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| | | | FAQ Revisions | Editors: Cariad  , vkr , dragon , dbmaven
Last modified on 2008-05-05 11:15:42
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4.7 Harddrives·Common HardDrive Failure Noises
·How to add a Hard Drive
·Data Recovery Centers
·What is RAID?
·RAID explained at Anandtech.com?
·Why does my 15g drive get reported as 13.9g?
·What is ATA?
·What is S.M.A.R.T.?
·Hard Drive Profile, Bootstrap/MBR, Partitioning, and Drive Assignments.
·Hard Drive Diagnostic Tools
·How do hard drives work?
·Why does my hard drive size not appear correctly?
| | | The following are wav files.
•Click of death on start-up - This occurs at start up, where the drive attempts to align to the start of the disk and read the drive profile and Master Boot Record/Bootstrap/Boot Sector.
•Bad Head during use - Head failure during use, sometimes cause by a bad spot on disk.
•Bad Head
•Head Crash - Head failure, caused by the head coming into contact with the disk.
•Head Phaser Blast - Head failure, caused by the head getting stuck to the disk.
•Bad Spindle Bearings/Motor - Spindle failure, caused by spindle motor or bearings.
All sounds contributed by vkr
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by Cariad edited by vkr | | | Requirements
1. IDE Cable.
•40 Pin, 40 conductor cable for U/33 (PIO Mode 4).
• Or 40 Pin, 80 conductor cable for U/66/100 (PIO Mode 5+).
2.Controller card or On Board IDE Controller.
Handling
•Do not drop.
•Do not open the ESD bag, until ready.
•Do not handle excessively.
•Do not "Press" on the top or bottom of the drive.
•Do not touch the connectors, exposed circuit board or any electronic components.
•Only handle by the sides.
•Before handling the drive, discharge any static electricity from you by touching any unpainted surface of your computer chassis. (Preferable use a wrist grounding strap)
Considerations
1. IDE Controller.
• One IDE Controller can have two channels.
• Each Channel can have two Hard Drives/devices.
• A standard Controller will usually be equipped with 2 channels, so it can have 4 devices.
• The first channel is the Primary Channel called IDE-0.
• The second channel is the Secondary Channel called IDE-1.
• The first device will be the Master Device-0.
• The second device will be the Slave Device-1.
2. IDE Channel.
• Do not place a Hard Drive on the same channel as a CDROM, CDR, or CDRW. The interface for the entire channel may be reduced to that of the slowest device.
3. Installation.
•Make sure you have an available slot to install the drive in the case.
•Make sure you have an available device setting on a channel.
Installation Procedure
1. Turn off your computer.
2. Remove the cover as instructed by your computer manual.
3. Discharge static electricity previously mentioned in the "Handling Instructions".
4. Unplug your computer.
5. Note mounting position of existing drive(s) and cables.
• If replacing a drive or cable, then remove it.
6. Remove the drive from the ESD bag.
7. Record model number, part number, and serial number for future reference.
8. Set the jumper. (Follow manufacture recommendations)
• If it will be the only drive on the channel set to Master or Single Master.
• If it will be a Master drive with a Slave drive set to Master.
• If it will be a Slave drive set to Slave.
9. Attach the IDE cable.
• If this is a 40 pin 40 conductor, then attach the system connector of the cable to the IDE port/channel on the mainboard or controller card. The system connector is the connector at other end from the other two connectors.
• If you have a 40 pin 80 conductor cable, then attach the drive to the appropriate color coded connector.
• 1. Master is a black connector.
• 2. Slave is a gray connector.
• 3. System connector is a blue connector.
10. Attach the power supply cable to the Hard Drive. Match the connector bevels.
11. Mount the drive securely, using 4 screws.
12. Verify all attachments.
13. Replace the computer cover.
14. plug in your computer.
