scandisk replacement for Windows98SE?

[Achim Nolcken Lohse]

Looking desperately for a way to accurately and effectively do a
surface scan on a 2.5GB Western Digital IDE hdd.

Am running Win98SE as my only MS platform, but would be very happy to
run a Linux scanner from a LiveCD. I currently have Knoppix5.01 and
should have Simply Mepis 6.0 once I burn the iso.

Scandisk detects no errors on my target drive in standard mode, and
none in thorough mode until it gets to the 58% point on the drive,
then it locks up the system without reporting or fixing anything.

 

[Art]

Looking desperately for a way to accurately and effectively do a
surface scan on a 2.5GB Western Digital IDE hdd.

Am running Win98SE as my only MS platform, but would be very happy to
run a Linux scanner from a LiveCD. I currently have Knoppix5.01 and
should have Simply Mepis 6.0 once I burn the iso.

Scandisk detects no errors on my target drive in standard mode, and
none in thorough mode until it gets to the 58% point on the drive,
then it locks up the system without reporting or fixing anything.

1. Have you tried a free Western Digital drive analysis util?
http://support.wdc.com/dlg/

2. If need be, I'd be happy to give you a copy of an old Norton Disk
Doctor (NDD.EXE) which runs in DOS and is useful on FAT16 and FAT32
drives. I found it more effective that Scandisk when I was using Win
98.

Art
http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[Art]

Thanks, tried going there, but couldn't get a link to download or run
anything. Maybe my browser settings, although I didn't get any error
messages or prompts to that effect.

You missed the download link:

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1

Inputing the Model number of the drive (DAC32500-18H)got no hits
either.

Thanks Art, might take you up on that if everything else fails.

No problem. Just let me know.

Seems to me I've got a copy somewhere on FDD too. Been quite a while
since I had a hard drive problem...

I've also got an old Compaq Deskpro Server in the basement that will
diagnose the daylights out of anything you throw at it (don't know if
it will fix anything though). But I'm not as keen as I used to be to
litter the floor and every available horizontal surface with screws
cables, drives, and computer case covers.

What I'm going to say may or may not have any bearing on your current
problem, but I thought I'd ramble/rant on a bit about some recent
experiences I've had after trying out various low level freeware tools
that have been suggested/recommended on this ng.

Several times I've wound up with a corrupt MBR which led to very
peculiar symptoms and some head scratching. I'm on to it now and
and I automatically turn to Windows 2000 Recovery Console and
use Fixboot to replace the boot sector.

The last time this happened was just a few days ago when someone
here recommended Gparted Live CD which I used to create a small
6 gig FAT 32 partition at the free far end of my 60 gig drive. The new
partition was useable (more or less) and CHKDSK found no problems
with it. Yet, analysis of file cloning results to that partition
didn't add up .... the numbers didn't make sense and the file
cloning was clearly screwed up. Sure enough, Gparted had
corrupted my MBR and left me with a insane file system. Using
Fixboot fixed the problem and now the partition works fine.

When I was using Win 98 I used NDD exclusively, having
learned that Scandisk sometimes causes more problems than
it fixes. I dunno off hand what you might take a quick stab at as a
reliable check on and repair of your MBR (as a shot in the dark, more
or less). I would expect the low level disk diagnostics from the drive
vendors would check this sort of thing and maybe offer to do repairs
if necessary. I suggest you start there and if everything is OK then
use NDD.EXE.

Art
http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[Achim Nolcken Lohse]

You missed the download link:

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1

NO, actually I was on that page, I just couldn't get past it. Turns
out you have to have Active Scripting enabled, which I usually don't.

I went back just now with Active Scripting on, and then I got access
to the downloads. Trouble is, my drive isn't listed anywhere
I entered the drive model in the Knowledge database, also with Active
Scripting on this time, and then I got an answer "0 hits"!

Oh well, I guess I'll try the "old" diagnostics program.