they don’t.

Drives with both eSATA and USB3 are rare tho so if you
demand that, that does restrict your choices drastically.

Yousuf Khan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On 10/08/2012 10:07 AM, Ant wrote:
>> On 8/9/2012 8:45 PM PT, Arno typed:
>>> 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.
>>
>> Doesn't Windows' chkdsk.exe and other software tools automatically mark
>> these problematic sectors bad? After I saw that red block, I thought the
>> software would mark it as a bad sector/cluster. However, chkdsk.exe
>> results didn't show any bad sectors (0 KB). Hence, why I am running a
>> very long chkdsk.exe /r /f since yesterday (hopefully, it is done and
>> idling by now) to fix any problems. It did not find any at 88% before I
>> left it yesterday.

> If you have a pending sector, then the only way to get it to the bad
> sectors list is to do a write to that sector. The registered version of
> Hard Disk Sentinel can do something like that (it's a destructive
> operation, and is also good for data wiping the disk to DoD standards).

> I don't think Linux's DD can do this kind of a write, as it doesn't have
> access to the underlying disk geometry.

There is no disk geometry today. Just an LBA number.

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
> Rod Speed wrote

>>> http://store.antec.com/Product/acces...5-77150-4.aspx
>>> ... I find it weird that they use PS/2 connection for its power.

>> Yeah, and given that I wouldn’t bother to replace it myself.

> I sent an e-mail to its support about replacement parts.

>> Bet that’s the problem, that pathetically inadequate power connector.

>> Even a replacement won't fix that.

> Based on Amazon.com's reviews, people had problems with the fan,
> connections, etc. I bet I am having these problems too!

Yeah, that’s very likely why the long term max temp is 60C

>>> I might have to buy a new/different enclosure.

>> Yeah, I like the Samsung Story USB3 external drives myself.

> Is this it?
> http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-3-0-St...dp/B004BDOTA4/
> ...

Yep.

>> Very solid aluminium case, no fan, but the physical hard drive doesn’t
>> take a lot of power given than it’s a 4500 RPM green drive.

> Ah.

>> Didn’t mention it previously because you said you wanted a 2.5"
>> drive and I haven't tried Samsung's, just because I want best $/TB
>> because I get them for overflow of the PVR because I am too lazy
>> to clean up the ones I have with drives so cheap now.

> Assuming my HDD is still good, I could just replace it

Replace the housing you mean ?

> OR just get one of those external adapter cables.

Yeah, tho it wouldn’t be as protected against physical
damage like that and that might not be a great idea
depending on the detail of how you are disabled.

It wouldn’t be a great idea to drop it like that.

>> A 2/5" drive would have the advantage that you could likely
>> get away with no external power supply at all in some situations
>> when the USB connectors provide enough power. Not all do tho.
>> No big deal when you can use an external USB power supply when
>> they don’t.

>> Drives with both eSATA and USB3 are rare tho so if you
>> demand that, that does restrict your choices drastically.

> I don't have any USB3 ports yet. Only one PC with eSATA port so far.

OK, then you definitely do need an external drive which supports eSATA.

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

>>>> 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.

>>> Doesn't Windows' chkdsk.exe and other software tools automatically mark
>>> these problematic sectors bad? After I saw that red block, I thought the
>>> software would mark it as a bad sector/cluster. However, chkdsk.exe
>>> results didn't show any bad sectors (0 KB). Hence, why I am running a
>>> very long chkdsk.exe /r /f since yesterday (hopefully, it is done and
>>> idling by now) to fix any problems. It did not find any at 88% before I
>>> left it yesterday.

>> If you have a pending sector, then the only way to get it to the bad
>> sectors list is to do a write to that sector. The registered version of
>> Hard Disk Sentinel can do something like that (it's a destructive
>> operation, and is also good for data wiping the disk to DoD standards).

>> I don't think Linux's DD can do this kind of a write, as it
>> doesn't have access to the underlying disk geometry.

> There is no disk geometry today. Just an LBA number.

But it isnt a trivial exercise to turn the LBA number you see on one
of the fault reports into a command to dd to overwrite that sector.

On Fri, 10 Aug 2012 07:07:45 -0700, Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> put finger
to keyboard and composed:

>Doesn't Windows' chkdsk.exe and other software tools automatically mark
>these problematic sectors bad? After I saw that red block, I thought the
>software would mark it as a bad sector/cluster. However, chkdsk.exe
>results didn't show any bad sectors (0 KB). Hence, why I am running a
>very long chkdsk.exe /r /f since yesterday ...

The Win2K OEM support tools contain a utility named nfi.exe which
identifies the file that occupies a particular sector:
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...us/oem3sr2.zip

Nfi.exe also works on Win XP and 2003.

See these articles for more information:
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...6bbd5fade6590/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253066/en-us

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>On 8/10/2012 12:01 PM PT, Rod Speed typed:
>
>>>>> 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.
>>
>>> Hmm, I would have to get another one then.
>>
>> Yeah, that’s what I meant.
>>
>>> It might be easier just remove the HDD into a PC OR maybe use one of
>>> those adapters externally?
>>
>> I wouldn’t bother with that approach now given
>> how awkward it is for you to do that now that we
>> have good evidence it’s a power pack problem.
>
>Hmm, I can't seem to find its replacements on
>http://store.antec.com/Product/acces...5-77150-4.aspx
>
>.... I find it weird that they use PS/2 connection for its power. I might
>have to buy a new/different enclosure.

I have that same enclosure , and other than at one time it developed a noisy
fan issue, it has served me well. Its also one of the very few external
enclosure that you can use to make your own External DVR upgrade drive for a
HD Tivo DVR or DirecTV DVR.

I would chalk up you experience to a one time problem and not sweat over it .
If its working now you could have just experienced a brownout on your power
line to your house.


But if you are worried, a replacement fan can be ordered for $13.41 right from
antec

http://store.antec.
com/Product/accessory-spare_parts/mx-1-power-adapter/0-761345-30290-6.aspx