Barracuda XT, Barracuda, Barracuda Green, DiamondMax and other desktop SATA and IDE drives

[idiotghost]

Thanks Hugh.R for your observations and suggestions.

I had Installed PQ Partition Magic and Data Keeper this week, only to remove it the very next day as it was blocking my net access. As soon I removed them, my net was back and running like before. God knows why it hampered my net connection. Also after installation of these 2 and when I shut down my PC, it gave some error message but before I could read that, my PC shut down completely. This message never came back after the uninstallation of these things. Also I NEVER used these 2 softwares on the PC to do anything. They were there for only 24 hours and then removed. I'm not sure but are these 2 softwares a possible culprit for my drive going bad???

Also I'll run Seatools after I recover eveything.

I read many forums on the net regarding the same problem and message I got for the drive failure & inspite of this being prevalent problem, hardly anybody has a concrete solution!! Its all testing and rectifying the problem and if nothing works, replace the drive.

Feedbacks and suggestions, gladly would be welcome.

Thanks.

[fzabkar]

You can get a detailed S.M.A.R.T. report using a tool such as HD Sentinel:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/
 
Look for Reallocated Sectors. A large raw value indicates a problem.

Barracuda 7200.10 Serial ATA Product Manual:

http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/disc/manuals/desktop/Barracuda%207200.10/100402371f.pdf

Page 46 shows the 3.0/1.5 Gbps jumper.

[idiotghost]

Thanks Fzabkar for the suggestions.

By crash Management tools, I actually meant tools like HD Sentinel and its clones. But what do you suggest: running Seatools or HD Sentinel or both?

Also does HD Sentinel repair the problem or just gives analysis of the problem?

Also I saw the jumper settings from one of your previous posts on somebody's elses thread. If I get the new replaced drive, I'll make it run on SATA 150 using a jumper to be on a safer side inspite of Intel 915 GV supporting auto-negotiation. There has to be some corelation on two SATA 2 drives failing in such a short time while being used along with a SATA 1 drive.

Message Edited by idiotghost on 05-21-2009 02:32 PM

[fzabkar]

HD Sentinel gives you a detailed report but doesn't fix anything.

SeaTools gives you a pass or fail indication. A failure in SeaTools entitles you to a warranty replacement.

For example, HD Sentinel may tell you that the drive has 1000 reallocated sectors, while SeaTools will tell you that the drive has passed.

[graham.k]

> it shows nicely in "My Computer" as well, but nothing more then that

So you can't see any files on it? This might indicate a problem with the drive, but it could also be a software issue.

>  if you connect a SATA 2 drive, the motherboard will make it work on a SATA 1 basis

Correct

> I plan to recover all the data before running Seatools

Good

> how do I access the BIOS settings and also how to upgrade it?

Check your motherboard manual, or your system manual.

> A brand new drive failing for no reason is simply not acceptable

It sucks, but it happens sometimes, and not just to Seagate drives. This is one reason why everyone will tell you that you always need backups: you can't predict when a drive will fail.