15. Insert the Hard Drive Manufactures utility disk or OS setup disk.
16. Power up the computer.
17. Go into the BIOS and ensure it has been detected. Preferable set all IDE connections to auto.
18. Save your BIOS settings and exit.
19. Boot up into the Hard Drive Manufactures utility or OS setup disk.
• Follow the Hard Drive Manufactures utility to test and prepare the drive for use.
• For information on setting up a disk using FAT16/FAT32, go here for information on FDISK .
At this point the drive is ready an available for use.
If you set this drive up as an additional drive to your existing OS, then you can boot into that OS and begin using the drive.
If this will become a Windows boot disk, you can now start your Windows installation.
Notes
Document Revision 1.
This is a evolving document, subject to change.
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by vkr edited by dbmaven
last modified: 2004-06-06 20:40:42 | | | In the event a Hard Drive is unreadable and it is critical to retrieve the data or as much of it as possible, then there are Data Recovery Centers that can assist you.
North America
Action Front: Data Recovery Labs
(800) 563-1167
(416) 510-6990
(800) 563-6979 FAX
Data Mechanix
(800) 886-2231
(949) 263-0994
(949) 263-1549 FAX
email: help@datamechanix.com
DriveSavers
(800) 440-1904
(415) 382-2000
(415) 883-0780 FAX
Ontrack Data Recovery Services
(800) 752-7557
(714) 641-0530
(714) 641-1543 FAX
Reynolds Data Recovery
(800) 223-7483
(303) 776-7110
(303) 776-7277 FAX
email: reynolds@data-recovery.com
Total Recall
(800) 743-0594
(719) 495-8600
email: experts@totalrecall.com
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by vkr edited by dbmaven
last modified: 2004-02-07 20:36:49 | | | RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) Primer
RAID 0 - Data Striping
RAID 0 allows a number of disk drives to be combined and presented as one large disk. RAID 0 does not provide any data redundancy - if one drive fails, all data is lost.
Access Time Very Good
Transfer Rate Good
Redundancy None
Cost Per Megabyte None
Penalty
Applications Large disk requirements, high performance databases
RAID 1 - Disk Mirroring/Disk Duplexing
RAID 1 mirrors (shadows) one disk drive to another. All data is stored twice on two or more identical disk drives.
When one disk drive fails, all data is immediately available on the other without any impact on the data integrity -performance in degraded mode is also degraded. Performance is gained by splitting of functions. If multiple read requests are pending, the RAID controller will allows reads from different disk drives. If one disk is busy writing the other disk drive can supply read data, at a later time. The RAID controller will update the read drive with data from the already written disk drive.
If each disk drive is connected with a separate SCSI channel, this is called "Disk Duplexing" (additional security and performance). RAID 1 represents a simple
and highly efficient solution for data security and system availability. Use RAID 1 when large volumes of data are not required.
Access Time Very Good
Transfer Rate Good
Redundancy Yes
Cost Per Megabyte 100% or more
Penalty
Applications Small disk capacities that require redundancy
RAID 0 + 1 - Combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0
The idea behind RAID 0+1 is simply based on the combination of RAID 0 (Performance) and RAID 1 (Data Security). RAID 0+1 disk sets offer good performance and data security. Similar as in RAID 0, optimum performance is achieved in highly sequential load situations.
The major draw back is a 100% "Cost Per Megabyte Penalty".
Access Time Very Good
Transfer Rate Good
Redundancy Yes
Cost Per Megabyte 100%
Penalty
Applications Multiuser environments, database servers, file serving, web site hosting.
RAID 3 Data Bit Striping With a Dedicated Parity Drive
The data is striped at a byte/bit level across the disk drives.
Additionally, the controller calculates parity information which is stored on a separate disk drive (aP, bP, ...). Even when one disk drive fails, all data is fully available. The missing data can be recalculated from the data still available and the parity information.
This data calculation can also be used to restore data to a replaced defective disk. Because the data must be presented at the same time, the disk drive spindles must be synchronized for RAID 3 to be effective. This represents a practical implementation problem for RAID 3.
