Hard Drive Problems BETA Discussion

Welcome to the land of expectations. Now get the hell out.

This post brobably will NOT solve your problems completely. Use it as a jumping off point.

that said....

Lately I've seen all kinds of problems with hard drives (hard disks-same thing); especially PATA\IDE\EIDE drives. Where's the problem? Depends on the behavior. I have some terms for you to use:

Mount- this means that the drive is not only visible to your system, but it shows up with a formatted volume

format- denotes the filesystem used and how data is written to or read from the drive, also how the drive is mounted or booted

Bootable- this format feature is the sole feature responsible for determining whether or not a drive can start up a computer or system. If this isn't enabled, the hard drive cannot be used to start an operating system (OS), even if that OS has been installed on it.

unformatted- a drive that shows up on the system, but has no formatting or operating system info; brand new drives usually are formatted, and erased drives are unformatted; damaged format info can also show a drive as unformatted

readable- this means that the drive is formatted, and that you have access to any data on it, and for some security styles, that you have permission to read the data

writeable- this means a drive can be written to (any drive can be written to if undamaged)

Cylinder- a physical space on a cylindrical plate in a hard drive that stores information magnetically; see wikipedia.com for details (use hard disk cylinders as the search term)

block- can be a physical or logical chunk of space on a hard disk. see wikipedia for more info

Head- a physical arm that reads or writes data to a drive magnetically

Partition- a logical or software divided storage space; once formatted, a hard drive has a formatted, logical storage space called a partition, and a physical drive can hold more than one partition, but cannot have partitions that take up (collectively or singularly) more space than the drive can hold. Many systems have one physical drive that is split into several partitions, one possibly being invisible to all but the BIOS, in case there is any failure of the main partition (factory default setup). See the documentation on your system to find out how to access this, and for more info, go to wikipedia.com and look up factory default partition, or hidden partition followed by your OS.

I'm a mac user, so permissions are important (also to unix). Windows only needs to be logged in as the owner or administrator of the machine. Unix needs a password when performing any action that requires this type of access unless this eventuality is properly handled by a programmer.

I also dabble in XP and lower versions of Windows. Many utilities exist for these OS'es.

One utility that will enable you to solve a few data loss problems is called Testdisk (search in wikipedia). It will work across platforms, and will at least see most partition types. If you lose data or accidentally reformat or delete a file, this program is quite adept at helping you recover it. However, it is not a catch all. I recommend you use a third party service for sensitive data recovery, so you don't damage the drive or data any further. This is expensive, but can be more effective when physical wear and tear leaves a drive lacking in function. Buying utilities that track deletion and changes in files is also a great way to protect yourself.

If you have an older PATA\IDE\EIDE (PIE) drive, you are probably not taking advantage of SMART programming. SMART is:

Self Monitoring And Reporting Technology, and is built into most ATA or SATA, or eSATA hard disks, and has been included in BIOS chips for a long time. PIE drives, while widely available, cheap, and very compatible, are of an older access design. Newer PIE drives don't often fail, but when they do, the fix can be costly. If more of them came with SMART built into them, that would be an offset cost. Alas, those of us on a budget at the front end sometimes have to bend over and take it in the rear end when it comes to our computers and data.

While there are a multitude of devices for purchase that allow you to forego such extraneous costs, the devices are so expensive that they are only a good buy if you have a lot of drives to worry about. Most people have only one or two.

In the 1.0 I will make note of a device or two, and possibly some software that will allow you to be the hero once in a while. For now, I suggest you start by checking some of the above information.

Typical problems:

Hard drive clicking sound -- possible mechanical wear, backup data and replace drive is recommended

Wont mount, show as available, or boot -- the main file table or record may be damaged or the partition data may be damaged. You will need a utility to recover data and a drive with at least the same amount of space as the damaged drive (1.5x the space is usually the minimum for some utilities that also dredge up deleted files; 2x is recommended, and your OS needs to be able to handle it properly)

Won't whir, show, spin, or mount at all -- the mechanical parts of the drive have failed, use a data recovery lab to get your files, bend over and take it like a real hero. Of course you could have dust in between plates, or even in the motor, but you're better off assuming them dead unless you open the drive to find out (like the vietnam war vet says: "I've seen some things, man, and some stuff!... ...I wouldn't recommend it!" I don't recommend opening the drive).

More later.

