This is the 2nd time My HD's Been Corrupt

On this Abit BH6, there are 3 drives:

Primary Master: IBM 45GB
Primary Slave: Quantum 40GB
Secondary Master: Western Digital 60GB
Secondary Slave: Norcent 40X CD-RW

Problem Drive: Western Digital 60GB


Drive was originally purchased in April 2003, but failed in December
2003. WD sent me a refurbished drive in January 2004. After a few
months, the disc became corrupt. What happened was this:

As I was moving files to this drive, Windows 98SE would give me the
error that this drive was full. Actually, there should have been 47GB
free. Anyway, on reboot the bios sees the drive. Unfortunately,
Windows says:

--------------------------------------------------------------
D:\ is not accessible.
A Device attached to the system is not functioning.

-------------------------------------------------------------

DOS does not see it either. Luckily, the utility "GetDataBack" was
able to recover the files. I reformatted and everything was fine for
a few months until a couple of days ago. This exact same thing has
happened again. What is going on? I can recover the data like last
time, but this is getting annoying. I don't want to spend hours
recovering, reformatting, moving data to this drive if the same errors
are going to happen again. So, what is the problem?

1. Bad Abit BH6 controller?
2. Bad IDE Cable?
3. Bad WD refurb HD even though it passed WD diagnostics?
4. Bad WD utility that formatted drive?
5. Unknown virus?
6. Wrong BIOS setup?

Thanks for any suggestions.

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 22:38:11 -0700, LaLa Land
<LaLaLand@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>On this Abit BH6, there are 3 drives:
>
>Primary Master: IBM 45GB
>Primary Slave: Quantum 40GB
>Secondary Master: Western Digital 60GB
>Secondary Slave: Norcent 40X CD-RW
>
>Problem Drive: Western Digital 60GB
>
>
>Drive was originally purchased in April 2003, but failed in December
>2003. WD sent me a refurbished drive in January 2004. After a few
>months, the disc became corrupt. What happened was this:
>
>As I was moving files to this drive, Windows 98SE would give me the
>error that this drive was full. Actually, there should have been 47GB
>free. Anyway, on reboot the bios sees the drive. Unfortunately,
>Windows says:
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>D:\ is not accessible.
>A Device attached to the system is not functioning.
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>
>DOS does not see it either. Luckily, the utility "GetDataBack" was
>able to recover the files. I reformatted and everything was fine for
>a few months until a couple of days ago. This exact same thing has
>happened again. What is going on? I can recover the data like last
>time, but this is getting annoying. I don't want to spend hours
>recovering, reformatting, moving data to this drive if the same errors
>are going to happen again. So, what is the problem?
>
>1. Bad Abit BH6 controller?
>2. Bad IDE Cable?
>3. Bad WD refurb HD even though it passed WD diagnostics?
>4. Bad WD utility that formatted drive?
>5. Unknown virus?
>6. Wrong BIOS setup?
>
>Thanks for any suggestions.

It seems possible, but not likely, that it is the 32 GB problem. To
check for that you can download the GB32 program at

http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm

do in a Windows 98 DOS box (assuming the Western Digital is disk 3
numbered from 1):

gb32 3 fp-a.txt

If the 32 GB problem is present, it may be present for the other disks
too.

--
Svend Olaf

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 06:59:20 GMT, svolaf@partitionsupport.com (Svend
Olaf Mikkelsen) wrote:

>It seems possible, but not likely, that it is the 32 GB problem. To
>check for that you can download the GB32 program at
>
>http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm
>
>do in a Windows 98 DOS box (assuming the Western Digital is disk 3
>numbered from 1):
>
>gb32 3 fp-a.txt
>
>If the 32 GB problem is present, it may be present for the other disks
>too.


You're right. Here are the results:

IBM 45GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
Quantum 40GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.


However, Western Digital 60GB's output:
_______________________________________________
GB32, version 1.1 Copyright Svend Olaf Mikkelsen, 2001.

