Seagate Disc Wizard problem:

[alanglloyd]

You're getting somewhere, _but_ its a sorry tale for what should be
simple. I'm not sure I'm a real expert but I would like to make a few
comments ...

1 I've never (well not since MS-DOS days) used Cable Select (CS)
jumper settings on a disk. AIUI it relies on a twist at some point in
a cable so that two pins are reversed for the further (and non-master)
disk. I've always used Master and Slave. I don't believe modern cables
have this twist (and in SATA they wouldn't) but nowadays it may be
that some other mechanism is used. But that makes me worry - I'd
rather say "This Disk is Master" & "This Disk is Slave" and be
definite.

2 When you have a new disk it must always, for any disk, be formatted.
If its a big disk or for other reasons one may partition it prior to
formatting. For an OS to be booted, the booting disk must also have a
"Master Boot Record" (at the first sector on the disk) which tells the
motherboard where to go on the disk to find booting instructions. It
is often put on a disk by a "/MBR" option on a Format program. The
master boot record jump execution to the OS may be hooked to show a
menu of different OS options.

3 If you're replacing a Dell main disk, note that Dell put a few odd
partitions on a disk. I believe these are used for system restoration
and other utility functions. AFAIK these odd partitions are not
essential to basic functionality. Of course if you use a proper
"ghosting" program they would also be replicated (as would everything
else including the MBR).

Alan Lloyd

 

[Robert]

It's not the photos that are stored on the hard drive, it's when you attempt
to display and then edit them. For instance I have a large number of photo
files stored on my 500GB drive, an actual single photo file size is about 90
MB, so when I scan in and edit new group of 8 photos, memory get gobbled up
fast.

As to the results you posted on the hard drive I did not see any problem,
however there is a whole section devoted to S.M.A.R.T. information which you
did not post, below is SpeedFan's web analysis for one of my older drives:
Western Digital WD1600JB

"The average temperature for this hard disk is 37C (MIN=28C MAX=47C) and
yours is 32C.
All of the attributes of your hard disk have normal values. This is good.
The overall fitness for this drive is 90%.
The overall performance for this drive is 96%."

Attribute Current Raw Overall
Raw Read Error Rate 200 0 Very good
Spin Up Time 124 4300 Good
Start/Stop Count 99 1144 Very good
Reallocated Sector Count 199 10 Very good
Seek Error Rate 200 0 Very good
Power On Hours Count 90 7435 Very good
Spin Retry Count 100 0 Very good
Calibration Retry Count 100 0 Very good
Power Cycle Count 99 1144 Normal
Reallocated Event Count 199 1 Very good
Current Pending Sector 200 0 Very good
Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count 200 0 Very good
Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate 200 1 Very good
Write Error Rate 200 0 Very good

It was a pleasure helping you!
JS

I went back into Speed Fan, and figured it out this time. This is
S.M.A.R.T analysis for my computer (Hard Drive ST3160815A)

Current
Raw Overall
Raw Read Error Rate 112
44532022 Good
Spin Up Time 97
0 Normal
Start/Stop Count 100
10 Very Good
Reallocated Sector Count 100
0 Very Good
Seek Error rate 66
3826657 Normal
Power on Hours Count 100
51 Very Good
Spin Retry Count 100
0 Very Good
Power Cycle Count 100
10 Very Good
Unknown Attribute 187 100
0 Very Good
Unknown Attribute 189 100
0 Very Good
Unknown Attribute 190 68
571408416 Very Good
Hardware ECC Recovered 69
132204715 Normal
Current Pending Sector 100
0 Very Good
Offline Uncorrectable
Sector Count 100
0 Very Good
Ulta DMA CRC Error Rate 200
0 Very Good
Write Error Rate 100
0 Very Good
TA Increase Count 100
0 Very Good

With regard to the photo images, I do have quite a few folders/ files
and I do edit them. Maybe I should start going through them and delete
them? Of course, even with my old 40GB hard drive I still had 18GB
free so I assumed that with my new hard drive I would have enough
space so that this wouldn't be a problem.


Robert

 

[Robert]

You're getting somewhere, _but_ its a sorry tale for what should be
simple. I'm not sure I'm a real expert but I would like to make a few
comments ...

1 I've never (well not since MS-DOS days) used Cable Select (CS)
jumper settings on a disk. AIUI it relies on a twist at some point in
a cable so that two pins are reversed for the further (and non-master)
disk. I've always used Master and Slave. I don't believe modern cables
have this twist (and in SATA they wouldn't) but nowadays it may be
that some other mechanism is used. But that makes me worry - I'd
rather say "This Disk is Master" & "This Disk is Slave" and be
definite.

