RAID-1 and bad sectors?
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From: void on 30 Dec 2005 13:40 On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 06:47:22 -0500, "Chuck F. " <cbfalconer(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >void(a)no.spam.com wrote: > > >> I just used BootItNG to resize the 2 NTFS partitions on my hard >> disk. I was increasing the size of the C drive, so I had to >> shrink the D drive and slide it down to the end of the disk. >> When I did the slide operation, I told it to slide everything >> including the unused areas. I ended up getting an "error >> reading from hard disk" message. So I retried the slide >> operation, but just told it to slide the data only. That >> worked, so maybe there was a bad sector in an unused area? > >Which may mean that you wrote some of your actual data into a >failing "unused" area, and that that data is now lost or altered. >I wouldn't trust anything that was on that partition. I did back up all my D drive data before I did the resizings of the partitions. After I resized them, I did a binary comparison of my backups with the data on the hard drive, and everything looked the same. What about just using Windows? If Windows writes data to the hard drive, will it check if it's writing data to a bad sector, or does it not know or care?
From: void on 30 Dec 2005 13:51 On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 05:27:52 +1100, "Rod Speed" <rod_speed(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >void(a)no.spam.com wrote: > >> I just used BootItNG to resize the 2 NTFS partitions on my hard disk. >> I was increasing the size of the C drive, so I had to shrink the D >> drive and slide it down to the end of the disk. When I did the slide >> operation, I told it to slide everything including the unused areas. >> I ended up getting an "error reading from hard disk" message. So I >> retried the slide operation, but just told it to slide the data only. >> That worked, so maybe there was a bad sector in an unused area? > >Its important to check that possibility before doing anything else. > >Use Everest to check the SMART data for the drive, post it here. >http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181 > >Also run the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic on that drive. I have a Samsung SP1213N 120 GB drive, and on their web site they have a couple utilities for testing hard drives: SHDIAG, which asks you to do a low-level format if it detects an error (I guess I don't want to use that one), and HUTIL. They don't say what HUTIL does if it detects an error, but they say it writes stuff to the disk while testing. Would it overwrite any of my data? >It might just have been a quirk of BootItNG, it can be pretty buggy. > >> Anyways, I'm now ready to set up RAID-1 in my system. But I'm >> wondering if that bad sector might cause a problem in a RAID-1 setup? >> I know RAID-1 is supposed help you if a drive fails. But what if a >> drive doesn't totally stop working... what if it only develops a few >> bad sectors? Can RAID-1 handle that? (I'll be using the HighPoint >> 370 controller on my Abit KT7-RAID motherboard.) Like what would >> happen if the RAID controller is writing some data, and one of the >> drives is OK but the other drive has some bad sectors on it? Can the >> RAID controller detect the bad sectors and write the data to good >> sectors? Or will it not detect the bad sectors and the 2 drives will >> be out-of-sync? > >Dont worry about any of this until you prove that the drive does have bad >sectors. >
From: void on 30 Dec 2005 15:04 On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 05:27:52 +1100, "Rod Speed" <rod_speed(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >Use Everest to check the SMART data for the drive, post it here. >http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181 I just installed this, and under Storage > SMART, it doesn't show anything. It's all gray. And when I right click on SMART, it let's me do a Quick Report, but it prints stuff out about various other devices and nothing about the hard drive.
From: Rod Speed on 30 Dec 2005 15:21 void(a)no.spam.com wrote > Rod Speed rod_speed(a)yahoo.com wrote >> Use Everest to check the SMART data for the drive, post it here. >> http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181 > I just installed this, and under Storage > SMART, > it doesn't show anything. It's all gray. Yeah, you can get that result on some systems. There's another that isnt too bad on the knoppix bootable CD. Not as easy to use by quite effective. Bit more difficult to post the results with that tho if you dont know anything about linux. See what SHDIAG says first. > And when I right click on SMART, it let's me do > a Quick Report, but it prints stuff out about various > other devices and nothing about the hard drive.
From: Rod Speed on 30 Dec 2005 15:28
void(a)no.spam.com wrote > Rod Speed rod_speed(a)yahoo.com wrote >> void(a)no.spam.com wrote >>> I just used BootItNG to resize the 2 NTFS partitions on my hard >>> disk. I was increasing the size of the C drive, so I had to shrink >>> the D drive and slide it down to the end of the disk. When I did >>> the slide operation, I told it to slide everything including the >>> unused areas. I ended up getting an "error reading from hard disk" >>> message. So I retried the slide operation, but just told it to >>> slide the data only. That worked, so maybe there was a bad sector >>> in an unused area? >> Its important to check that possibility before doing anything else. >> Use Everest to check the SMART data for the drive, post it here. >> http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181 >> Also run the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic on that drive. > I have a Samsung SP1213N 120 GB drive, and on their web > site they have a couple utilities for testing hard drives: SHDIAG, That one isnt for your drive. > which asks you to do a low-level format if it detects an error > (I guess I don't want to use that one), Correct, but because it isnt for your drive. > and HUTIL. They don't say what HUTIL does if it > detects an error, but they say it writes stuff to the > disk while testing. Would it overwrite any of my data? Not if you dont tell it to erase the drive. You say elsewhere that your data is backed up anyway. >> It might just have been a quirk of BootItNG, it can be pretty buggy. >> >>> Anyways, I'm now ready to set up RAID-1 in my system. But I'm >>> wondering if that bad sector might cause a problem in a RAID-1 >>> setup? I know RAID-1 is supposed help you if a drive fails. But >>> what if a drive doesn't totally stop working... what if it only >>> develops a few bad sectors? Can RAID-1 handle that? (I'll be >>> using the HighPoint 370 controller on my Abit KT7-RAID >>> motherboard.) Like what would happen if the RAID controller is >>> writing some data, and one of the drives is OK but the other drive >>> has some bad sectors on it? Can the RAID controller detect the bad >>> sectors and write the data to good sectors? Or will it not detect >>> the bad sectors and the 2 drives will be out-of-sync? >> >> Dont worry about any of this until you prove that the drive does >> have bad sectors. |