WD2000JB Dies from PinnacleStudio9

[Pavelow]

My Western Digital 200gb EIDE/ATA Caviar was damaged/corrupted by Pinnacle Studio 9 when the software tried to do a speed test on the HDD. Every time it tried to perform the speed test (to use as video capture) the software locked up. Only way to recover was a hard power down. After 4 tries the corrupted data or damaged sectors got progressively worse until the boot sector warned of a bad drive. I had just installed the drive two weeks ago and it was running fine through Win Explorer and storing files. Jumpered correctly and using the original (not the new) IDE cable because of Dell length requirements.

Exchanged the WD HDD for another at the local office store. Loaded the new drive and PASSED at BIOS diagnostics, WinXP analysis, and WesternDigital Online Tools. Decided to try Pinnacle Studio again...locked up. BIOS diagnostics registered FAILED for brand new drive. So did all the other tests.

Ran everything I could to try to recover bad sectors. No dice. On a lark, I decided to copy about 20gb worth of stuff to the slave WD 200gb. Guess what? It now registers PASS. Writing to the sectors either fixed them or masked them from the diagnostics.

The folks at Pinnacle don't have an answer for me. I have one more week before I have to decide to get my money back on Pinnacle MovieBox Deluxe and Studio 9.

Any ideas why the Pinnacle speed test would freeze up on accessing my slave drive? I already know the dangers of hard power downs.


Pavelow

Dell 8250, i850e 4xAGP 2.4ghzCPU 512mbPC1066RDRAM 120gb & 200gbATA
GeF4MX420 SBL5.1 SamSung48xCDRW LiteOn851SDVDRW
RJ-45 to Compaq 9660, 233mhzCPU 104mbFPRAM 12mbVoodoo2 Win95a

 

[_WW_]

No idea on the software problem. I have had some wierd experience with WD drives...the diagnostic tool would report failure coming and bad sectors and then after doing a format it would test out okay. It was still under warranty so I returned it anyway, but I've always suspected I sent them a perfectly good drive...

....WW (5.0)

 

[jim552]

I have never used Pinnacle v9.x.

While there may indeed be software problems or conflicts with the Pinnacle software, I don't think it is likley these issuse are manifesting themselves as a physical problem.

 

[Pavelow]

Update:

I performed a diagnostic from WD via floppy boot up. Said my IDE cable was FAILED. So, I replaced it with the one that came with the drive. Still showed FAILED after boot up.

Well, I took a chance on Studio9 software again. But this time I set the drive to Cache to Windows. Guess what, Studio9 didn't lock up this time and it tested the READ at 56,300mb/sec but WRITE was less then 6000mb/sec. So, I went back into the properties and set the Cache to Drive and tested again. Voila. The drive tested at 57,680mb/sec.

The WD diagnostics are still showing IDE cable FAILED even though the BIOS diagnostics shows the Drive PASSED on boot. But the drive is working fine when capturing videos for Studio9. I've written over 100gb to the drive without a hitch.

Go figure.

Pavelow

Dell 8250, i850e 4xAGP 2.4ghzCPU 512mbPC1066RDRAM 120gb & 200gbATA
GeF4MX420 SBL5.1 SamSung48xCDRW LiteOn851SDVDRW
RJ-45 to Compaq 9660, 233mhzCPU 104mbFPRAM 12mbVoodoo2 Win95a