2 When you have a new disk it must always, for any disk, be formatted.
If its a big disk or for other reasons one may partition it prior to
formatting. For an OS to be booted, the booting disk must also have a
"Master Boot Record" (at the first sector on the disk) which tells the
motherboard where to go on the disk to find booting instructions. It
is often put on a disk by a "/MBR" option on a Format program. The
master boot record jump execution to the OS may be hooked to show a
menu of different OS options.

3 If you're replacing a Dell main disk, note that Dell put a few odd
partitions on a disk. I believe these are used for system restoration
and other utility functions. AFAIK these odd partitions are not
essential to basic functionality. Of course if you use a proper
"ghosting" program they would also be replicated (as would everything
else including the MBR).

Alan Lloyd

Hello Alan,
I certainly appreciate your comments but if I may, let me just put
this entire post into perspective. I was talking to someone once who
admired my artwork and I was telling him I would trade it all to be
able to understand math and believe me I've tried! During the
conversation he kept saying how math was easy. So I got a piece of
paper and pencil and placed it in front of him and said, "draw me a
horse". He said, "what?" I said, "draw me a horse". He said, "I can't
do that", to which I replied, "it's easy,......"

Everyone has their own gifts and talents and abilities and for some
computers and programming etc. come easily or they've grown up with
them, while for others its a learning by doing, trial and error
process and may not come as easily to them as to others.

Yes, this was suppose to be a simple procedure and I had no idea it
would get this involved but I'm trying to do the best that I can and
I've learned allot and I appreciate all the good help I've gotten. I
understand some of it but sometimes it gets confusing and goes over my
head with all the abbreviations such as AIUI that are used with no
explaination of what they are, and I have no idea what it is or what
it means.

Again, thank you for your concern and comments.


Robert

 

[Robert]

It's not the photos that are stored on the hard drive, it's when you attempt
to display and then edit them. For instance I have a large number of photo
files stored on my 500GB drive, an actual single photo file size is about 90
MB, so when I scan in and edit new group of 8 photos, memory get gobbled up
fast.

As to the results you posted on the hard drive I did not see any problem,
however there is a whole section devoted to S.M.A.R.T. information which you
did not post, below is SpeedFan's web analysis for one of my older drives:
Western Digital WD1600JB

"The average temperature for this hard disk is 37C (MIN=28C MAX=47C) and
yours is 32C.
All of the attributes of your hard disk have normal values. This is good.
The overall fitness for this drive is 90%.
The overall performance for this drive is 96%."

Attribute Current Raw Overall
Raw Read Error Rate 200 0 Very good
Spin Up Time 124 4300 Good
Start/Stop Count 99 1144 Very good
Reallocated Sector Count 199 10 Very good
Seek Error Rate 200 0 Very good
Power On Hours Count 90 7435 Very good
Spin Retry Count 100 0 Very good
Calibration Retry Count 100 0 Very good
Power Cycle Count 99 1144 Normal
Reallocated Event Count 199 1 Very good
Current Pending Sector 200 0 Very good
Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count 200 0 Very good
Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate 200 1 Very good
Write Error Rate 200 0 Very good

It was a pleasure helping you!
JS

I don't know why Google jumbled up my previous message but hopefully
this time it'll be readable:

Hard Drive ST3160815A Analysis
Current Raw Overall
Raw Read Error Rate 112 44532022 Good
Spin Up Time 97
0 Normal
Start/Stop Count 100 10 Very Good
Reallocated Sector Count 100 0 Very Good
Seek Error Rate 66 3826657 Normal
Power On Hours Count 100 51 Very Good
Spin Retry Count 100 0 Very Good
Power Cycle Count 100 10 Very Good
Unknown Attribute 187 100 0 Very Good
Unknown Attribute 189 100 0 Very Good
Unknown Attribute 190 68 571408416 Very Good
Hardware ECC Removal 69 132204715 Normal
Current Pending Sector 100 0 Very Good
Offline Uncorrectable
Sector Count 100 0 Very Good
Ultra DMA CRC
Error Rate 200 0 Very Good
Write Error Rate 100 0 Very Good
TA Increase Count 100 0 Very Good




Robert

 

[JS]

Here is a link to more information of SMART, about half way down the page is
a chart that is worth looking at. Be aware that not a drive manufactures
included everything in the chart.

I would not delete the photos since you have plenty of disk space, but you
could make backup copies by burning them to a CD/DVD.

JS

 

[JS]

Forgot to past the link I mentioned:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Monitoring,_Analysis,_and_Reporting_Technology

JS

 

[Wally]

With regard to the photo images, I do have quite a few folders/ files
and I do edit them. Maybe I should start going through them and delete
them? Of course, even with my old 40GB hard drive I still had 18GB
free so I assumed that with my new hard drive I would have enough
space so that this wouldn't be a problem.