Many RAID controller manufacturers are moving to a RAID 4 solution or using the term RAID 3 merely as a recognized marketing term for high data transfer capability.
Access Time Good
Transfer Rate Very Good
Redundancy Yes
Cost Per Megabyte Varies. 5 drive set = 20%, 6 drive set = 17%, 10 drive set = 10%
Penalty
Applications Imaging, geological, seismological, video
RAID 4 - Data Striping With a Dedicated Parity Drive
RAID 4 works just like RAID 0. The data is striped across disk drives. Additionally, the controller calculates parity information which is stored on a separate disk drive (P1, P2, ...). Even when one disk drive fails, all data is fully available. The missing data can be recalculated from the data still available and the parity information. This data calculation can also be used to restore data to replaced defective disk. RAID 4 offers excellent transfer rates when used with large contiguous blocks of data. When used with with many small data blocks, the parity disk drive becomes a throughput bottle-neck because of it's fixed position.A RAID 4 disk set can only lose one disk from it's RAID set. Loosing another disk drive, before a replacement is restored, will loose all data in the RAID set.
Access Time Good
Transfer Rate Very Good
Redundancy Yes
Cost Per Megabyte Varies. 5 drive set = 20%, 6 drive set = 17%, 10 drive set = 10%
Penalty
Applications Imaging, geological, seismological, video
RAID 5 - Data Striping with Striped Parity
The data is striped across disk drives. Unlike RAID 4, the parity data in a RAID 5 set is striped across all disk drives. RAID 5 is designed to handle small data blocks. This makes RAID 5 the level of choice for multitasking, multiuser and database environments.
RAID 5 offers the same level of security as RAID 4: when one disk drive fails, all data is fully available, the missing data is recalculated from the data still available and the parity information. This data calculation can also be used to restore data to replaced defective disks. RAID 5 is particularly suited for systems with medium to large capacity requirements, with their "Cost Per Megabyte Penalty" is relatively low. A RAID 5 disk set can only lose one disk from it's RAID set. Loosing another disk drive, before a replacement is restored, will loose all data in the RAID set.
Access Time Very Good
Transfer Rate Good
Redundancy Yes
Cost Per Megabyte Varies. 5 drive set = 20%, 6 drive set = 17%, 10 drive set = 10%
Penalty
Applications Multiuser environments, database servers, file serving, web site hosting
JBOD - Just a Bunch Of DiskS
An allowance was made by virtually all RAID control manufacturers for adding a single disk inder
the RAID controller that would not be a part of any RAID Set. A "JBOD" disk drive appears to the host as an add-on disk drive. Using JBODs is a convenient way of adding quick storage. If a JBOD disk drive breaks all data is lost.
Access Time Good
Transfer Rate Good
Redundancy No
Cost Per Megabyte None
Penalty
Applications Quick increase in capacity
reference
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by Awgeewhiz edited by vkr
last modified: 2002-05-23 23:30:10 | | | Raid explained at Anandtech.com.
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by vkr
last modified: 2002-05-23 23:24:30 | | | Hard Drive manufacturers in general, define a gigabyte (abbreviated as GB) as 1 billion bytes (1,000,000,000 bytes).
Operating Systems and software utilities define a gigabyte as 1,073,741,824 bytes, which is based on an earlier way of measuring hard drive capacity. This method measures a kilobyte as 1,024 bytes rather than 1,000.
In like manner a megabyte is reported as having 1,024 X 1,024 bytes (1,048,576 bytes) rather than 1,000,000 bytes and a gigabyte as having 1,073,741,824 bytes.
Therefore a drive with a capacity of 9.1GB (or 9,100,000,000 bytes) on the label will have 7.37% less capacity when expressed in Gigabytes, 4.86% less capacity when expressed in Megabytes, or 2.4% less capacity when expressed in Kilobytes. For example:
9,100,000,000 decimal bytes divided by 1.048576 equals 8,678.436+ binary Kilobytes, equivalent to 8.67 MB.
