Testing hard drive(s) for errors

[Sasqui]

So I'm helping someone who's RAID 1 failed on a Dell E510. There's two 160GB Seagate SATA barracudas - the dell won't boot and this machine has a hitsory of RAID problems (like needing to be rebuilt weekly).

I plugged both of the drives into my machine one by one, and was able to save potentially lost data (yea!). I found a few corrupt folders on one drive. The other drive seemed intact and had a whole directory of MP3's that could not be found on the first one.

So... I want to check the drives first for bad sectors and errors.

Question is what utility would be the best to stress the drives and check for bad sectors, faults, etc. (yes, I'm aware of chkdsk :)). It's been a while!

Any suggestions?

[wiak]

try run HD Tune's error scan
and meybe check the s.m.a.r.t status to
http://hdtune.com/

[Sasqui]

I also found this (God I'm lazy sometimes! LOL):

"SeaTools for Windows
SeaTools for Windows has replaced SeaTools Online and PowerMax. SeaTools for Windows is a comprehensive, easy-to-use diagnostic tool that helps you quickly determine the condition of the disc drive in your external hard drive, desktop or notebook computer. It includes several tests that will examine the physical media on your Seagate or Maxtor disc drive and any other non-Seagate disc drive.

SeaTools for Windows tests USB, 1394, ATA (PATA/IDE), SATA and SCSI drives. It installs onto your system. SeaTools for Windows is completely data safe."

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

[ktr]

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.01.22-HDDScan/

HDDscan does a sector scan, smart reading, and does graph the hdd's performance.

[wiak]

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.01.22-HDDScan/

HDDscan does a sector scan, smart reading, and does graph the hdd's performance.
same does HD Tune, check error scan, benchmarks the drive etc ;)

[ktr]

same does HD Tune, check error scan, benchmarks the drive etc ;)

but you have to install it ;)

[Sasqui]

So... the lesson here is NEVER BUY a DELL

I'm going to put the drives through the paces, if they are OK, it's the contoller that is faulty.

[DanTheBanjoman]

I prefer DFT (drive fitness test), however seeing how you lost data either both drives have issues or the controller itself does. The whole purpose of RAID1 is to keep data safe from a single drive failing.

Besides, any decent RAID controller would tell you what drive fails in the log.

[Sasqui]

I prefer DFT (drive fitness test), however seeing how you lost data either both drives have issues or the controller itself does. The whole purpose of RAID1 is to keep data safe from a single drive failing.

Besides, any decent RAID controller would tell you what drive fails in the log.

The owner of the puter is a novice... plus I was leary of the drive controller.

I checked out DFT and could only find a version that needs a bootable floppy.

I'm running seatools in windows and it's already found problems on the first one - that is even after CHKDSK. We will see - TWO Seagate barracuda drives failing in less than a year?

[DanTheBanjoman]

The owner of the puter is a novice... plus I was leary of the drive controller.

I checked out DFT and could only find a version that needs a bootable floppy.

I'm running seatools in windows and it's already found problems on the first one - that is even after CHKDSK. We will see - TWO Seagate barracuda drives failing in less than a year?

Diskettes are a myth, they don't exist. Use virtual floppy and then take the files from it.

[Sasqui]

So far, the second (apparently good) hard drive is passing the tests. Is it possible that one bad drive in a RAID_1 array can corrupt the other and vise versa?

I've got very little RAID experience...

[King Wookie]

+1 on Seatools.

And yep , hard drives do fail. We do multitrack audio recording using IDE's, and sometimes you get a "sour" batch.

As for the Raid thing, I know less than you, so I'm learning while reading.:D

[Sasqui]

Good GOD - you said it. Two HDDs both failed, the second one was much further in on the scan. The serial numbers are about 4 units off. Bad batch it sounds.

Off to the seagate site to see what they will do for an OEM warrantee (the Dell one is out).

[Sasqui]

Those cocksuckers at Seagate won't help because "it's an OEM thing - contact the system manufacturer"

I've always hated Dell

Now I hate Seagate

Now have to drop $200 on a new pair of drives... which WON'T be Seagate.