Low level format on laptop HD

[Chu-Chu]

HP Pavilion
40 GB Hitachi HD
WinXP

I used the Madboot disk (www.madboot.com) to do a low level format of my
hard drive. The reason for this was my HD failed the S.M.A.R.T.
diagnostic test and I'd recently been getting several I/O and delayed
write errors in WinXP SP 1. It's been almost 24 hours and the progress
is only at 7%. Is this normal?

 

[Paul Murphy]

I've not used Madboot before but 24 hrs to get to 7 % seems way to long to
me. To write all zeros to a modern harddrive (eg my Samsung 120 GB device)
takes an hour or two. This is not low level formatting - which isn't
required/used on new drives these days but is the next best thing (and may
fix the issues you're encountering). Whats wrong with using Hitachi's Drive
Fitness Test here: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm ? This
is software provided (for free) by the drive manufacturer to do exactly what
you want. I'm not sure it will reset the smart flag if the test comes out OK
though - ie will get smart warnings for ever more unless smart detection is
turned off in the BIOS. There's a downloadable manual there to, that you
tell you all you need to know.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[Chris Stolworthy]

HP Pavilion
40 GB Hitachi HD
WinXP

I used the Madboot disk (www.madboot.com) to do a low level format of my
hard drive. The reason for this was my HD failed the S.M.A.R.T.
diagnostic test and I'd recently been getting several I/O and delayed
write errors in WinXP SP 1. It's been almost 24 hours and the progress
is only at 7%. Is this normal?

I don't think so...I have an 80Gb 7200 RPM desktop drive and it takes me 1
hour to low level the drive.

 

[kony]

HP Pavilion
40 GB Hitachi HD
WinXP

I used the Madboot disk (www.madboot.com) to do a low level format of my
hard drive. The reason for this was my HD failed the S.M.A.R.T.
diagnostic test and I'd recently been getting several I/O and delayed
write errors in WinXP SP 1. It's been almost 24 hours and the progress
is only at 7%. Is this normal?

No, not normal. Today's "low level format" is merely zeroing the
drive. That is, writing zeros to it. That should complete in
time it takes to, umm, do that, which would be (MB * MB/sec).
For a 40GB drive I'd expect it to take under 2 hours, usually
much less.

Don't use that Madboot stuff, there is never a reason to do that
after a smart warning. Paul Murphy advised correctly that you
should run the manufacturer's diagnostics, available from their
website if you didn't have it already.

 

[kony]

No, not normal. Today's "low level format" is merely zeroing the
drive. That is, writing zeros to it. That should complete in
time it takes to, umm, do that, which would be (MB * MB/sec).

Hastily typed message had wrong equation, even though it was just
a very rough guesstimation it should've still been (MB * sec/MB).

 

[Shep©]

HP Pavilion
40 GB Hitachi HD
WinXP

I used the Madboot disk (www.madboot.com) to do a low level format of my
hard drive. The reason for this was my HD failed the S.M.A.R.T.
diagnostic test and I'd recently been getting several I/O and delayed
write errors in WinXP SP 1. It's been almost 24 hours and the progress
is only at 7%. Is this normal?

Download and use,"Powermax",
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm
free and will check most drives(not just Maxtor).
Report back.
HTH



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
email shepATpartyheld.de
Free songs to download and,"BURN" :O)
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

 

[Chu-Chu]

Download and use,"Powermax",
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm
free and will check most drives(not just Maxtor).
Report back.
HTH

Did that and also ran Hitachi Drive Fitness Test before that. Same
results. The Run Smart Self Test fails. I tried submitting the HD's
serial number in the Warranty/RMA section on Hitachi's site, but it
apparently is not in their database. The laptop was purchased a couple
of years ago on Ubid.com as refurbished.

I bit the bullet today and bought a 60 GB drive from DriveSolutions.com,
which I probably should have done last year when I first encountered the
SMART failure. I do regret being stuck with a screwed drive, though.

 

[Shep©]

Did that and also ran Hitachi Drive Fitness Test before that. Same
results. The Run Smart Self Test fails. I tried submitting the HD's
serial number in the Warranty/RMA section on Hitachi's site, but it
apparently is not in their database. The laptop was purchased a couple
of years ago on Ubid.com as refurbished.

I bit the bullet today and bought a 60 GB drive from DriveSolutions.com,
which I probably should have done last year when I first encountered the
SMART failure. I do regret being stuck with a screwed drive, though.

Oh well.Good luck with the new drive =)



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
email shepATpartyheld.de
Free songs to download and,"BURN" :O)
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

 

[Trent©]

HP Pavilion
40 GB Hitachi HD
WinXP

I used the Madboot disk (www.madboot.com) to do a low level format of my
hard drive. The reason for this was my HD failed the S.M.A.R.T.
diagnostic test and I'd recently been getting several I/O and delayed
write errors in WinXP SP 1. It's been almost 24 hours and the progress
is only at 7%. Is this normal?

No. Doing a low-level format is not normal.


Hope ya'll have a nice 4th of July weekend...

Trent©


Proud member of the Roy Rogers fan club!

 

[Nick]

HP Pavilion
40 GB Hitachi HD
WinXP

I used the Madboot disk (www.madboot.com) to do a low level format of
my hard drive. The reason for this was my HD failed the S.M.A.R.T.
diagnostic test and I'd recently been getting several I/O and delayed
write errors in WinXP SP 1. It's been almost 24 hours and the
progress is only at 7%. Is this normal?

Not read all the other posts but you should really go to the manufacturer's
web site & get their own formatting utilities.