Good Morning Dave

The title is reminiscent of Independence Day, when Jeff Goldbloom opens up his laptop on the alien craft. It is the perfect epitome of the comfortable feeling we all want from our computers and mini devices. Unfortunately, while factories and mechanical processes make these items very available, they also make some of them with flaws or defects (that or some idiot business freak tries to save a buck and ends up putting in parts that aren't up to par). We've all seen and heard of it. I can't help you much if you fall into this trap. You're stuck with the manufacturer.

However, even when the manufacturer gets it right, things can still go wrong. Welcome to the future, where the past comes back to haunt you. That's right, stuff happens. Even though we've come a long way, that fact never changes. This is where I come in... ...or rather, this blog. By searching the titles of my entries for keywords, you can view problems I've encountered, and if my luck holds out, the solutions. I regret to inform you, though that I am no geek squad. I am but one man, with a bit of knowledge, and some knowledge about how to obtain more knowledge pertaining to the problems that plague us in this techno-world of ours. That said, any solution you find here is covered under the following disclaimer:

Any solution found here on this site or any site linked, described, or referenced by this site or blog, is only applicable to the author's situation in which it worked, and is provided only as a description of the events that pertained to the author. As such, any application of any solution by a visitor or reader of these solutions or tips to their own problem or situation is the sole responsibility of the visitor or reader, along with any further problems or issues that result. Any physical, emotional, hardware or software damage done by acting on these solutions is the sole responsibility of the visitor or reader who performs the actions. The author makes no claim as to the feasibility of any of these solutions, only that they have been found, researched or tested by the author, found on other sites (the number of sites is 1-4 or more than 4)--the most relevant possibly listed--or read in manuals from manufacturers or reputable source authors (reverse-engineers). Again, this site or blog does not make any claims as to the feasibility, completeness, or accuracy of such materials, as they are provided to aid in research only and are not meant to be the ending thereof, but a starting point or lead for further exploration. Any action taken on such references is therefore the sole responsibility of the reading or visiting party who takes the action, and the authors of this blog, the site, and any site linked or referenced here take absolutely no liability for any damage that may result from that action. The information provided by this blog is freely available at the time of posting, and any costs incurred thereafter are the sole responsibility of the one attempting to procure that information from the direct source author. Any and all costs incurred by any visitor or reader are the sole responsibility of that party, and the author assumes no liability. The author reserves the right to change, alter, add to or remove any post without warning or recall, incurring no liability. Any changes, alterations, redactions, removals, or additions are the sole right of the author, with no incurred liability for any damage done by incomplete information, faulty information, obsolete information, or information that is faulted due to the nature of brand new technology (When there isn't much info available; or some of that information is flawed due to how new the technology is, and the learning curve of those who are trained in that field who provide such information). Every reader and visitor is encouraged to seek out the sources listed, and do their own research and compare the language and descriptions used, so that they may find their own sources by simply learning what search terms to use for different search engines. Any subsequent searches are the sole responsibility of the searching party, and this author assumes no responsibility or liability for any time lost or damage done.

Any damages or time lost as a result of visiting, reading or acting on the information provided by this blog, this site, or any site referenced or linked herein by the author, is the sole responsibility of the external party visiting, reading or acting on that information.

That said, I hope some of this information is helpful.

On a final note, since I wish to be able to provide the latest and best starting points and tips I can, any visitor who finds a broken link, a vague piece of info that needs clarification, or who doesn't understand any of it due to illiteracy with regard to the subject, may e-mail me at my blog address with the following subject headers:

Blogger.com

Zeroes And Ones

zeroesandones-hd2010

Any no-header mail will be trashed. These headers will be sorted by date, and at the end of each week (saturday night), hopefully I will have time to either e-mail you back or simply post on my blog and e-mail all with the update notice and a list of who was answered. Since some labels and titles will be added to or changed, check the version at the end. When I find a problem, the version will be BETA or 0.1 (similar to software convention). When I find a solution, the version goes to 1.0, and new solutions (different than the first) will have a different lead number (the 1 will go to 2--eg 2.0--and so forth), and adjustments to the solutions will change the number to the right of the decimal. They are not exactly chronological with respect to how new they actually are, only with respect to when I find, test or otherwise acquire the information. Anybody with information can e-mail me with site links, or documents or anything they have researched with the subject headings above, but add this to the end: "-info4you" but without the quotes. I can't gaurantee it will make my blog, but if it does, bully for you ( i will make appropriate referrences to you, just provide me with an anonymus handle name to use in order to maintain privacy). I will never ask for personal info. Make sure you use a secure e-mail address and always make sure your info listing is private. I'm not phishing, but some who view this site might be.

As always, there are only 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't. Besides, it might just be an ID-10-T problem. We all find those from time to time.