I/O error...Solutions? Maxtor OneTouch 250gb

[davidmcmaxii]

Hello there,

I purchased a Maxtor Onetouch 250Gb drive just before christmas to hold
my music collection and to act as a drive for audio recording. The
other night everything froze as I was recording to it. I waited for at
least 30 mins for the pc to unfreeze and then restarted the pc. Now
when the drive is connected to the pc everything seems to start and run
more slowly. The drive is split into 3 partitions. 100/100/33Gb. All
three show up as installed and I can access 2 of the partitions files
with no problems. But when I try to access the "my music" folder in one
of the 100Gb partitions the computer hangs for a couple of minutes and
then an error message appears saying there was an I/O error. What is
this? IS this fatal? I have backed up at regular intervals but there is
3 weeks of data still on the drive which is crucial to me!

I ran chkdsk /f and it identified about 35 bad sectors on the partition
but when it came to rectifying the indexes [indices!!] it said that "an
unspecified error occurred" and stopped chkdsk.

I am very confused here. In January I had a problem with the drive in
that all the partitions appeared empty. I used some recovery software
and it found 99% of the files. This problem I had attributed to the
1394 interface I was using [soundblaster audigy] and that the drive had
nothing to do with it. I switched to usb 2.0 interface which I am
currently using - not ideal given the slightly higher cpu usage when
recording. But is has been relatively stable since then.

Is this drive recoverable? Can the "my music" folder be opened? I tried
data recovery software on the drive and it hung whilst trying to
analyse the folder structure. I am guessing that the long delays and
hangs are due to windows trying (in vain) to communicate with the drive
but then again I'm no computer whiz so it could be due to the phase of
the moon or the humidity in Bhutan.

So I/O error on a 50Gb folder in a 100Gb partition when the rest of the
drive seems to be fine(ish). 35 or so bad sectors. Am I furious or
what?

I would appreciate your views and any constructive advice.

Yours sincerely

David

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Hello there,

I purchased a Maxtor Onetouch 250Gb drive just before christmas to hold
my music collection and to act as a drive for audio recording. The
other night everything froze as I was recording to it. I waited for at
least 30 mins for the pc to unfreeze and then restarted the pc. Now
when the drive is connected to the pc everything seems to start and run
more slowly. The drive is split into 3 partitions. 100/100/33Gb. All
three show up as installed and I can access 2 of the partitions files
with no problems. But when I try to access the "my music" folder in one
of the 100Gb partitions the computer hangs for a couple of minutes and
then an error message appears saying there was an I/O error. What is
this? IS this fatal? I have backed up at regular intervals but there is
3 weeks of data still on the drive which is crucial to me!

I ran chkdsk /f and it identified about 35 bad sectors on the partition
but when it came to rectifying the indexes [indices!!] it said that "an
unspecified error occurred" and stopped chkdsk.

I am very confused here. In January I had a problem with the drive in
that all the partitions appeared empty. I used some recovery software
and it found 99% of the files. This problem I had attributed to the
1394 interface I was using [soundblaster audigy] and that the drive had
nothing to do with it. I switched to usb 2.0 interface which I am
currently using - not ideal given the slightly higher cpu usage when
recording. But is has been relatively stable since then.

Is this drive recoverable? Can the "my music" folder be opened? I tried
data recovery software on the drive and it hung whilst trying to
analyse the folder structure. I am guessing that the long delays and
hangs are due to windows trying (in vain) to communicate with the drive
but then again I'm no computer whiz so it could be due to the phase of
the moon or the humidity in Bhutan.

So I/O error on a 50Gb folder in a 100Gb partition when the rest of the
drive seems to be fine(ish). 35 or so bad sectors. Am I furious or what?

I would appreciate your views and any constructive advice.

If the driver was never tested with bad sectors on the drive then it may
cause unexpected behaviour like hangs.

The way around it is to remove the cause of the problem, the bad sectors.
You can run Findbad from www.partitionsupport.com, preferably from DOS,
which -if no bios support is available- may require you to find a DOS driver.
Findbad will overwrite the bad sectors which should then return to readable.

You can start by running it from Windows first and if that runs into
the same problems as experienced now, then retry it from DOS.

 

[davidmcmaxii]

If the driver was never tested with bad sectors on the drive then it may
cause unexpected behaviour like hangs.

The way around it is to remove the cause of the problem, the bad sectors.
You can run Findbad from www.partitionsupport.com, preferably from DOS,
which -if no bios support is available- may require you to find a DOS driver.
Findbad will overwrite the bad sectors which should then return to readable.

