Quote:
Originally Posted by simpswr
The drive is very likley failing . . you can download Seatools and run their diagostics to rule out failure
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I ran all the basic tests on SeaTools, and my HD apparently passed all of them. I'm going to run the longer tests in a bit to see if it does the same. I also tried the advanced settings to see if my firmware could be updated, but no dice there.
Just for the hell of it, I'm attaching my drive information in case any of it might come in useful in figuring out what's wrong.
Quote:
--------------- SeaTools for Windows v1.1.1.0 ---------------
12/22/2008 3:41:20 PM
Model: ST3160023A
Firmware Revision: 8.01
SMART - Pass 12/22/2008 3:41:20 PM
Short DST - Started 12/22/2008 3:41:39 PM
Short DST - Pass 12/22/2008 3:42:41 PM
Identify - Started 12/22/2008 3:42:55 PM
Identify - Pass 12/22/2008 3:42:57 PM
SMART: Supported and enabled
48-bit Address feature set supported: True
Max LBA: 312581808
Host Protected Area features: Supported and enabled
Mandatory Power Management: Supported and enabled
Security Mode: Supported not enabled
SET MAX security extension: Supported not enabled
Advanced Power Managment: Not Supported
Download Firmware: False
SMART self-test supported: True
SMART error logging supported: True
Drive Temperature(C/F): 43/109
Power-On Hours: 28286
Short Generic - Started 12/22/2008 3:43:19 PM
Short Generic - Pass 12/22/2008 3:52:05 PM
Test Unavailable - Test Unavailable 12/22/2008 3:52:58 PM
Test Unavailable - Test Unavailable 12/22/2008 3:53:10 PM
Identify - Started 12/22/2008 3:57:51 PM
Identify - Pass 12/22/2008 3:57:52 PM
Identify - Started 12/22/2008 4:01:05 PM
Identify - Pass 12/22/2008 4:01:06 PM
SMART: Supported and enabled
48-bit Address feature set supported: True
Max LBA: 312581808
Host Protected Area features: Supported and enabled
Mandatory Power Management: Supported and enabled
Security Mode: Supported not enabled
SET MAX security extension: Supported not enabled
Advanced Power Managment: Not Supported
Download Firmware: False
SMART self-test supported: True
SMART error logging supported: True
Drive Temperature(C/F): 43/109
Power-On Hours: 28287
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Man, look at all those hours! I know the drive is extremely old, which is why I was surprised that it passed every test on SeaTools. Barring drive failure, what other possibilities are there for all these disk read errors on my system viewer that cause XP to switch me to PIO mode?
Could the IDE cable be faulty? It's not loose, since I adjusted it when this problem started, but it might be... "aged."
I'm going to buy a new hard drive for christmas, anyway, and I have all my important data backed up on portable media and devices. Still, I want to figure out what's wrong so that I know how to troubleshoot this in the future; any advice as to what might be wrong is still welcome.