Reading HDD is Sluggish (not related to "fragmented")

[Brad]

Hi,

Recently, I started to have trouble with my HDD (slow access).

When I performed a "surface scan" (via scandisk), accessing clusters was
slow and "jerky". I aborted the surface scan because it was going to take
a very long time. Note: The HDD is 8 Gig.

Note: Last year, when I performed a surface scan, it was fast and
"smooth".

Is this a sign that the hard disk is going bad or could this be a
controller problem?

Thanks in advance, Brad

Before you type your password, credit card number, etc.,
be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC.

[glee]

You are going to have to test the hard drive, but don't use Scandisk for that. I
suggest you run the diagnostics from the hard drive manufacturer's web site. An
8-GB drive should test fairly quickly (or fail fairly quickly), but no
matter.....you need to test it. The links below were valid a couple of months
ago....hopefully they all still are.

If you don't know what brand the drive is, you can download the limited-use free
edition of OnTrack Data Advisor from this location:
http://www.ontrack.com/freesoftware/#dataadvisor

When you click the download link on that page for Data Advisor 5.0 Free edition, you
will be taken to a page to register with the OnTrack site, then you will be able to
download the diskette creator file.

The downloads are diskette creators. They are to be run once from a working Windows
system and will guide you through the process of extracting the Data Advisor onto a
3.5" floppy disk.

Download and Use Instructions:
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/hard-drive-software/dataadvisor-download.aspx

As far as I know, Maxtor's diagnostics will also work with any brand of drive, and
the older versions of Seagate Seatools also, but I am not sure about the new
version.

The older version of SeaTools, for creating a bootable floppy disk or for creating a
bootable CD if you don't have a floppy drive, is here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2858.html

Hard Drive Diagnostic Programs by Vendor:

OnTrack Data Advisor:
http://www.ontrack.com/freesoftware/#dataadvisor
IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test:
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools:
http://support.wdc.com/download/
Quantum/Maxtor PowerMax:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Maxtor_Powermax_d1386.html
Seagate SeaTools for DOS:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+

"Brad" <bpe...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:47520040...@news.verizon.net...

[Brad]

Hi Glee,

Thanks for all that information.

I forgot to mention that this is a Seagate HDD.

Brad

On Sun, 2 Dec 2007 14:11:33 -0500, in microsoft.public.win98.disks.general you
wrote:

[glee]

Then Sea Tools for DOS is all you need.

--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+

"Brad" <bpe...@verizon.net> wrote in message

news:47540428...@news.verizon.net...

[toorkish]

bpetria wrote on 12/03/2007 08:28 ET :
> Hi Glee,
>
> Thanks for all that information.
>
> I forgot to mention that this is a Seagate HDD.
>
> Brad
>
>
> On Sun, 2 Dec 2007 14:11:33 -0500, in microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
you
> wrote:
>
>> You are going to have to test the hard drive, but don't use Scandisk for
that.
>> I
>> suggest you run the diagnostics from the hard drive manufacturer's web site.

>> An
>> 8-GB drive should test fairly quickly (or fail fairly quickly), but no

>> matter.you need to test it. The links below were valid a couple of months
>> agohopefully they all still are.

hiya, first post...

**HDD SLOW TRANSFER RATES OR SLUGGISH PC ISSUE**

THE PROBLEM OF SLOW HDD TRANSFER RATE CAME TO ME AFTER CONNECTING A SECONDARY
2.5" LAPTOP SATA HDD TO MY PC WHILST PC SWITCHED ON AND DISCONNECTING IT WHILST
PC WAS SWITCHED ON (YOUR NOT MEANT TO!)

I HAVE COME UP WITH THE FOLLOWING CHECKLIST...

1-CHECK DEVICE MANAGER FOR ANY ERRORS (YELLOW /!\ )
2-CHECK WRITE CACHING ENABLED ON DISK
3-CHECK VIRTUAL MEMORY ENABLED!!! (PAGING FILE)
4-UNINSTALL STORAGE CONTROLLERS (BOTH) IN DEVICE MANAGER ("[+]IDE ATA/ATAPI
CONTROLLERS" > FIRST TWO) THEN RESTART, SHOULD AUTO. REINSTALL THEM.
5-REINSTALL STORAGE CONTROLLER DRIVER FROM MOBO DISC A.K.A CHIPSET DRIVERS THEN
RESTART, IF NOT FIXED REPEAT NO4
6-USE "HD TUNE" TO CHECK HDD HEALTH

7-*REMEMBER THAT HARDWARE HAS 0.34% FAILURE ANNUALLY AND SOFTWARE HAS 99%
FAILURE!!!

IF ANYONE HAS ANYTHING TO ADD TO THE LIST PLEASE DO SO NEATLY AND REMEMBER IT
IS ABOUT SLOW HDD TRANSFER RATES AS REPORTED BY HD TUNE E.G. 3mb/s WHEN IT
SHOULD BE 120mb/s (I GET ON MY 1000GB 32MB CACHE DRIVE(�70))

FORGOT TO SAY, STEP 4 WAS THE WINNER FOR ME LIKE THE PREVIOUS GUY BUT I TRIED
1,2,3 FIRST!!!

THANKS

20 /M /UK /LONDON

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