Also see this 2008 thread.
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by vkr edited by dbmaven
last modified: 2008-05-05 11:15:42 | | | Short for Advanced Technology Attachment, a disk drive implementation that integrates the controller on the disk drive itself. There are several versions of ATA, all developed by the Small Form Factor (SFF) Committee:
reference
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by redxii edited by dragon
last modified: 2005-04-23 15:31:46 | | | S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. A hard disk's integrated controller works with various sensors to monitor several aspects of the drive's performance, determines from this information if the drive is behaving normally or not, and makes available status information to software that probes the drive and look at it.
Much more detail can be found here:
PCGuide on SMART
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by dbmaven
last modified: 2002-10-22 20:45:07 | | | Hard Drive Profile
A Hard Drive Profile defines the "Logical" organization of the drive for use at the OS level. This is read first.
Bootstrap/Master Boot Record/Boot Sector
• Each Hard Drive contains a bootstrap at the beginning of the customer usable area. It's location is always at the beginning of the drive. The way it's location is represented and what it is called depends on the OS.
•In the case of DOS/Windows, it is called the Master Boot Record or Boot Sector and can be found at the first sector of the disk (cylinder 0, side 0, sector 1). The partition table is located at offset 01BE, containing up to four 16-byte entries. The fourth byte of each partition table entry is used to mark the partition type.
•A bootstrap/MBR will contain a header, Boot Loader program, and Partition Table.
•Boot Sector Viruses, will replace the Boot Loader with their program to ensure they are loaded first. Frequently, they damage the bootstrap/MBR in some manor, requiring the bootstrap/MBR be recreated to remove the virus.
DOS/Windows 95A/95B(OSR2)/98/98SE/ME Partition TablePartition Type Fdisk Reports Size Fat type Starting in V ersion
01 PRI Dos 00MB-15MB 12-Bit MS-DOS 2.0
04 PRI Dos 16MB-32MB 16-Bit MS DOS 3.0
05 EXT DOS 00MB-02GB N/A MS-DOS 3.3
06 PRI DOS 32MB-02GB 16-bit MS-DOS 4
OE PRI DOS 32MB-02GB 16-bit Win95
OF EXT DOS 00MB-02GB N/A Win95
OB PRI DOS 512MB-02TB 32-bit OSR2
OC EXT DOS 512MB-02TB 32-bit OSR2
Types 0E, 0F, and 0C require extended Int13 support.
File System types.
•Windows 95A/95B(OSR2)/98/98SE/ME Fat16
•Windows 95B(OSR2)/98/98SE/ME FAT32. The one downside of FAT32 is the larger cluster size. Each file will be assigned one cluster even if it is not fully utilized. So, if your file is 1K, but you cluster is 8K, then 7K is wasted. You can get around this issue by using the DOS Format command using the /z: hidden option and specify how many sectors to assign to a cluster. If you use format d: /z:4 then four 512 byte sectors will be arranged per cluster for a total cluster size of 2K.
•Overview of FAT, HPFS, and NTFS File Systems.
Drive Assignment
•MS-DOS/Windows assigns drive letters to the first two physical floppy disk drives and hard disk drives it finds at boot time in a fixed sequence, including multiple partitions and logical drives on the hard disks. You cannot change this sequence.
•The following occurs at startup:
•MS-DOS checks all installed disk devices, assigning the drive letter A to the first physical floppy disk drive that is found.
•If a second physical floppy disk drive is present, it is assigned drive letter B.
•MS-DOS then assigns the drive letter C to the primary MS-DOS partition on the first physical hard disk.
•If a second physical hard disk is found, and a primary partition exists on the second physical drive, the primary MS-DOS partition on the second physical hard drive is assigned the letter D.
