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in /var/log/messages<br><div><br>* `grep -v scsi` returns nothing.<br></div></div><div><div><div><br><div><div>* Several pairs of messages like the following:<span><br><br>messages.1:Nov 11 22:26:15 PZ01 org.gtk.vfs.UDisks2VolumeMonitor[1283]: disc.c:352: error opening file BDMV/index.bdmv<br>messages.1:Nov 11 22:26:15 PZ01 org.gtk.vfs.UDisks2VolumeMonitor[1283]: disc.c:352: error opening file BDMV/BACKUP/index.bdmv<br><br></span><div><span>Devices are indeed listed as /dev/sda /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc.</span></div><div><br><div><div>Sizes are "roughly"100 GB, 200DB and 900 GB, which gives some clue as to how old they are.<br><div><br>I'm thinking that once I get the box open, it might be time to buy a new TB drive, I had been thinking it was time to reinstall the OS anyway. If /usr/bin is on a drive with SSD buffer, everything will run much faster.<br></div></div><br></div></div><span><br></span><br><br></div><br></div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div>
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On Sunday, November 18, 2018, 5:20:16 PM PST, Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> wrote:
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<div>Quoting Paul Zander (<a shape="rect" href="mailto:paulz@ieee.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">paulz@ieee.org</a>):<br clear="none"><br clear="none">> I have taken the precaution to make copies of important data on<br clear="none">> different physical drives.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Absolutely the right first step.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">> What next?<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I don't know what to make of your quoting the BIOS info screen as saying<br clear="none">'3rd Master Hard Disk Error, press F1 to continue', but then also<br clear="none">observing that computers with only 1 drive generate the same message.<br clear="none">That contradiction seems a bit mystifying.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">However, one can always fall back on good ol' logic. I infer from this<br clear="none">machine having three physical hard drives that it's not a laptop, which<br clear="none">is good news because it means you can easily open up the case and do<br clear="none">hardware work. Now that you've secured backups, you could proceed like<br clear="none">this:<br clear="none"><br clear="none">1. Disconnect your computer from power. Bring the system unit to<br clear="none">workspace with generous room and decent lighting. Bring out some<br clear="none">ramekins or small bowls to hold screws. Unscrew the case cover.<br clear="none">Perhaps with the aid of a flashlight, take a good long look at how the<br clear="none">motherboard and the three drives are connected.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Newer PCs will cross-connect to the motherboard's host bus adapter (HBA)<br clear="none">circuitry using SATA cabling. Older PCs will instead use PATA ribbon<br clear="none">cabling, popularly but vaguely called 'IDE'.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Typical SATA cable:<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="https://cs-electronics.com/product/sata-cable-7-pin-sata-connector-both-ends/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://cs-electronics.com/product/sata-cable-7-pin-sata-connector-both-ends/</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">Typical PATA cable:<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PATA-cable.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PATA-cable.jpg</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">The power connections I'm used to seeing are separate from the data<br clear="none">cables (mentioned above) and use the familiar 4-pin Molex plugs.<br clear="none">However, my understanding is that same SATA drives now have a newfangled<br clear="none">15-pin SATA-specific power attachment, and naturally there are converter<br clear="none">cables, e.g., picture here:<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200061&Description=sata%20power%20cable&cm_re=sata_power_cable-_-12-200-061-_-Product" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200061&Description=sata%20power%20cable&cm_re=sata_power_cable-_-12-200-061-_-Product</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">2. Maybe you should use a small flashlight to see any labelling on the<br clear="none">motherboard where the data cable from each hard drive connects. You<br clear="none">might see wording like 'Primary' / 'Secondary' in the case of PATA, or<br clear="none">'SATA1', 'SATA2', etc. in the case of SATA. Feel encouraged to take<br clear="none">notes about what's connected to what.