Partition Magic finds drive error

[Discordia]

I tested a new USB external hard drive with Partition Magic's
Partition Info tool, and it reported that "Error #108. Partition
didn't end on cylinder boundary ucEndHead expected to be 254, not
239". What's this mean? And should I return the drive. Its is a
rather noisy too.

 

[Arno Wagner]

I tested a new USB external hard drive with Partition Magic's
Partition Info tool, and it reported that "Error #108. Partition
didn't end on cylinder boundary ucEndHead expected to be 254, not
239". What's this mean? And should I return the drive. Its is a
rather noisy too.

Thsi means PM is way behind the times. Hostorically HDDs were
organised in Cylinders, Heads and Secors (CHS). At that time
it was a good idea to have partitions end on a cylinder boundary.
This time is over. Ignore the message. I has no meaning.

Arno

 

[Discordia]

Thsi means PM is way behind the times. Hostorically HDDs were
organised in Cylinders, Heads and Secors (CHS). At that time
it was a good idea to have partitions end on a cylinder boundary.
This time is over. Ignore the message. I has no meaning.

Arno

Thanks for the info. Now, PM itself says the drive is "BAD" and won't
do anything with it, like format it. Should I just ignore PM
altogether? And like I said, the drive is rather noisy, I can hear
the ticks as it seeks and much louder when its writing. Its a WD
160gb drive, and I've used its Lifeguard Diagnostic tool to test it,
and it comes up as okay (no SMART test, of course, being an external
drive). Just ignore the noise and keep it? Thanks again;

 

[Joep]

Still, when creating 'basic' partition tables, all tools I am aware of will
create partitions at cylinder boundaries.

It probably means translation changed or the disk was moved to a different
PC. It means geometry is different than what it was at the time the disk was
partitioned.

Thanks for the info. Now, PM itself says the drive is "BAD" and won't
do anything with it, like format it. Should I just ignore PM
altogether? And like I said, the drive is rather noisy, I can hear
the ticks as it seeks and much louder when its writing. Its a WD
160gb drive, and I've used its Lifeguard Diagnostic tool to test it,
and it comes up as okay (no SMART test, of course, being an external
drive). Just ignore the noise and keep it? Thanks again;

The noise has nothing to do with the PM error.

 

[Discordia]

Still, when creating 'basic' partition tables, all tools I am aware of will
create partitions at cylinder boundaries.


It probably means translation changed or the disk was moved to a different
PC. It means geometry is different than what it was at the time the disk was
partitioned.

I repartitioned it using XP. Have the same error. Now, is this error
anything to be concerned about?

 

[Joep]

I repartitioned it using XP. Have the same error. Now, is this error
anything to be concerned about?

Are you using the DOS or the Windows PM? If you're using the Windows version
it should see the same disk geometry as XP's diskmanagement. I have seen the
BIOS and Windows disagreeing on the disk geometry, that could confude the PM
DOS version.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Still, when creating 'basic' partition tables, all tools I am aware of will
create partitions at cylinder boundaries.

Most do indeed. One exception is GNU parted. In addition it is
impotant to noctice that modern operatin systems do not care
were the boundaries lie.

It probably means translation changed or the disk was moved to a
different PC. It means geometry is different than what it was at the
time the disk was partitioned.

I agree.

The noise has nothing to do with the PM error.

I agree to this too.

Arno

 

[Discordia]

Are you using the DOS or the Windows PM? If you're using the Windows version
it should see the same disk geometry as XP's diskmanagement. I have seen the
BIOS and Windows disagreeing on the disk geometry, that could confude the PM
DOS version.

Its the Windows PM, I don't think the DOS one would even see the drive
(being an external drive). I have run Sandisk with no errors. The
only test that finds errors is the Windows version of PM.

 

[Rod Speed]

Thanks for the info. Now, PM itself says the drive is "BAD" and won't
do anything with it, like format it. Should I just ignore PM
altogether? And like I said, the drive is rather noisy, I can hear
the ticks as it seeks and much louder when its writing. Its a WD
160gb drive, and I've used its Lifeguard Diagnostic tool to test it,
and it comes up as okay (no SMART test, of course, being an external
drive). Just ignore the noise and keep it?

I'd return it and get a Samsung myself, much quieter.

 

[Discordia]

I'd return it and get a Samsung myself, much quieter.

This one is particularly cheap, for Canada that is. Its $99 after a
$70 rebate.

Update: I wrote zeros to the drive, tried to reformat with XP NTFS,
and it stopped and didnt' work (vanished, actually). I then
downloaded the Western Digital formating utilities for their external
drives, and that worked (this is an Acomdate build external drive with
a WD drive inside). Anyway, after doing that its now a lot quieter.
I called Acomdate and they said I should return it. Not sure what to
do?

 

[Rod Speed]

This one is particularly cheap, for Canada that is. Its $99 after a
$70 rebate.

Update: I wrote zeros to the drive, tried to reformat with XP NTFS,
and it stopped and didnt' work (vanished, actually). I then
downloaded the Western Digital formating utilities for their external
drives, and that worked (this is an Acomdate build external drive with
a WD drive inside). Anyway, after doing that its now a lot quieter.
I called Acomdate and they said I should return it. Not sure what to do?

I'd return it. It shouldnt have gone missing and the noises
could well have been the drive recalibrating on errors.

I'd normally look at the SMART data myself, but its not a great
idea to take it out of the case if you want to do a return.

 

[Arno Wagner]

This one is particularly cheap, for Canada that is. Its $99 after a
$70 rebate.

Update: I wrote zeros to the drive, tried to reformat with XP NTFS,
and it stopped and didnt' work (vanished, actually). I then
downloaded the Western Digital formating utilities for their external
drives, and that worked (this is an Acomdate build external drive with
a WD drive inside). Anyway, after doing that its now a lot quieter.
I called Acomdate and they said I should return it. Not sure what to
do?

If they say to return it, you should. BTW, WD drives are not
the most reliable on the market.

Arno

 

[Discordia]

I'd return it. It shouldnt have gone missing and the noises
could well have been the drive recalibrating on errors.

I'd normally look at the SMART data myself, but its not a great
idea to take it out of the case if you want to do a return.

Returned it. Got yet another (number 3). Exact same error in PM, but
this one is way quieter. Yes, I hear ticking when the drive is being
read or written to, but not from across the room. The place were I
bought it was sympathetic, could be a bad lot. Thinking of
reformating and keeping this one. I'll give it a day's use.

 

[Discordia]

If they say to return it, you should. BTW, WD drives are not
the most reliable on the market.

but its half as much as everyone elses for this size.

 

[Arno Wagner]

but its half as much as everyone elses for this size.

Which surely is _not_ a coincidence. Often you get what you pay for.

Arno

 

[Joep]

Its the Windows PM, I don't think the DOS one would even see the drive
(being an external drive).

That depends.

I have run Sandisk with no errors.

Scandisk does not check partition tables.

The
only test that finds errors is the Windows version of PM.

Then you need to do as the manual says, create a partinfo and contact
Symantec support.