Robert, you can put a zillion photos on your drive, you don't need to
delete them.

 

[Robert]

Forgot to past the link I mentioned:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Monitoring,_Analysis,_and_Reporting...

JS

Thank you very much for all the help and the links. I've saved all the
links you gave me under favorites> computer folder. The above link you
gave me does help me understand what each catagory of the S.M.A.R.T.
analysis means. From the results of the analysis on my computer it
seems its in good working order.

Since Microsoft doesn't reconize the drive as a DVD/RW but as a CD-ROM
won't I have to wait until the next service pak before I can burn
CD's? Also are all R/W CD's the same or should I look for a certain
brand?



Robert

 

[Robert]

Robert, you can put a zillion photos on your drive, you don't need to
delete them.

Hi Wally,
Good hearing from you again. Yes, this is what I thought as well and
mistakenly referred to this as added memory which caused a little
confusion. In any case, I now have enough space I think for some time
and a new hard drive and new DVD/RW drive so that my computer should
last awhile longer.

I want to thank you for your assistance as well in helping choose the
drives and the links you provided for installation and for the Disk
Wizard install. Cloning the drive did take some time but the end
results were well worth it. I made some mistakes along the way but I
had some very good help to walk me through it all.

I so glad this all done and behind me now and was certainly a learning
experience.


Robert

 

[JS]

Did your DVD drive come with software (Example: Nero), if so install it and
test to see if the software recognizes the drive as a DVD drive and you can
burn a DVD using the software. If that does not work then see the link below
about un-installing the drivers and reinstalling.
http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/144681.html

I don't use Read/Writes, only write once (can not be erased and reused)
DVDs, no they are not all the same quality, buy a name brand like Verbatum,
HP or a brand that a friend recommends, don't try to save pennies when
storing valuable data. A cheap DVD can go bad in a very short period of
time. Good storage location also helps (Not exposed to sunlight, room
temperature, low humidity) storage life.

JS

 

[Wally]

Hi Wally,
Good hearing from you again. Yes, this is what I thought as well and
mistakenly referred to this as added memory which caused a little
confusion. In any case, I now have enough space I think for some time
and a new hard drive and new DVD/RW drive so that my computer should
last awhile longer.

I want to thank you for your assistance as well in helping choose the
drives and the links you provided for installation and for the Disk
Wizard install. Cloning the drive did take some time but the end
results were well worth it. I made some mistakes along the way but I
had some very good help to walk me through it all.

I so glad this all done and behind me now and was certainly a learning
experience.


Robert

Robert,

I liked your story about you and your friend and drawing a picture.
Computers aren't the easiest things to fiddle with, especially since
they leave little or no wiggle room.

You should be quite pleased you made it through this and gained a lot of
knowledge along the way.

I'm glad to hear all went well.
Wally

 

[Wally]

Thank you very much for all the help and the links. I've saved all the
links you gave me under favorites> computer folder. The above link you
gave me does help me understand what each catagory of the S.M.A.R.T.
analysis means. From the results of the analysis on my computer it
seems its in good working order.

Since Microsoft doesn't reconize the drive as a DVD/RW but as a CD-ROM
won't I have to wait until the next service pak before I can burn
CD's? Also are all R/W CD's the same or should I look for a certain
brand?



Robert

Robert,

Your drive will read and write cd's and also dvd's. The Windows disc
software will not write dvd's (only cds) and you can use the software
that came with the CD-DVD drive to make cds and also dvds.

Verbatim brand cds and dvds are favored by the geeks in the know
regarding brand name.

What is the name of the software that you installed off the dvd-cd drive
for making disks?

 

[Robert]

Robert,

Your drive will read and write cd's and also dvd's. The Windows disc
software will not write dvd's (only cds) and you can use the software
that came with the CD-DVD drive to make cds and also dvds.

Verbatim brand cds and dvds are favored by the geeks in the know
regarding brand name.

What is the name of the software that you installed off the dvd-cd drive
for making disks?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I can make cd's and dvd's even though it's only reconized as a cd-rom
drive?

The software I have is Lightscribe, Cyberlink, Secure Disk Viewer and
LG ODD Firmware Update.

I thought the story was a good analogy that to many computers aren't
the easiest thing to understand while to others they are.

I had a friend who was an excellent auto mechanic and could do
anything and he thought that everyone understood cars/engines etc. the
same as he did and just couldn't understand that they didn't. As you
know, some would, while others could perform some maintenance and for
others its just beyond them. It's the same analogy.


Robert

 

[Wally]

I can make cd's and dvd's even though it's only reconized as a cd-rom
drive?

I'm 98% sure, maybe someone else can chime in here.

