Trying to diagnose Hard drive

sharpnova

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I am building a new computer and for my boot drive I have selected:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236243

The motherboard is the Asus Rampage IV Extreme.

When I power on the computer I immediately hear a clicking. It is a repetitive sound that goes like this: a slight whir noise as if something is attempting to spin up, then a click. Then it repeats like that indefinitely.

I have moved other drives into the same connectors to rule out the connectors/powersupply/motherboard themselves.

The only thing I don't understand is that the BIOS detects the drive. However when I boot to a Windows installation disk, the drive does not appear in the list of usable partitions.

Is this normal and also indicative of a bad drive? Why is the BIOS able to detect it at all?
 

avjguy2362

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the BIOS will detect it, but it sounds like a bad drive. I had 2 bad Raptors (same symtoms), which I love when you get a good one, but I would try putting in another build, and try formatting it. IF it formats it then it is "probably" good. If it does format run diskchechup or any HD monitoring utility to make sure it is good. If it is good and you are still having problems getting it to install your OS, try deleting the volume (un-format) in disk manager and then in the BIOS boot order, put optical drive first and Raptor second and nothing else. The windows disk will format, install the boot partition and the OS on your Raptor in one step.
 

sharpnova

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There are three drives in the computer. This and two Seagate 4 TB's. The Seagates show up in both the BIOS and the Windows installation.

The reason I'm asking about this issue is because I read elsewhere that some Windows 7 disks will fail to detect some hard drives. I want to make sure the drive is the problem before I initiate the RMA or return process.

avjguy2362, so are you saying that despite the aweful clicking and spinup noises, it's still a good drive if it formats?
 

avjguy2362

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No, if the noises are pretty dramatic ( "aweful" ) considering there is nothing on the drive, it is probably bad. It would probably be a waste of time, but I was just suggesting that there is HD software to confirm problems, but I think the drive has to be formatted first. You are the one listening to it, so it really is your discretion to know that it is obviously "not right"!!
 

sharpnova

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Soon as the wife wakes up I'm going to throw this thing in her computer and see if it starts screaming and find out if Windows is able to recognize it or format it on that computer.

I'm truly hoping it isn't able to so I will have isolated the issue. I'll either RMA this through newegg and have to wait a week, or return it to newegg and buy one from fry's tomorrow.

Or do what I usually do and buy one from fry's, swap the serial number sticker and return the defective one to fry's.
 

sharpnova

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Mainly capacity. I've been using a Vertex 2 120 GB since it was the fastest drive on the market. And I've come to hate how closely I have to monitor what I install.

Also, though I saw all the performance I was promised and my computer matched up perfectly with all the advertisements and benchmarks, for all practical intents and purposes it made little to no difference for my use. And I'm a developer and hardcore gamer.
 

avjguy2362

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Understandable. My first SSD was a 50Gb Vertex 2 (about 38Gb on it) and it worked very well as long as I restarted every other day. It always slowed down even though I had Trim and it had the full 14GB over provisioning. When I got a Samsung 128GB 830, it was no faster, in spite of all the accolades at the time, but it is definitely consistent. I never have to restart to get it back to full speed. I have a 128 GB Kingston HyperX, which is clearly faster moving files, but I fear I will have the same problem over time with the Sandforce controller if I put my OS on it. I am happy with the consistency of the 830 and it is about 75% full.
 

sharpnova

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Will try this right now.
 

sharpnova

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Do you know where I can find the bootable DOS version?

I was able to find a DOS version that is just an exe and a windows version.

I'm going to try just copying the DOS exe to a USB drive that I've made bootable.
 

sharpnova

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Yeah after much googling I'm sorry to say there is no longer any bootable DOS version of WD's diagnostic. Only an executable which is useless for me.

I don't know why WD would discontinue such a useful ISO.
 
Hi

The dlgdiag5.exe in the zip file is meant to be copied to a bootable floppy disk
unfortunately there are not a lot of floppy drives around now days
I am surprised WD have hidden the bootable dos image files and left the floppy version available

I found this link while Googling
http://digiex.net/downloads/download-center-2-0/applications/11427-data-lifeguard-diagnostic-western-digital-drives.html
( I would prefer a link on WD's site for safety)

another link mentioned the Ultimate boot CD project had WD DLG diagnostics on it
(along with diagnostics for several other brands)
The Seagate dos diagnostics will test other brands of hard disk but will not do repairs

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

regards
Mike Barnes