Boot issue with new SATA HDD - is it faulty and what's the best way to format it?

frankles · 06-14-2008, 03:04 AM

I've read through lots of threads on the TSF, but before I do anything I'd like your advice.

System:

OS: XP Pro 32bit
mobo: ASUS P5LD2-X/1333 Intel 945GC
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 2.4 GHz
RAM: 2 Gb OCZ PC5400
VGA: 1024 Mb nVidia 8600GT DDR2 PCI-E
HDD: 2 x Samsung HD320KJ 320Gb SATA 16Mb

History:

Built my new PC using the components above, but initially with a SINGLE HDD. On installing Xp first time round, only 128Gb was shown as free on the HDD, so I installed onto this, knowing that with Acronis Disk Director (ADD) I should be able to get to the 'missing' space. Installed fine, got all my programmes etc on and used ADD to format the rest of the HDD as a logical drive for a data backup. Great.

After a couple of weeks I was having problems with the PC, I can't really remember what this was (it was well over a month ago) but the result was that I couldn't get the PC to boot at all. BIOs was latest version so didn't need to flash, all drivers up to date etc.

Knowing that I had all my files etc backed up, both on the partition on the failed HDD and seperately on DVD, I decided to try to repair XP through the install disc:

1. There was no option for 'repair an existing windows installation'
2. I decided to format the partition and reinstall XP
3. I did a full format and the system files were written to the HDD.
4. XP would not boot into 'now installing XP' but instead went back to the first install phase - format the HDD.
5. Did this 5 times and PC would not boot to second phase of XP install.
6. Obviously something wrong with the boot sector
7. Tried to use recovery console to restore boot sector using commands found on the 'net.
8. This did not work, so I bought a new HDD, exactly the same as the first one.

So, new HDD showed 320Gb when I went to install Xp, different to first HDD. Install was successful and Windows works fine. I slaved the broken drive into the system and looked at in using ADD, which showed that it apparently had 811Gb free. Very, very odd. ADD did not like the drive, reported a wealth of errors and now ignores it completely. I can see the 128Gb partition on My Computer, and it has the Windows install files on it. I used one of the suggested file recovery program trial versions to see if the data was recoverable and it was, so the file system on the disc seems OK. I don't need to recover the data as it was all backed up anyway.

conclusions:

My gut feeling is that the HDD is faulty, probably headers &/ boot sector; it behaved completely differently to the second HDD I tried, even though it is exactly the same model. In this case I need to 0 format the HDD so I don't give the supplier the data that is still on the disc when I return it.

So really I'm asking for your opinions on whether this is a faulty HDD, and needs to be returned, and if so what's the best way to format it since the PC can't see the partition which has sensitive data on it.

Thanks for wading through the info, thought I should give as much detail as possible.

**Deleted090308** · 06-14-2008, 03:54 AM

Hi

Use HUTIL from Samsung to check the drive for errors.

Use DBAN to wipe the drive.

frankles · 06-17-2008, 04:34 AM

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately I couldn't get Hutil to work, so I'm formatting through XP diskmanagement. Hopefully I'll get a healthy disk back from that and be able to use it. Fingers crossed... Will post again if it still gives me issues.

xx

**Deleted090308** · 06-17-2008, 08:33 AM

OK. Good luck - please keep us updated.

06-14-2008, 03:04 AM	#1 (permalink)
frankles Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Birmingham, UK Posts: 43 OS: WinXP Pro	Boot issue with new SATA HDD - is it faulty and what's the best way to format it? I've read through lots of threads on the TSF, but before I do anything I'd like your advice. System: OS: XP Pro 32bit mobo: ASUS P5LD2-X/1333 Intel 945GC CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 2.4 GHz RAM: 2 Gb OCZ PC5400 VGA: 1024 Mb nVidia 8600GT DDR2 PCI-E HDD: 2 x Samsung HD320KJ 320Gb SATA 16Mb History: Built my new PC using the components above, but initially with a SINGLE HDD. On installing Xp first time round, only 128Gb was shown as free on the HDD, so I installed onto this, knowing that with Acronis Disk Director (ADD) I should be able to get to the 'missing' space. Installed fine, got all my programmes etc on and used ADD to format the rest of the HDD as a logical drive for a data backup. Great. After a couple of weeks I was having problems with the PC, I can't really remember what this was (it was well over a month ago) but the result was that I couldn't get the PC to boot at all. BIOs was latest version so didn't need to flash, all drivers up to date etc. Knowing that I had all my files etc backed up, both on the partition on the failed HDD and seperately on DVD, I decided to try to repair XP through the install disc: 1. There was no option for 'repair an existing windows installation' 2. I decided to format the partition and reinstall XP 3. I did a full format and the system files were written to the HDD. 4. XP would not boot into 'now installing XP' but instead went back to the first install phase - format the HDD. 5. Did this 5 times and PC would not boot to second phase of XP install. 6. Obviously something wrong with the boot sector 7. Tried to use recovery console to restore boot sector using commands found on the 'net. 8. This did not work, so I bought a new HDD, exactly the same as the first one. So, new HDD showed 320Gb when I went to install Xp, different to first HDD. Install was successful and Windows works fine. I slaved the broken drive into the system and looked at in using ADD, which showed that it apparently had 811Gb free. Very, very odd. ADD did not like the drive, reported a wealth of errors and now ignores it completely. I can see the 128Gb partition on My Computer, and it has the Windows install files on it. I used one of the suggested file recovery program trial versions to see if the data was recoverable and it was, so the file system on the disc seems OK. I don't need to recover the data as it was all backed up anyway. conclusions: My gut feeling is that the HDD is faulty, probably headers &/ boot sector; it behaved completely differently to the second HDD I tried, even though it is exactly the same model. In this case I need to 0 format the HDD so I don't give the supplier the data that is still on the disc when I return it. So really I'm asking for your opinions on whether this is a faulty HDD, and needs to be returned, and if so what's the best way to format it since the PC can't see the partition which has sensitive data on it. Thanks for wading through the info, thought I should give as much detail as possible.

06-14-2008, 03:54 AM	#2 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: Boot issue with new SATA HDD - is it faulty and what's the best way to format it? Hi Use HUTIL from Samsung to check the drive for errors. Use DBAN to wipe the drive.

06-17-2008, 04:34 AM	#3 (permalink)
frankles Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Birmingham, UK Posts: 43 OS: WinXP Pro	Re: Boot issue with new SATA HDD - is it faulty and what's the best way to format it? Thanks for the reply, unfortunately I couldn't get Hutil to work, so I'm formatting through XP diskmanagement. Hopefully I'll get a healthy disk back from that and be able to use it. Fingers crossed... Will post again if it still gives me issues. xx

06-17-2008, 08:33 AM	#4 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: Boot issue with new SATA HDD - is it faulty and what's the best way to format it? OK. Good luck - please keep us updated.