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Fujitsu 2.5" PATA drive very slow.

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G0AOZ

G0AOZ

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Nov 6, 2002
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Drive not failed as such, but very lethargic. Successfully copied user's data and all operating system files to new hard drive.

Running Fujitsu's HDD diags only allows the Quick Test as the drive is showing a failure, error code A198T9. User has bought the new drive so this one will now be destroyed.

However, being the irritatingly inquisitive person that I am, I'd like to know which bit inside is supposedly failing. Fujitsu seem reluctant to answer my e-mail, and I cannot get anywhere Googling that code.

Anyone come across this one before?
Merry Christmas everybody!

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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Roger - unless you want to become a hard drive rebuilder, I'd give up this quest! If manufacturer's diagnostic gives a failing code, end of story as far as I'm concerned - bin the drive (you've been fortunate - data retrieved ok).

just my 2p.
 
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Hi Wolluf, no not really wanting to go that route right now, although it's something I've thought about.

All other tests on the drive pass ok, so it would have been interesting to know which part is failing...

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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Roger,

You could try SPINRITE. See grc.com. This tool may give you some insite into the drives issues (and even possibly repair it).

Sounds like a corrupt BIOS or controller acting up.

Maybe MHDD would help. See:

Let us know what you find and the tools you used. Interesting quest.

Happy New Year.

John
 
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John, thanks for that interesting info re MHDD. The user wanted that Fujitsu drive back, so I no longer have the option to try anything further on it unfortunately. However, I'd be surprised if something else unreadable doesn't turn up before long!

I currently have an 80Gb Seagate IDE that SpinRite is wading through, and has been since 20th December! I can see this one's going to run and run, as it's not yet 2% through! We'll see...

Happy New Year to you too!

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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Roger,

That is my only complaint with SpinRite - slow. I would be interested to see what MHDD could do to the drive.

It is kind of funny, but I have been hoping for a bad drive to try MHDD on?! We have none in the shop right now to even play with. I am sure one will come along soon.

John
 
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A look through SpinRite's technical blurb makes impressive reading. I guess the fact that it has so many "goes" at trying to extract data from each bad sector means it's going to take a very long time on a bad disk. This one's tucked away in a corner of the workshop and is powered through a UPS, and the user is not in a desperate hurry, as yet! Like you, I would be interested to see what MHDD can do...

Just out of interest John, have you ever tried dismantling hard drives? I currently have a 2.5" Samsung which has either a bad pcb or a damaged actuator/stepper. The user has discarded it as unwanted. I tried undoing the centre torx bolt holding the platters in place, but felt I was in danger of damaging either the tool or the bolt, so didn't proceed further. Any experience in this area? At some time in the future I might just come across another identical drive to swap platters. I'm saying "an identical drive", as I'm assuming no other type or model of drive will accept platters from a different make?

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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No need for spinrite, mhdd, etc. Heads are slowly dying. Defects are growing. This is why the drive is getting slower and slower. I would not suggest using that drive anymore.

Best Regards,
Karen
Capita Data Recovery Inc.
 
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Karen, thanks for that. No, the user of that Fujitsu drive has, I believe, taken it away to destroy it and the data thereon.

I am, however, interested in your comment "Heads are slowly dying.". I'd assumed the heads were basically very small wire coils, either picking up (reading) or producing (writing) magnetic fields. Coils usually either work or don't work, i.e. have continuity or broken circuit. Can you explain how they can deteriorate please?

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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head are slowly dying" - I can't write much about it, as that will take me an hour to explain everything :). Heads get intermittent due to many reasons, thus they loose the ability to read/write correctly, so we end up with checksum errors while writing/reading sectors. If you connect this drive to a standard controller - it will simply fail, whereas connecting it to a specialized equipment, you can simply ignore CRC errors and get most of the data. Platters are coated with some polymers/teflon and over a period of time you may notice dirt inside of the drive (small particles) that will kill any heads. That "killing process" is sometimes slow and dirt fills up the head so it becomes intermittent and then "dead". When the head is loosing its ability to read and write, drive supplies more current to the heads and eventually that may kill the element as well. It’s way too complicated than it seems, plus there are could be 100s of other reasons.

Best Regards,
Karen
Capita Data Recovery Inc.
 
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Thanks for sharing that info with us... Certainly gives me a bit more of an insight into what's going on inside that box of tricks. [smile]

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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John, I've just started to have a look at MHDD. Good as SpinRite undoubtedly is, the latest estimate for completion on that drive was some time in April!!

MHDD appears to lack some basic help with command syntax. By trial and much error I've worked out how to use the ATOF command, but cannot get the FF command to "automate" as I would have expected it to. It stops after each file, and the next filename has to be typed in together with the Start LBA figure. Also it appears to me that the target disk has to be formatted in FAT32 otherwise the drive is "unseen" by the operating system.

Be interested in any comments about MHDD...


ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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Roger...I take it this HDD is your hobby, diagnosing and/or repairing this problem child. I will be the voice of reason for just a second here and remind you that a new 120 GB 2.5" drive is less than $80USD, or about what my outside tech guy gets for 45 minutes of work. [ponder]

OK, carry on, back to the mission![smile]



Tony

"...an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind" - M.L. King
 
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Hi Tony, well that HDD is fast becoming an obsession! It belongs to a local farmer who has a lot of data stored on it, most of which is not backed up. He initially took it to a professional who said "hard disk no good - me change for good one". The guy put a fresh copy of XP onto the new disk and handed back the PC and the old HDD. When my customer enquired about all the important files supposedly still on the old disk, the pro replied "what file, me no find file...". You might gather from this interchange that the farmer was not fluent in any oriental languages, and our pro was not exactly au fait with the Queen's english!

He brought the disk to me asking if I could get the data off the drive and put it on his new one. The errors on this drive were too bad and too numerous to even allow Windows to boot up with it attached as a secondary drive. It was at this point I told him the options. Data recovery company would probably want very considerable quantities of his dosh to try and sort it out, which he said he wasn't prepared to pay. I suggested I could have a go with SpinRite, briefly explaining it might take a very long time and that he'd be paying my electricity bill plus labour costs! He agreed. I said what happens if I get zero off it at the end and present you with a bill. Tongue in cheek, he said he'd go find his shotgun...[bigsmile]

So, here I am, now trying to get MHDD to "ackle" as we say in these parts! This is called training on the job Tony! I like to try and understand these things, and maybe learn a little along the way. Some of the ones I get are real tricky little critters, but I guess life would be dull without a challenge now and again...

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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Just to finish the story...

Most data was eventually lifted off this drive, although many files were corrupted. Word and Excel (2003) have recovered all his data, with only formatting commands missing in Word documents. His 42 Outlook Express mailboxes were 95% recovered with the help of OE-Mail Recovery software (worth it for $27). I'm suggesting he uses JPEG Recovery Pro v3 ($44.95) to get his photos 'uncorrupted', unless anyone can suggest something cheaper, or free!

So you could say he's a happy bunny after that lot...

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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Davory recovered all my jpegs from a corrupt memory stick, and was a free version. Congrats to you for getting this much of the data back, and the recommendation of OE-Mail Recovery.

Tony

Users helping Users...
 
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