[sf-lug] semi-OT: help with dying disk

[matt.price at utoronto.ca]

Quoting Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>:

> Quoting matt.price at utoronto.ca (matt.price at utoronto.ca):
>
>> haven't ordered my replacement drive yet -- too distracted, i guess.
>> so i'm hoping to perhaps use my old drive for a few more days, in all
>> likelihood wiping it & copying back some of the recovered data.  so
>> i'm htinking i may try this trick of yours.  this drive turns out to
>> be a Hitachi HTS72101.  am i right in thinking that i download the
>> hitachi Drive Fitness Test, choose Erase Sectors after the utility's
>> been run, & then reboot into linux & mkfs?  just trying to clarify...
>
> I'm sorry to say, I'm not acquainted with Hitachi's utilities
> specifically.  (It's possible I once was, but I obviously haven't used
> them _lately_, since the above doesn't ring a bell.)
>
> In general, what you're looking for is something with wording suggesting
> that it's re-doing the low-level formatting of the entire hard drive.
> Of course, manufacturer marketing departments have often intervened to
> make sure that useful data are hidden in fluffy pillows of meaningless
> sales babble.
>
> Just looking at
> http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm?linkto=QL#DFT , and
> reading the decriptions, it looks like this stuff within Drive Fitness Test
> is its pseudo-low-level formatting utility:
>
>     Restores Drive Fitness
>
>     Low-level format utility (Use option: Erase Disk).
>     Note: this utility overwrites customer data to allow repair of bad
>     sectors.
>
> Many manufacturers regard PATA drives (and, for all I know, probably
> SATA ones) as throwaway items, and it's quite possible that _some_
> manufacturers' standard answer is "Gee, hard drive acting up?  Throw it
> away and buy another one."  It's also possible that particular
> manufacturers' utilities do a little, but not much.  In any event, at
> minimum, you lose nothing but time and trouble from using whatever the
> manufacturer offers, and seeing if it does any good.

that's what i did -- haven't been home since i restored the data to  
the drive, so i can't say whether it's working yet; but i'm interested  
to see whether this process gives the drive a renewed lease on life...

m

>
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