You can start by running it from Windows first and if that runs into
the same problems as experienced now, then retry it from DOS.

Many thanks for your reply. I downloaded findbad and ran it from the
command prompt. Unfortunately, I am finding it difficult to follow its
instructions such as

"Disks are numbered from 1."

What does this mean? I have 3 physical drives and 5 partitions. The
first two drives are single partition and internal. Does this mean that
the external disk will be no.3 or [as there is some unallocated space
on the second internal drive] no.4?

Also, if, as the program findbad suggests, I run it in dos...How will
it access an external USB hard drive? Are there USB drivers available
for DOS? Or am I a very confused individual... [probably the latter]

Anyhow, some explanation of the commands used in findbad would be
fantastic...

Cheers again

David

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Many thanks for your reply. I downloaded findbad and ran it from the
command prompt. Unfortunately, I am finding it difficult to follow its
instructions such as

"Disks are numbered from 1."

What does this mean?

It actually means "harddrives" are numbered from 1.
And "numbered from" as in 'the order in which the OS (usually DOS) has recognized them. When the OS is Win2K or XP that may be a bit
difficult
to find out, but usually assume IDE first: PM PS SM SS, then USB.
Changed bootorder however, like booting from slave, will change that.
Drives disabled in bios will change that too. Unless you have a utility that
shows actual device numbers you have to second guess how the Bios or the
OS assigns them.

I have 3 physical drives and 5 partitions. The
first two drives are single partition and internal.

It works on the physical drive level, not partitions/logical drives.

Does this mean that the external disk will be no.3

Quite likely.

or [as there is some unallocated space on the second internal drive] no.4?
Nope.


Also, if, as the program findbad suggests, I run it in dos...
Suggests.

How will it access an external USB hard drive?

As it will access *any* drive, through bios, as I suggested.
If it can boot from USB then that's a clue.
If it get's a drive letter when in DOS then that's a clue too.
If an USB bios is not available then you need a driver.

Are there USB drivers available for DOS?

Possibly. Google +Gisin +USB +driver.

Or am I a very confused individual... [probably the latter]

Maybe a bit lazy? There is Google, but you knew that already.

Anyhow, some explanation of the commands used in findbad would be
fantastic...

The parameters between [ ] are optional.
You can use them but don't necessarily need to (except writef6).
Experiment and learn. It's not exactly rocket science.
It won't write anything unless it finds a bad sector and even then
you are in control so you won't break anything by experimenting.
If you don't trust yourself, just answer no.

Cheers again

David

Sample findbad.bat

set findbad=writef6
Findbad.exe 3 writef6

 

[davidmcmaxii]

It actually means "harddrives" are numbered from 1.
And "numbered from" as in 'the order in which the OS (usually DOS)

has recognized them. When the OS is Win2K or XP that may be a bit

difficult
to find out, but usually assume IDE first: PM PS SM SS, then USB.
Changed bootorder however, like booting from slave, will change that.
Drives disabled in bios will change that too. Unless you have a utility that
shows actual device numbers you have to second guess how the Bios or the
OS assigns them.


It works on the physical drive level, not partitions/logical drives.

Excellent...I have a one in three chance. That's better odds than I got
on Tiger Woods!

Quite likely.

Tried it and yes...Number 3 it is.

or [as there is some unallocated space on the second internal

drive] no.4?

Nope.

Also, if, as the program findbad suggests, I run it in dos...
Suggests.

How will it access an external USB hard drive?

As it will access *any* drive, through bios, as I suggested.
If it can boot from USB then that's a clue.
If it get's a drive letter when in DOS then that's a clue too.
If an USB bios is not available then you need a driver.

Excellent I will try that. Clearly I am not up-to-speed with pc
mechanics...or indeed reading your initial advice properly!

Are there USB drivers available for DOS?

Possibly. Google +Gisin +USB +driver.

Or am I a very confused individual... [probably the latter]

Maybe a bit lazy? There is Google, but you knew that already.

Absolutely Lazy is the correct diagnosis so I appreciate your help even
more!

Anyhow, some explanation of the commands used in findbad would be
fantastic...

The parameters between [ ] are optional.
You can use them but don't necessarily need to (except writef6).
Experiment and learn. It's not exactly rocket science.
It won't write anything unless it finds a bad sector and even then
you are in control so you won't break anything by experimenting.
If you don't trust yourself, just answer no.

Cheers again

David

Sample findbad.bat

set findbad=writef6
Findbad.exe 3 writef6

Thanks for the help. Hopefully I should have the drive up-and-running
soon. If it doesn't work I am going to try a Partition recover from my
Recovery software and save the data to a spare drive.

Cheers