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[gentoo-user] fdisk troubles
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Jan
Jan 27, 2004, 6:00:17 PM1/27/04
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Hi,
I'm having troubles with an old (but
new as in 'never used before by me') hd.
Some facts:
-The HD contains a very small redhat system: I
was able to install it using a cd-rom-player and I start the gentoo system
install from chrooting out of redhat.
-It's a WD Caviar 21600 (1.6 GB)
-The system is a ibm pc 350 (PI 100Mhz, 32MB
ram)
The problem:
- The kernel keeps printing out I/O errors, I noticed because 'emerge sync'
never finishes ok.
- I've started doing 'badblocks' runs. But seen
that it complains each time about other bad sectors.
- After some thinking, I've tried to write the
partition table again (with fdisk) because I remembered a problem with fdisk
writing the table:
'WARNING: Rereading the partition table
with error 16: Device or resource busy'
fdisk recommends to reboot, and after the reboot,
everything seems ok (? maybe you need to see my dmesg log ?)
This errors still happens.
My actions:
- I've downloaded a WD and a 'generic' diagnostic
tools, both those tools are complaining about 'SMART failures' of my HD (nothing
in my bios is saying anything about SMART, so I supppose its not supported by my
BIOS(?)
- With the generic diagnostic tool (from seagate) I
was able to do a full surface scan, and no complains where seen (I think it does
only reads, I'm not sure)
- I've tried another HD, from seagate, and with
that one I runned the seagate test (+ full surface scan) with
success
My questions:
- Is my HD broke? Or Is it just the partition
table? Or do you problems that have something to do with SMART?
- How can I restore my partition table (are there
other tools than fdisk that you can recommend?)
- What is my best next step to determine a
solution?
Included:
-The log from the seagate tool:
SeaTools Desktop v2.00.09
Copyright (c) 2003 Kroll Ontrack Inc.
1/27/2004 @ 8:45 PM
Copyright (c) 2003 Kroll Ontrack Inc.
1/27/2004 @ 8:45 PM
The following information has been
generated by the SeaTools Desktop. Use this information to help you
recognize and resolve potential data access problems in a timely
manner.
System Information:
BIOS Date 03/19/99
Conventional Memory size 637 K
Extended Memory size 24744 K
IO Channel type PCI
Drive Information:
DRIVE SIZE MODEL
----- --------- ---------------------
1 1.62 GB WDC AC21600H
Serial Number = WD-WT3360158396
Int13 Num = 80, PHYS CHS = 787x64x63.
ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 787x64x63
PARTITION
CYLINDER
SIZE
---------- ------------ ----
# Type Start End MB
PRIMARY
1 Unknown 0 17 37
PRIMARY
2 Unknown 18 50 68
PRIMARY
3 Unknown 51 253 419
PRIMARY
4 Unknown 254 786 1100
---------- ------------ ----
# Type Start End MB
PRIMARY
1 Unknown 0 17 37
PRIMARY
2 Unknown 18 50 68
PRIMARY
3 Unknown 51 253 419
PRIMARY
4 Unknown 254 786 1100
Diagnostic Results:
Drive 1 (WDC AC21600H)
SMART Status Check Result: Alert
90-Second Test Result: Passed
File Structure Test Result: Failed
(Unknown or unsupported partition(s) skipped)
Partition 1
Not Checked. Unsupported (or Unknown) Partition
Partition 2 (No Label) Result: Extended partition table invalid
Partition 3 (No Label) Result: Extended partition table invalid
Partition 4 (No Label) Result: Extended partition table invalid
Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed
S.M.A.R.T., (S)elf (M)onitoring (A)nalysis and (R)eporting (T)echnology, a built-in hard disk drive failure prediction method reports an 'Alert' if a problem has occurred. It reports 'Passed' if no problems are found and 'Unsupported' if a hard disk drive does not support S.M.A.R.T.
