Dead Hard Disk?

[newbie]

Model: Deskstar 20GB 60GXP

Symptom 1: Sometimes detectable on boot, sometimes not.

Symptom 2: Error messages ->
Primary Master Disk failed
A Disk Read Error Occurred, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

I tried to access the hard drive through another OS, it says unable to access the hard disk.

Does this mean this disk is dead? It's only been little more than 3 months... sigh~ bought it brand new too...

 

[slickstaa]

sounds like it could be a bad drive, however, try format /u to totally reformat it. Also, you might want to try a program like spinrite

 

[btvillarin]

To do a total reformat, you should really use IBM's Drive Fitness Test. You can download from IBM's website for free. Run a thorough test to see if there are errors.

If there aren't any, you should do an Erase Disk (under the same utility). It's the equivalent of a Low Level Format. This erases all the data on your disk from the physical standpoint, and changes them to zeroes. (Something like that...someone else can elaborate for me.)

I'm going to be jumping ahead, but this is to get you thinking if you have a bad hard drive...

If there are, you'll probably be able to get it RMA'd. Although I haven't had problems with my 120GXP replacement from a dead 75GXP, I would sell it on eBay or something, and switch to a Maxtor D740X Quiet Drive. Those are pretty sweet...

<font color=red><A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - My Windows XP-based Website</font color=red>

 

[newbie]

I just used IBM's Drive Fitness Test program, it reported that some sectors are corrupted, tried to repair it, didn't work, so I did a Erase Disk and reinstalled XP on it, now most of the time the system can detect the hard drive and it works fine, very few times that the system doesn't detect it... which I think it's still a bad drive. Now I have a bad drive that can not be returned to IBM (they'll just say it works perfectly...) and will break down whenever it feels like it...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume this could happen again because it all happened on not being able to detect the drive first, then error messages, then finally dead...
What do you think???

 

[Ncogneto]

Try setting in bios your ide pre-delay to 3 to 6 seconds. This will allow the drive a few more seconds to "spin" up and be detected by the board before it trys to post.

It's not what they tell you, its what they don't tell you!

 

[newbie]

Let me look for that option...
thanks

 

[btvillarin]

Yeah, I feel that it can only get worse. Who knows how much time it has left...

Try Ncogneto's suggestion, because I have never of that one before. Also, you can call up IBM and tell them of your predicament. Explain how you don't want to have it die on you while you're doing something of importance, so they better replace it or else...

If they don't allow you to replace it, is there a possiblity to get a hard drive cooler for it? Those series of hard drives have had some stats showing that heat was a cause of premature failure. So, I'd recommend that to prolong its life until you can get a replacement for it, or a completely new one.

<font color=red><A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - My Windows XP-based Website</font color=red>

 

[newbie]

I can't find that option... help please.

 

[cakecake]

Hard drive coolers in the past haven't been very useful.. I checked them out a long time ago so I don't know what they're like now. Make sure they don't disrupt the airflow...