The software I have is Lightscribe, Cyberlink, Secure Disk Viewer and
LG ODD Firmware Update.

I'm pretty sure your drive software included Nero Express. My new LG
has it and i would expect you do, too. Look for it in your programs and
if you don;t see it, look on the cd that came with the drive.

It's a good program for burning cd-dvds.

BTW, download the program below, and uncheck any Nero stuff on startup,
you don't need it on startup.
This program will be installed in Control Panel and it will be called
"Startup", just uncheck anything you don't want to start up on boot.

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

 

[Robert]

I'm pretty sure your drive software included Nero Express. My new LG
has it and i would expect you do, too. Look for it in your programs and
if you don;t see it, look on the cd that came with the drive.

It's a good program for burning cd-dvds.

BTW, download the program below, and uncheck any Nero stuff on startup,
you don't need it on startup.
This program will be installed in Control Panel and it will be called
"Startup", just uncheck anything you don't want to start up on boot.

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Hi Wally,
It's a good thing you asked the question; I've been so involved with
getting my hard drive working properly and doing all the diagnostics
that I completely forget that I had to re-install the drivers for the
LG drive. So after un-installing Power DVD, Secure Dick Viewer etc and
successfully re-installing all the programs I now see the LG drive as
a DVD/W drive and of course Nero and all the other programs are there
as well.

I did download the Start-up the last time you gave it to me and added
it to my favorites in my computer folder along with the rest of the
links I have.

I appreciate all the help and good advice. I guess I'm set now.


Robert

 

[Robert]

Hi Wally,
It's a good thing you asked the question; I've been so involved with
getting my hard drive working properly and doing all the diagnostics
that I completely forget that I had to re-install the drivers for the
LG drive. So after un-installing Power DVD, Secure Dick Viewer etc and
successfully re-installing all the programs I now see the LG drive as
a DVD/W drive and of course Nero and all the other programs are there
as well.

I did download the Start-up the last time you gave it to me and added
it to my favorites in my computer folder along with the rest of the
links I have.

I appreciate all the help and good advice. I guess I'm set now.

Robert- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

One last question if I may; I just did a search on Verbatim and it has
the following in 5 and 10 pack jewel cases, which kind of CD should I
buy?

CD-RW 8cm Colour 8x-12x
CD-RW 8cm Colour 4x
CD-RW Colour 8x-12x
CD-RW 8cm Colour 2x-4x
CD-RW 8x-12x
CD-RW 4x
CD-RW 'Live it Cool Blue'
CD-RW 24x
CD-RW 32x


Robert

 

[JS]

Since you have a DVD drive, you want to purchase DVD media and not CD media.
You should be looking for something like DVD+R or DVD-R 16x media (Single
sided - stores 4.7 GB)
If your DVD burner supports 'Double Sided Media' or 'LightScribe' you could
buy these also but I recommend you start with single sided and go to the
Double Sided or LightScribe media after you gain some confidence and
provided your LG DVD drive supports it.
No need to buy the DVD media with 'Color'.

Verbatim Link:
http://www.verbatim.com/products/su...pc_parent=1DC9DF5C-C0D4-4AEC-BE4352D34D71B4EB

JS

 

[Robert]

Since you have a DVD drive, you want to purchase DVD media and not CD media.
You should be looking for something like DVD+R or DVD-R 16x media (Single
sided - stores 4.7 GB)
If your DVD burner supports 'Double Sided Media' or 'LightScribe' you could
buy these also but I recommend you start with single sided and go to the
Double Sided or LightScribe media after you gain some confidence and
provided your LG DVD drive supports it.
No need to buy the DVD media with 'Color'.

Verbatim Link:http://www.verbatim.com/products/subcategory.cfm?pc_id=6791D5B8-B69F-...

JS

Hmmmm I clicked on DVD when I went to the same site as you gave in
your link but I guess I didn't see the DVD's. Thank you for the
advise. I do have the Lightscribe program and maybe the drive will
support it but I'll take your advise and start with single sided.

Robert

 

[Robert]

One last question if I may, how often would you advise runing my
antivirus, malware removal scans? At present my AVG is schedule to
come on daily at 9am and I cannot seem to change this. Sometimes I
cancel it and then resume it later, and usually I run it manually
about once or twice a week. Spybot and A-Square aren't on my scheduled
tasks and I run them manually about once every week or so.

Robert

 

[JS]

AVG (your main Anti-Virus software) should be run daily, also make sure you
updates are downloaded daily.
Since I don't not use AVG I can't help with the scheduling problem.
Spybot I also run manually about once a week.

I also use the free version of Ad-Aware and Panda's rootkit test software.

JS

A-Square I'm not familiar with.