Checkdisk on external HDD fails.

[Kenny]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

I have 2 internal IDE HDD's and an external IcyBox USB2 self powered
enclosure with a Maxtor 160GB 7200RPM HDD in it. The external HDD is
divided into 4x40GB partitions.
Running CHECKDSK on the internal drives is no problem but when I try it on a
partition on the external one it goes through Phase1, Phase 2, sometimes
reaches Phase 3 then hangs and if left PC switches off. Second time it hung
looked at Performance tab in Task Manager and CPU was at 100% and I could
hear CPU fan revving up, obviously CPU was overheating and shutting down.
Looking in Event Viewer there are a large number of disk errors. Properties
says:
"The device,\Device\Harddisk2\D, has a bad block".
Clicking on the MS link tells me:

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 7
Source: Disk
Version: 5.2
Symbolic Name: IO_ERR_BAD_BLOCK
Message: The device, %1, has a bad block.

Explanation
The device has a bad block of memory, which Windows attempted to read.
The data might be missing or corrupted.


User Action
If this event is logged regularly, replace the hard disk drive.



Question is is it the disk itself failing or the electronics on the IcyBox
enclosure, the data on the disk is accessible and readable?
Are there any known problems with this type of external HDD?
The problem only came to light when I tried to merge partitions on external
HDD using Partition Magic and it couldn't be done because of errors..

--

Kenny Cargill

 

[Kenny]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Should add that I have downloaded the Maxtor PowerMax diagnostic program but
it doesn't "see" the external HDD.

--

Kenny Cargill


"Kenny" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:e0TbGh$eFHA.3504@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>I have 2 internal IDE HDD's and an external IcyBox USB2 self powered
>enclosure with a Maxtor 160GB 7200RPM HDD in it. The external HDD is
>divided into 4x40GB partitions.
> Running CHECKDSK on the internal drives is no problem but when I try it on
> a partition on the external one it goes through Phase1, Phase 2, sometimes
> reaches Phase 3 then hangs and if left PC switches off. Second time it
> hung looked at Performance tab in Task Manager and CPU was at 100% and I
> could hear CPU fan revving up, obviously CPU was overheating and shutting
> down.
> Looking in Event Viewer there are a large number of disk errors.
> Properties says:
> "The device,\Device\Harddisk2\D, has a bad block".
> Clicking on the MS link tells me:
>
> Product: Windows Operating System
> ID: 7
> Source: Disk
> Version: 5.2
> Symbolic Name: IO_ERR_BAD_BLOCK
> Message: The device, %1, has a bad block.
>
> Explanation
> The device has a bad block of memory, which Windows attempted to
> read. The data might be missing or corrupted.
>
>
> User Action
> If this event is logged regularly, replace the hard disk drive.
>
>
>
> Question is is it the disk itself failing or the electronics on the IcyBox
> enclosure, the data on the disk is accessible and readable?
> Are there any known problems with this type of external HDD?
> The problem only came to light when I tried to merge partitions on
> external HDD using Partition Magic and it couldn't be done because of
> errors..
>
> --
>
> Kenny Cargill
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 16:50:29 +0100, "Kenny" <me@privacy.net> wrote:

>I have 2 internal IDE HDD's and an external IcyBox USB2 self powered
>enclosure with a Maxtor 160GB 7200RPM HDD in it. The external HDD is
>divided into 4x40GB partitions.
>Running CHECKDSK on the internal drives is no problem but when I try it on a
>partition on the external one it goes through Phase1, Phase 2, sometimes
>reaches Phase 3 then hangs and if left PC switches off. Second time it hung
>looked at Performance tab in Task Manager and CPU was at 100% and I could
>hear CPU fan revving up, obviously CPU was overheating and shutting down.

When a drive has problems in an external USB box, it's sometimes the
drive, sometimes the master/slave jumpers, sometimes the USB port
hardware on the computer side, and sometimes the USB chipset in the
external case.

First, check to make sure the drive jumpers are set to 'master.'
Often cable-select will work. WD drives are peculiar in that many
need to have the jumpers completely removed if the drive is alone on a
cable, but I don't know of any similar constraint with Maxtor.

Next logical step may be to eliminate variables by pulling the drive
from the USB enclosure and running it inside your system. If checkdsk
is still having trouble, offload your important data quickly. The
drive is probably done for.

If the drive works inside your system, then check the USB box's
chipset. The best current chipset, IMO, is Cypress. Tested on 400gb
drives. I use many of these and they rarely drop offline. I've even
had trouble with Maxtor's own enclosures in that respect.

Enclosures using Cypress are not that difficult to find:
Outpost 'Metal Gear.' No fan. http://tinyurl.com/7zj44
USMicorlab. No fan. http://tinyurl.com/a3fdb
USMicrolab, dual fan. Check chipsets: http://tinyurl.com/bmufm

The former two have lights around the outside. For the Lan-party
doodz, I guess. They're not too distracting, and the aluminum cases
help to sink heat.

Adaptors: I try to avoid generic USB adaptors and normally use
Adaptec, but I think that again, the key is the chipset. NEC's USB
chips seem to do OK. It's tough to gauge. I will say that my Adaptec
USB controllers will often fail to power up a USB-powered external
notebook-type drive/case. My notebooks do it with no problem.

Anyway, try another USB adaptor or reload your drivers.

Drives: I've had a run of bad luck with Maxtor drives lately. Lots
of failures. I've switched to Seagate with good luck so far. Their 5
year warranty is a plus.

The 100% CPU load problem is odd. It's tough to say what's causing
that. Maybe driver-related.

Please check back with what you find.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 17:42:06 +0100, "Kenny" <me@privacy.net> wrote:

>Should add that I have downloaded the Maxtor PowerMax diagnostic program but
>it doesn't "see" the external HDD.

I've never had any luck with that program. It seems primitive and
crash-prone.

Still, if you want to try it, you could pull your drive from the USB
case and install it in your main enclosure.