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">The basic scheme for SATA's a lot simpler than for PATA, reflecting<br clear="none">having learned from certain dismal aspects of PATA and happily leaving<br clear="none">them behind. A SATA connector goes from the HBA circuitry directly to<br clear="none">one (1) physical drive, period. Each connector w/cable drives (at most)<br clear="none">one SATA device. By contrast, PATA was designed to let the HBA<br clear="none">connector w/cable drive either one or two PATA physical drives (or, of<br clear="none">course, none). Thus, most PATA ribbon cables have -three- connectors,<br clear="none">so as to accommodate two drive devices on the 'PATA chain'. To make<br clear="none">this functionality work and the HBA circuitry be able to communicate<br clear="none">distinctly with the (up to) two remote drive devices, the drives had to<br clear="none">be physically configured to assert either that they were the 'master' or<br clear="none">'slave' device on the chain or were the only device, as appropriate.<br clear="none">This was usually done by setting a jumper on each drive, though<br clear="none">alternatively it could be done using a horror called 'cable select':<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA#Cable_select" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA#Cable_select</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">If this is PATA, you'll need to understand the basics of the above,<br clear="none">because the next thing we're going to do is selectively disconnect<br clear="none">drives. OTOH, if it's SATA, you've lucked out, as then whole areas<br clear="none">of complication go away.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">By the way, this would also be an excellent time to visit the BIOS Setup<br clear="none">screens and take down a note or two about whatever it says concerning<br clear="none">the hard drives. It's incredibly rare in modern motherboards for these<br clear="none">to matter a lot, but it couldn't hurt. At worst, this is precaution<br clear="none">against burning your bridges. At best, you might see something worth<br clear="none">pondering and investigating. (obviously, you'll need system power again<br clear="none">to look there. When you're done, disconnect the system unit from AC<br clear="none">power, again.)<br clear="none"><br clear="none">3. Now that you've studied your system and taken some notes about the<br clear="none">three drives and their connection, it's time to figure out which one is <br clear="none">squawking. Disconnect from the backs of two of the hard drives their<br clear="none">power connectors. For this purpose, there's no need to disconnect the<br clear="none">data cables. (Therefore, don't do that, at this time, on KISS grounds.)<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Which drive should remain connected to a power feed? It doesn't much<br clear="none">matter, but one might indulge a small burst of OCD and let it be<br clear="none">whatever's the 'first', drive, which is to say the drive on the SATA1 <br clear="none">connector for SATA, or the 'master' drive on the 'primary' chain for<br clear="none">PATA.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">As usual, PATA intoduces a pain-in-the-ass complication, here: If the<br clear="none">drive still connected to power has been part of a two-drive PATA chain,<br clear="none">then it was probably jumpered for that role (unless cable select was <br clear="none">employed, which please see). Thus, you'll probably need to rejumper it<br clear="none">for the single-drive role it's about to assume for testing purposes.<br clear="none">Do so.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">No need to close up the case, but you can now reconnect power and go<br clear="none">through Power-On Self-Test (POST) again. Still see '[something] Hard Disk<br clear="none">Error, press F1 to continue'? Then, that's your problem drive. If not,<br clear="none">yank system power and try each of the other two drives as the sole drive<br clear="none">receiving power, the same way, to test them, until you find it. (It<br clear="none">doesn't matter whether anything can boot, because you're using POST<br clear="none">diagnostics.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">And, of course, when you're done, but jumpers and power connectors back.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Also, it really couldn't hurt to gently reconnect and refasten all PATA<br clear="none">or SATA data connectors. Those coming loose could cause bewildering and<br clear="none">sometimes intermittent problems.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">You know, by the way, Linux may have been muttering about read/write<br clear="none">problems in the system log files (usu. /var/log/messages), including<br clear="none">very specfic /dev/sdX citations. You could look. Small amount of stuff<br clear="none">about that here: <a shape="rect" href="https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=7006510" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=7006510</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">(SCSI notation is used even for non-SCSI mass storage because all the<br clear="none">relevant drivers now leverage the SCSI layer. That's why you don't see<br clear="none">/dev/hdX device nodes any more, only /dev/sdX.)<div class="ydp4c5663bcyqt2970434738" id="ydp4c5663bcyqtfd48974"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">conspire mailing list<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">conspire@linuxmafia.com</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire</a><br clear="none"></div></div>
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