Another HD bites the dust

[Tom]

BTW Ned, you probably noticed that white paper was a pdf file and I didn't complain. While reading that paper I realized what's been causing my aversion to the format all this time. From my years of reading technical articles & journals, specs, contracts and anything I could lay my hands on, in addition to years of analyzing volumes of data and immediately turning it into useful information, I'd (subconsciously) developed a parallel processing method of reading:

I have the ability to quickly scan a document without actually reading it and pick out the salient points. But I also like to delve into and understand the details, so I'll also read the dots off the page. Obviously, I only do this with documents I have an interest in or a need to understand the details.

I realized last evening, while reading that white paper, that I subconsciously do both at the same time. So, while I'm reading the details line by line, I'm also scanning way ahead. Don't ask me how I do this, it just seems to happen, but I used to use it to my advantage while working. But, when reading a pdf document, I've always used the elevator to do my way-ahead scanning and, when I do that, the top of the next page jumps to the top of my screen. This obviously interrupts my line-by-line reading and is distracting in other ways. Last evening I discovered that I could move smoothly down the pdf document using my trackball without those annoying jumps to next top of page.

Not quite the same as reading a paper document, but it made me a little more forgiving of pdf  ;D

 

[Tom]

OK thanks Ron. The Maxtor also has both USB and firewire and the 1-button backup. Of course, Seagate bought a number of the drive companies, so brand names are disappearing.

 

[Ned]

Tom,

The Adobe reader has a number of options to give you control over reading PDF files.? If the document is constructed correctly, I like to use the page images to navigate.? Clickable bookmarks also simplify the reading process.  I almost never use the scroll bars to navigate, the mouse wheel works so much smoother.  Also, in the reader, you can left click and hold the button down and scroll the page.

I did a Google search on partition table repair and came up with a couple of programs that claim to be able to repair a damages partition table.? http://www.ptdd.com/ptdmoreinfo.htm is one that shows promise but it's $49.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Ned, I'll check it out.

 

[Karl]

Tom,

Another thing you can try: Boot up and go into the system bios. In the hardware device configuration, it will list your HD's. Select the drive that's not working (it will be set to "auto"), and manually enter the cylinders, heads, sectors information from the label on the HD. That MAY allow your recovery program to see it properly. No guarantees; but you can't screw anything up either.

Good Luck!

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the suggestion Karl. Hadn't thought of doing that. The label doesn't have the info, but I guess I could input the numbers that SpinRite is reporting. For whatever reason, I can't get the PC to boot to the BIOS/Diags screens. I'll try again later, but thanks again for the suggestion.

 

[Karl]

Tom, try a power-off boot and hold down the delete key. Some systems are particular about which delete key you use.

 

[Tom]

Just a follow-up note to close this topic.

Karl - I finally got to the bios settings, but was unable to change the cylinders and heads to anything that came close to matching the drive.

As a last resort, I tried looking at the drive with Partition Magic. It reported an error in the partition table and gave me the option to fix it, but my excitement was short lived. PM fixed something, but nothing that helped.

Since SpinRite didn't help, I requested and promptly received a refund from Gibson Research. They really do stand behind their "no questions asked refund policy".

Meanwhile, I've given up hope of reviving the drive and it's now gathering dust on my bookshelf along with other dead drives. They serve as a reminder that, despite all the claims of high reliability (MTBF or however you want to measure it), hard drives do fail even when given TLC. Maybe if I still had access to the drive lab we used to have, I might have been able to get one of the drive experts to help fix it. Then again, maybe it was not fixable.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful suggestions.

 

[Ned]

Enough dead drives and you can build a fish reef