•MS-DOS/Windows will continue to search for more physical hard disk drives at this point and if a third physical hard disk is found with a primary partition it will be assigned to the letter E.
•After all Drives have been searched for a Primary Partition, MS-DOS will return to the first physical hard disk drive and assigns drive letters to any additional logical drives (in extended MS-DOS partitions) on that drive in sequence.
Example 1
Drive 1:
C: 20 MB primary MS-DOS partition
E: 20 MB logical drive 1 in extended MS-DOS partition
Drive 2:
D: 20 MB primary MS-DOS partition
F: 20 MB logical drive 1 in extended MS-DOS partition
Example 2
Drive 1:
C: 20 MB primary MS-DOS partition
D: 20 MB logical drive 1 in extended MS-DOS partition
Drive 2:
E: 20 MB logical drive 1 in extended MS-DOS partition
F: 20 MB logical drive 2 in extended MS-DOS partition
Example 3
Drive 1:
C: 10 MB primary MS-DOS partition
E: 10 MB logical drive 1 in extended MS-DOS partition
F: 10 MB logical drive 2 in extended MS-DOS partition
G: 10 MB logical drive 3 in extended MS-DOS partition
Drive 2:
D: 10 MB primary MS-DOS partition
H: 10 MB logical drive 1 in extended MS-DOS partition
I: 10 MB logical drive 2 in extended MS-DOS partition
J: 10 MB logical drive 3 in extended MS-DOS partition
Requirements
1. Hard Drive.
2. Access to a MS-DOS Command prompt.
3. Access to the command fdisk (By default can be found in c:\windows\commands).
4. Preferably a boot floppy disk, with the usual assortment of commands, such as fdisk, format, and ....
Considerations
1. If this is the Primary Master Bootable hard Drive, you will need to create a Primary Partition for the Operating System.
2. If this is not the Primary Master Bootable Hard Drive, consider creating an Extended PartitIon with Logical Drives within it. This will allow all Drive Assignments to remain in order.
3. What type of file system do you want to use? You can use either the FAT16 or the FAT32 File Systems.
4. Consider if you want to maintain separate partitions for the Windows OS and your Data. There are several schools of thought and it's pretty much your preference.
• One Partition for everything, may be a little less maintenance. It has drawbacks when you have to upgrade or fix Windows, since your data will have to be saved to a different media first.
• Two Partitions, one for Windows and one for your data. May be a little confusing to some, since your data will reside in an extended partition on a logical drive as D:. It has a benefit by increasing your options if you have to upgrade or fix Windows, since your data resides in a different partition.
Partitioning
MS KB #255867 - Monster KB on partitioning for Win95->WinME
MS KB #313348 - Partitioning In Windows XP
Summary on DOS/Win95/Win98 Partitioning
Overview of FAT, HPFS, and NTFS File Systems
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by vkr edited by dbmaven
last modified: 2003-09-10 16:16:04 | | | Here are links for downloading software to diagnose problems with most hard drives.
Western Digital Data Lifeguard
Maxtor Powermax
Maxtor SCSIMax
Also, remember that MAXTOR now owns/supports QUANTUM drives
Seagate SeaTools
IBM (now HITACHI) Drive Fitness Test
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by Phoneman63 edited by dbmaven
last modified: 2003-12-11 22:01:40 | | |
A basic look at the mechanics: How Hard Disks Work.
A guide to the terminology: A Hard Drive Glossary.
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by climbers edited by dbmaven
last modified: 2004-10-16 22:38:00 | | | This seems to come up all too frequently.
Hard drive manufacturers "advertise" their drives as xxxGB - but what it really is: xxx,000,000,000 BYTES!
So, if we use 500GB as an example, you need to realize that 1 KB = 1024 bytes. Divide it properly, and you'll see that 500GB is really ~465GB (500,000,000,000/1024/1024/1024).
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by 3SGTE edited by dbmaven
last modified: 2008-03-21 16:48:18 |
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