******************************************
Diagnostic Summary:
System Memory Test Result: Passed
System Memory Test Result: Passed
Drive 1 (WDC AC21600H)
SMART Status Check Result: Alert
90-Second Test Result: Passed
File Structure Test Result: Failed
(Unknown or unsupported partition(s) skipped)
Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed
SMART Status Check Result: Alert
90-Second Test Result: Passed
File Structure Test Result: Failed
(Unknown or unsupported partition(s) skipped)
Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed
Recommendation:
Contact the manufacturer of the hard disk drive that shows a SMART alert for their recommendation.
Contact the manufacturer of the hard disk drive that shows a SMART alert for their recommendation.
If you are not experiencing data loss and
SeaTools reports File System Structure errors, they may be caused by a lock-up
or failure to shutdown Windows correctly. Many times, these errors may be
repaired through normal system maintenance. If you are experiencing a hardware
error, you should isolate the cause and replace the failing component. If you
are unsure how to proceed with repairs, contact a computer professional. After
completing any maintenance tasks, run SeaTools again to verify that all errors
have been repaired. If errors continue to occur, the system may not be stable.
Again, contact a computer professional.
If you have experienced a data loss, cease
drive operation immediately. Professional data recovery service is the
best option to recover your data.
SeaTools Desktop v2.00.09
Copyright (c) 2003 Kroll Ontrack Inc.
Copyright (c) 2003 Kroll Ontrack Inc.
Andrey Kartashov
Jan 27, 2004, 8:10:10 PM1/27/04
to
On Tue, Jan 27, 2004 at 11:39:36PM +0100, Jan wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm having troubles with an old (but new as in 'never used before by me') hd.
>
> Some facts:
> -The HD contains a very small redhat system: I was able to install it using a cd-rom-player and I start the gentoo system install from chrooting out of redhat.
> -It's a WD Caviar 21600 (1.6 GB)
> -The system is a ibm pc 350 (PI 100Mhz, 32MB ram)
>
> The problem:
> - The kernel keeps printing out I/O errors, I noticed because 'emerge sync' never finishes ok.
> - I've started doing 'badblocks' runs. But seen that it complains each time about other bad sectors.
> - After some thinking, I've tried to write the partition table again (with fdisk) because I remembered a problem with fdisk writing the table:
> Hi,
>
> I'm having troubles with an old (but new as in 'never used before by me') hd.
>
> Some facts:
> -The HD contains a very small redhat system: I was able to install it using a cd-rom-player and I start the gentoo system install from chrooting out of redhat.
> -It's a WD Caviar 21600 (1.6 GB)
> -The system is a ibm pc 350 (PI 100Mhz, 32MB ram)
>
> The problem:
> - The kernel keeps printing out I/O errors, I noticed because 'emerge sync' never finishes ok.
> - I've started doing 'badblocks' runs. But seen that it complains each time about other bad sectors.
> - After some thinking, I've tried to write the partition table again (with fdisk) because I remembered a problem with fdisk writing the table:
Here is what I'd do:
Boot from a 'clean' disk (i.e. gentoo install CD, Knoppix, etc).
Run 'destructive' badblocks test because non-destructive ones (i.e. the ones that
don't try to write aren't as good at catching the problems).
This WILL destroy ALL the data!
If it seems happy (no bad blocks)- use it, if not - it's probably time to
replace it. Judging by it's size, it's old.
It's been my experience that when kernel starts printing IO errors in a log file,
hard drive is dead. Usually what happens next is 'clicking' sound and hard drive dies
completely.
I also don't recommend using a hard drive with 'just a few' bad blocks. AFAIK modern
hard drives have a built-in 'self healing' mechanism and you only start seeing errors
when it can no longer 'heal' itself (i.e. reallocate bad blocks). So even if it's not
dead, it's probably very close to it at that point.
--
- Andrey
~ In theory, practice and theory are the same,
but in practice they are different (Larry McVoy) ~
--
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