Damaged Hard Disk

[croatia21]

My HD was very slow lately and it makes strange noises when i install program or game.

I have run Ontrack System Diagnostic.
Here are the results:

Hard Disk 2 [ExcelSto] (44 seconds)
Started at 19:58:45 on 7.6.2006
Ended at 19:59:29 on 7.6.2006
Vendor: ExcelSto
Product: r Technology
Drive number: 1
Bytes per sector: 512
Sectors per track: 63
Number of sectors: 160836480
Number of tracks: 2552960
Capacity (million bytes): 82348
Bus: IDE
Read/Verify Test
Started at 19:58:45 on 7.6.2006
Ended at 19:59:29 on 7.6.2006
Start Sector: 0
Stop Sector: 160836479
Sector Increment: 63
This test failed. This may have been due to
• A defective head or cylinder
• A defective or incomplete low-level format
• A drive failure, either electronic or mechanical
The diagnostic test reported:
Error: SCSIReadVerifySector failed (1117).

Must i know throw my HD away or can i fix it. Does someone knows some tool which can give me more detailed info about the error. I would like to narrow this 3 possible errors.

You probably cannot help me in this forum. Maybe someone knows some other forum where i can ask this question.

[jggimi]

This *is* the wrong forum for pc hardware discussion; we do have a subforum for that.

Meanwhile, take a look at smartmontools (http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/). You'll be able to query your IDE electronics about what it knows.

If the problem is media, and only a limited number of sectors, a reformat should put the failing sectors into the bad sector table. Best to use a so-called "low level" format from the HD vendor rather than MSoft. IDE doesn't really have a low level format, but with disk hardware trouble, it is usually best to use the manufacturer's software.

[croatia21]

Sorry for posting in wrong forum and thank you very much for your help.:thanks:

Smartmontools didnt find any error.
I was trying to get Lifeguard diagnostic for my ExcelStor Technology J680 hard disk. ExcelStor doesnt provide this tool on their page. I have also looked some info in google about ExcelStor but i didnt find anything.
Then i have run Smartmontools again and discovered that my HD is from Western Digital family. I didnt find my type of HD on their page. Western Digital only support hard drives that have WD.... as their first 2 letters.

I didnt have any choice so i have tried with their Lifeguard diagnostic. I have run EXTENDED TEST and this program has found bad sectors. Then i have clicked repair and closed Lifeguard diagnostic. I have also run WRITE ZEROS for my whole drive (this should be low level format).

My HD now doesnt make clicking noises any more and it is much faster then before.
The only problem is that SMART STATUS in my Lifeguard diagnostics is marked as FAIL.
Also Re-allocated sector count is markedas FAIL.

I have added 2 pictures. Maybe you can tell me something about this.

Thank you again for your help. :o

[jggimi]

"Western Digital Family" probably means nothing more than IDE.

I took a look at Excelstor's website -- no downloads -- which is very unusual for a disk drive vendor. But googling found references for an Excelstor software tool called ESTest, which may be what you want.

If you can't find it, I would do as ExcelStor's website recommends, and email their tech support. Googling also showed that their tech support e-mail back software. :)

[croatia21]

Thanks again. :thanks:
I have tried many options but the tool doesnt work properly.

ESTest [/D:xy] [/R] [/L] [/F:x] [/H] [/?]
/D:xy which drive to be tested
x = p or s, p - Primary controller, s - Secondary controller
y = 0 or 1, 0 - Master drive, 1 - Slave drive
if not specified, default to s0
/R Read only, Data on the drive will not be destroyed
/L:XXXX where XXXX is ALL or FAIL
log test result to estest.log, turncate it if one exists
/F:x Try to fix problemetic sector, x could be one of the following:
Y - fix.
N - not to fix.
if not specified, default to /F:Y


It always stops and freezes.
I will send HD to my service provider.