Seagate status: unreadable

chomel · 05-15-2008, 04:17 PM

My HDD info: seagate barracuda 7200.11 500 Gbytes ST3500320AS

I'm using this disc to backup data from work and home pc. Problems occurred when i tried to install sql server 2005 at my co-worker pc. That time, my HDD was connected to her PC via USB port. After 3 times failed of installing the program, i thought i must have had done something wrong in the process so i decided to do a system restore on her PC to get back to a safety checkpoint. When restoring process done its work, after a reboot, a tool tip pop up from systray saying that 'G:$Mft delayed write failed'. It flashes couple of times if i remembered correctly. I tried to restart the computer again but it tooks very long time to resolve.. so i press hard reboot (i guess this is where the problems come). After that reboot, her computer was halt at counting memory process and it wont continue (the page where you can press <del> to enter bios setup). I pressed hard reboot may be 2 or 3 times and then after unplugged my HDD the computer is successfully reboot.

Now pluggin in Seagate HDD, to vista or xp system... it shows that my HDD status is unreadable under disk management tools. I've tried several disc recovery tools such as 'PC Inspector File Recovery', 'Get DataBack' and 'TestDisk'. They read my HDD as 2TB in size.. which is incorrect.

In TestDisk program there is a section where i can change the disc geometry for the system analysis to work properly, but i have problem in entering the correct information for 'cylinders', 'head', 'sector', and 'sector size'.

Below is my HDD info i got from seagate website, in pdf:
Drive specification ST3500320AS
--------------------------------
Formatted capacity (512 bytes/sector)* 500 Gbytes
Guaranteed sectors 976,773,168
Heads 4
Discs 2
Bytes per sector 512
Default sectors per track 63
Default read/write heads 16
Default cylinders 16,383

I put these values:
cylinders: 16,383
Heads: 4
Sectors: 63
Sector size: 512
i get this result:
Disk /dev/sdc - 2113 MB / 2015 MiB - CHS 16383 4 63, sector size=512

i've tried different combinations and the latest values which can produce 500Gb are:
Cylinders: 976773168
Heads: 1
Sectors: 1
Sector size: 512
and result is:
Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 976773168 1 1, sector size=512

currently i'm trying to analyze (with testdrive) it, but i don't think any positive results will come out of this.. since i think the values i enter is wrong.

**Deleted090308** · 05-16-2008, 02:40 AM

Welcome to TSF.

Mount the drive inside a desktop PC.

Check what BIOS says about the drive geometry.

05-15-2008, 04:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
chomel Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1 OS: xp sp2	Seagate status: unreadable My HDD info: seagate barracuda 7200.11 500 Gbytes ST3500320AS I'm using this disc to backup data from work and home pc. Problems occurred when i tried to install sql server 2005 at my co-worker pc. That time, my HDD was connected to her PC via USB port. After 3 times failed of installing the program, i thought i must have had done something wrong in the process so i decided to do a system restore on her PC to get back to a safety checkpoint. When restoring process done its work, after a reboot, a tool tip pop up from systray saying that 'G:$Mft delayed write failed'. It flashes couple of times if i remembered correctly. I tried to restart the computer again but it tooks very long time to resolve.. so i press hard reboot (i guess this is where the problems come). After that reboot, her computer was halt at counting memory process and it wont continue (the page where you can press <del> to enter bios setup). I pressed hard reboot may be 2 or 3 times and then after unplugged my HDD the computer is successfully reboot. Now pluggin in Seagate HDD, to vista or xp system... it shows that my HDD status is unreadable under disk management tools. I've tried several disc recovery tools such as 'PC Inspector File Recovery', 'Get DataBack' and 'TestDisk'. They read my HDD as 2TB in size.. which is incorrect. In TestDisk program there is a section where i can change the disc geometry for the system analysis to work properly, but i have problem in entering the correct information for 'cylinders', 'head', 'sector', and 'sector size'. Below is my HDD info i got from seagate website, in pdf: Drive specification ST3500320AS -------------------------------- Formatted capacity (512 bytes/sector)* 500 Gbytes Guaranteed sectors 976,773,168 Heads 4 Discs 2 Bytes per sector 512 Default sectors per track 63 Default read/write heads 16 Default cylinders 16,383 I put these values: cylinders: 16,383 Heads: 4 Sectors: 63 Sector size: 512 i get this result: Disk /dev/sdc - 2113 MB / 2015 MiB - CHS 16383 4 63, sector size=512 i've tried different combinations and the latest values which can produce 500Gb are: Cylinders: 976773168 Heads: 1 Sectors: 1 Sector size: 512 and result is: Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 976773168 1 1, sector size=512 currently i'm trying to analyze (with testdrive) it, but i don't think any positive results will come out of this.. since i think the values i enter is wrong. Last edited by chomel : 05-15-2008 at 04:18 PM.

05-16-2008, 02:40 AM	#2 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,281 OS: Xp	Re: Seagate status: unreadable Welcome to TSF. Mount the drive inside a desktop PC. Check what BIOS says about the drive geometry.