OS: DOS 7.10 WINDOWS 4.10

Disk: 3 Cylinders: 116300 Heads: 16 Sectors: 63 MB: 57241

Comparing sector 0 to 999 with an area later on the disk:

Distance 4096*16*63: 0 matches.
Distance 65536*16*63: 1000 matches.
Distance 65536*15*63: 0 matches.

A 32 GB problem is present.

_________________________________________________


I have never heard of this 32GB issue before. Is there anything that
I can do with this system to eliminate this issue? Or, is a new ide
card or installing overlay software the only solution?

Thanks.

On Oct 22 2004, LaLa Land wrote:

>>It seems possible, but not likely, that it is the 32 GB problem. To
>>check for that you can download the GB32 program at
>>
>>http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm
>>
>>do in a Windows 98 DOS box (assuming the Western Digital is disk 3
>>numbered from 1):
>>
>>gb32 3 fp-a.txt
>>
>>If the 32 GB problem is present, it may be present for the other disks
>>too.
>
>
> You're right. Here are the results:
>
> IBM 45GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
> Quantum 40GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
>
>
> However, Western Digital 60GB's output:
> _______________________________________________
> GB32, version 1.1 Copyright Svend Olaf Mikkelsen, 2001.
>
> OS: DOS 7.10 WINDOWS 4.10
>
> Disk: 3 Cylinders: 116300 Heads: 16 Sectors: 63 MB: 57241
>
> Comparing sector 0 to 999 with an area later on the disk:
>
> Distance 4096*16*63: 0 matches.
> Distance 65536*16*63: 1000 matches.
> Distance 65536*15*63: 0 matches.
>
> A 32 GB problem is present.
>
> _________________________________________________
>
>
> I have never heard of this 32GB issue before. Is there anything that
> I can do with this system to eliminate this issue? Or, is a new ide
> card or installing overlay software the only solution?

I ran four 120 GB WD drives each had two partitions. They were connected
to a Promise Ultra133TX2 controller. This was in a 5 year old computer
with a no-name motherboard. Never had a problem. My only concern was
hitting the 64GB limit of some of the Win98se included apps (eg:
scandisk, etc.).

--

Tom

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 10:44:27 -0700, LaLa Land
<LaLaLand@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>You're right. Here are the results:
>
>IBM 45GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
>Quantum 40GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
>
>
>However, Western Digital 60GB's output:

>GB32, version 1.1 Copyright Svend Olaf Mikkelsen, 2001.
>
>OS: DOS 7.10 WINDOWS 4.10
>
>Disk: 3 Cylinders: 116300 Heads: 16 Sectors: 63 MB: 57241
>
>Comparing sector 0 to 999 with an area later on the disk:
>
>Distance 4096*16*63: 0 matches.
>Distance 65536*16*63: 1000 matches.
>Distance 65536*15*63: 0 matches.
>
>A 32 GB problem is present.

>I have never heard of this 32GB issue before. Is there anything that
>I can do with this system to eliminate this issue? Or, is a new ide
>card or installing overlay software the only solution?
>
>Thanks.

The problem is the Windows disk drivers. In this case they probably
cannot handle the 16 heads BIOS setting. If you currently do not have
any partitions on the disk, you can auto detect the disk in BIOS, and
make sure a 255 heads translation is chosen. If partitions are
present, the BIOS setting should not be changed. Verify using the GB32
program that the problem was solved.

An alternative is to update the disk drivers, and verify if the
problem is still present after that. For Microsoft drivers this update
may work:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q243450/

What happens is that as soon as data should be written more than 32 GB
into the disk, they are written at the beginning of the disk in stead.
--
Svend Olaf
http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm

"Svend Olaf Mikkelsen" <svolaf@partitionsupport.com> wrote in message news:417b5448.9315732@dtext.news.tele.dk
> On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 10:44:27 -0700, LaLa Land <LaLaLand@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
> > You're right. Here are the results:
> >
> > IBM 45GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
> > Quantum 40GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
> >
> >
> > However, Western Digital 60GB's output:
>
> > GB32, version 1.1 Copyright Svend Olaf Mikkelsen, 2001.
> >
> > OS: DOS 7.10 WINDOWS 4.10
> >
> > Disk: 3 Cylinders: 116300 Heads: 16 Sectors: 63 MB: 57241
> >
> > Comparing sector 0 to 999 with an area later on the disk:
> >
> > Distance 4096*16*63: 0 matches.
> > Distance 65536*16*63: 1000 matches.
> > Distance 65536*15*63: 0 matches.
> >
> > A 32 GB problem is present.
>
> > I have never heard of this 32GB issue before. Is there anything that
> > I can do with this system to eliminate this issue? Or, is a new ide
> > card or installing overlay software the only solution?
> >
> > Thanks.
>
> The problem is the Windows disk drivers.

> In this case they probably cannot handle the 16 heads BIOS setting.

What makes you think that the driver is using 16-heads translation?
Or did you mean to say that the 16-head bios setting is triggering the
modulo ~32GB bug, since obviously it can't be using CHS mode at all?

> If you currently do not have any partitions on the disk, you can auto
> detect the disk in BIOS, and make sure a 255 heads translation is chosen.

Are you implicating that the modulo ~32 GB bug is triggered when
the heads value is unequal the large disk placeholder value (presuming
heads fall within that category too)? What about the cylinder value?

> If partitions are present, the BIOS setting should not be changed.

What if you do? The setting is not used untill (re)partitioning time.

> Verify using the GB32 program that the problem was solved.

Presumably that is after repartitioning with the 255 heads value.
Shouldn't the drive be zeroed first before checking?

>
> An alternative is to update the disk drivers, and verify if the problem
> is still present after that. For Microsoft drivers this update may work:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q243450/
>
> What happens is that as soon as data should be written more than 32 GB
> into the disk, they are written at the beginning of the disk in stead.

Previously Tom <Tom@invalid.com> wrote:

> On Oct 22 2004, LaLa Land wrote:

>>>It seems possible, but not likely, that it is the 32 GB problem. To
>>>check for that you can download the GB32 program at
>>>
>>>http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm
>>>
>>>do in a Windows 98 DOS box (assuming the Western Digital is disk 3
>>>numbered from 1):
>>>
>>>gb32 3 fp-a.txt
>>>
>>>If the 32 GB problem is present, it may be present for the other disks
>>>too.
>>
>>
>> You're right. Here are the results:
>>
>> IBM 45GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
>> Quantum 40GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
>>
>>
>> However, Western Digital 60GB's output:
>> _______________________________________________
>> GB32, version 1.1 Copyright Svend Olaf Mikkelsen, 2001.
>>
>> OS: DOS 7.10 WINDOWS 4.10
>>
>> Disk: 3 Cylinders: 116300 Heads: 16 Sectors: 63 MB: 57241
>>
>> Comparing sector 0 to 999 with an area later on the disk:
>>
>> Distance 4096*16*63: 0 matches.
>> Distance 65536*16*63: 1000 matches.
>> Distance 65536*15*63: 0 matches.
>>
>> A 32 GB problem is present.
>>
>> _________________________________________________
>>
>>
>> I have never heard of this 32GB issue before. Is there anything that
>> I can do with this system to eliminate this issue? Or, is a new ide
>> card or installing overlay software the only solution?

> I ran four 120 GB WD drives each had two partitions. They were connected
> to a Promise Ultra133TX2 controller. This was in a 5 year old computer
> with a no-name motherboard. Never had a problem. My only concern was
> hitting the 64GB limit of some of the Win98se included apps (eg:
> scandisk, etc.).

Same experience here. The Promise controllers do LBA so no 32GB limit.
Works with older hardware.

Arno
--
For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus

"Arno Wagner" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message news:2tu33tF23sjqlU2@uni-berlin.de
> Previously Tom <Tom@invalid.com> wrote:
>
> > On Oct 22 2004, LaLa Land wrote:
>
> > > > It seems possible, but not likely, that it is the 32 GB problem. To
> > > > check for that you can download the GB32 program at
> > > >
> > > > http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm
> > > >
> > > > do in a Windows 98 DOS box (assuming the Western Digital is disk 3
> > > > numbered from 1):
> > > >
> > > > gb32 3 fp-a.txt
> > > >
> > > > If the 32 GB problem is present, it may be present for the other disks
> > > > too.
> > >
> > >
> > > You're right. Here are the results:
> > >
> > > IBM 45GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
> > > Quantum 40GB: No known 32 GB problems were observed.
> > >
> > >
> > > However, Western Digital 60GB's output:
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > GB32, version 1.1 Copyright Svend Olaf Mikkelsen, 2001.
> > >
> > > OS: DOS 7.10 WINDOWS 4.10
> > >
> > > Disk: 3 Cylinders: 116300 Heads: 16 Sectors: 63 MB: 57241
> > >
> > > Comparing sector 0 to 999 with an area later on the disk:
> > >
> > > Distance 4096*16*63: 0 matches.
> > > Distance 65536*16*63: 1000 matches.
> > > Distance 65536*15*63: 0 matches.
> > >
> > > A 32 GB problem is present.
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________
> > >
> > >
> > > I have never heard of this 32GB issue before. Is there anything that
> > > I can do with this system to eliminate this issue? Or, is a new ide
> > > card or installing overlay software the only solution?
>
> > I ran four 120 GB WD drives each had two partitions. They were connected
> > to a Promise Ultra133TX2 controller. This was in a 5 year old computer
> > with a no-name motherboard. Never had a problem. My only concern was
> > hitting the 64GB limit of some of the Win98se included apps (eg:
> > scandisk, etc.).
>
> Same experience here. The Promise controllers do LBA so no 32GB limit.

Utterly clueless.

> Works with older hardware.
>
> Arno

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 18:41:29 GMT, svolaf@partitionsupport.com (Svend
Olaf Mikkelsen) wrote:

>
>The problem is the Windows disk drivers. In this case they probably
>cannot handle the 16 heads BIOS setting. If you currently do not have
>any partitions on the disk, you can auto detect the disk in BIOS, and
>make sure a 255 heads translation is chosen. If partitions are
>present, the BIOS setting should not be changed. Verify using the GB32
>program that the problem was solved.
>
>An alternative is to update the disk drivers, and verify if the
>problem is still present after that. For Microsoft drivers this update
>may work:
>
>http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q243450/
>
>What happens is that as soon as data should be written more than 32 GB
>into the disk, they are written at the beginning of the disk in stead.

Strange, when set to "auto" in the bios, the Abit BH6 correctly chose
255 heads for the other drives, but not this Western Digital. Looks
like I will spend this weekend moving all the data, changing the bios
setting and then fdisk/reformat. That update Microsoft driver seems
to refer to a Phoenix bios, but not an Award which Abit uses, so I
will not install that.

Thank you for your help.

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 01:10:10 +0200, "Folkert Rienstra"
<see_reply-to@myweb.nl> wrote:

>> In this case they probably cannot handle the 16 heads BIOS setting.
>
>What makes you think that the driver is using 16-heads translation?
>Or did you mean to say that the 16-head bios setting is triggering the
>modulo ~32GB bug, since obviously it can't be using CHS mode at all?

Triggered. The wrap distance in this case is 65536*16*63 sectors.
There must be a connection.

>> If you currently do not have any partitions on the disk, you can auto
>> detect the disk in BIOS, and make sure a 255 heads translation is chosen.
>
>Are you implicating that the modulo ~32 GB bug is triggered when
>the heads value is unequal the large disk placeholder value (presuming
>heads fall within that category too)? What about the cylinder value?

No, if the BIOS setting does not match the partition tables, that
gives other problems, such as the partitions does not follow cylinder
boundaries, confusing partitioning tools.

>> Verify using the GB32 program that the problem was solved.
>
>Presumably that is after repartitioning with the 255 heads value.
>Shouldn't the drive be zeroed first before checking?


>
>>
>> An alternative is to update the disk drivers, and verify if the problem
>> is still present after that. For Microsoft drivers this update may work:
>>
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q243450/
>>
>> What happens is that as soon as data should be written more than 32 GB
>> into the disk, they are written at the beginning of the disk in stead.