ST3500620AS - Question (Slight Problem)

[Rousie]

On my steep learning curve of fixing up my 1tb 7200.11, i bought a couple of dead drives off eBay to tinker with. One of these drives was a 7200.11 500GB Drive, turns out it was just stuck in the BSY state all along, and shortly after connecting it up, it was running fine.

HOWEVER...

Occasionally, perhaps every few minutes, the drive clicks, but carries on silently... I was watching a movie from this drive to see if the click was a problem, and as i thought, the movie skipped each time the drive clicked... I'm thinking it's the heads loosing it, but i'd like some opinions first.

Ran SeaTools long tests and all has come back fine, but i don't think the drive is reliable.

I don't plan on using it for anything, apart from playing around and learning.

Any other tests i can do to check the drive?

Dean

[fzabkar]

Occasionally, perhaps every few minutes, the drive clicks, but carries on silently... I was watching a movie from this drive to see if the click was a problem, and as i thought, the movie skipped each time the drive clicked... I'm thinking it's the heads loosing it, but i'd like some opinions first.

Ran SeaTools long tests and all has come back fine, but i don't think the drive is reliable.

I don't plan on using it for anything, apart from playing around and learning.

Any other tests i can do to check the drive?

Dean

AIUI, clicking and freezing is often symptomatic of weak read heads or bad sectors.

I would run at least one comprehensive SMART diagnostic.

HD Sentinel (DOS / Windows / Linux):

http://www.hdsentinel.com/

HDDScan for Windows:

http://hddscan.com/

Look for reallocated and pending sectors.

MHDD is another program that can display the bad sectors, if any:

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/

[hddguy]

AIUI, clicking and freezing is often symptomatic of weak read heads or bad sectors.

I would run at least one comprehensive SMART diagnostic.

HD Sentinel (DOS / Windows / Linux):

http://www.hdsentinel.com/

HDDScan for Windows:

http://hddscan.com/

Look for reallocated and pending sectors.

MHDD is another program that can display the bad sectors, if any:

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/

Of course it is always wise to run a sequential surface verification tool such as MHDD/HDDscan on a drive with potentially failing heads

[fzabkar]

Of course it is always wise to run a sequential surface verification tool such as MHDD/HDDscan on a drive with potentially failing heads :lol:

The OP wrote ...

"I don't plan on using it for anything, apart from playing around and learning."

In a topic entitled "Clicking Samsung and Maxtor disks with BAD sectors", you wrote ...

clicking-samsung-and-maxtor-disks-with-bad-sectors-t7968.html?hilit=clicking%20mhdd

"I have seen many of these disks which all appear to be good in MHDD, but on trying to recover the disks click constantly but the clicking is because of bad sectors not bad heads."

... and ...

"I performed head swap and got 100% data. I was not sure about Head Swap at first because MHDD will scan the disk 100% with no errors, but obviously the heads were damaged bacause head swap was successful. "

In another topic you wrote ...

hard-disk-drives-data-recovery-and-repair-f1.html

"Is your hdd identified correctly in BIOS? Are there any symptoms such as a clicking noise? Have you tried testing the hdd with MHDD? You will get much better idea of the problem with MHDD, and if you can post here the MHDD scan results I am sure I can be of more help also."

[Alexii]

ouch -)

[Russwinters]

Of course it is always wise to run a sequential surface verification tool such as MHDD/HDDscan on a drive with potentially failing heads

The OP wrote ...

"I don't plan on using it for anything, apart from playing around and learning."

In a topic entitled "Clicking Samsung and Maxtor disks with BAD sectors", you wrote ...

clicking-samsung-and-maxtor-disks-with-bad-sectors-t7968.html?hilit=clicking%20mhdd

"I have seen many of these disks which all appear to be good in MHDD, but on trying to recover the disks click constantly but the clicking is because of bad sectors not bad heads."

... and ...

"I performed head swap and got 100% data. I was not sure about Head Swap at first because MHDD will scan the disk 100% with no errors, but obviously the heads were damaged bacause head swap was successful. "

In another topic you wrote ...

hard-disk-drives-data-recovery-and-repair-f1.html

"Is your hdd identified correctly in BIOS? Are there any symptoms such as a clicking noise? Have you tried testing the hdd with MHDD? You will get much better idea of the problem with MHDD, and if you can post here the MHDD scan results I am sure I can be of more help also."

I am not sure what point you are trying to make with this?


All drives should be handled differently; as common failure modes are different between manufacturers, and even model/series.
Because of different firmware all drives behave slightly different; Even if the model number is the same, but the firmware version is different the drive can exhibit different behavior.


The point that was made was that performing a media scan (with MHDD, HDDScan for example) can sometimes bring to light patterns in the disk reading process that can point to a weak or failing head/s. Sometimes even radial damage, or just degrading areas of the disk.

[fzabkar]

I am not sure what point you are trying to make with this?


All drives should be handled differently; as common failure modes are different between manufacturers, and even model/series.
Because of different firmware all drives behave slightly different; Even if the model number is the same, but the firmware version is different the drive can exhibit different behavior.


The point that was made was that performing a media scan (with MHDD, HDDScan for example) can sometimes bring to light patterns in the disk reading process that can point to a weak or failing head/s. Sometimes even radial damage, or just degrading areas of the disk.

You can spin it any way you like, but the point I was making is obvious.

[Russwinters]

The second link does not work, but the first post is from 2007. Two/three years later from working in the industry will give someone a much more clear outlook of hard drive functionality..


I just don't think quoting a post from over two years prior proves any points; in any tech industry a person will learn a vast amount within two years. At least I know I have.


Regards,

[Rousie]

If you would kindly air your problems via PM or in your own thread. It would help in keeping my thread and these forums clear of things like this.

Now, back OT!

Dean

[Russwinters]

It's been mentioned; run MHDD/HDDscan and see if there are any patterns, etc


Regards,

[hddguy]

Of course it is always wise to run a sequential surface verification tool such as MHDD/HDDscan on a drive with potentially failing heads

The OP wrote ...

"I don't plan on using it for anything, apart from playing around and learning."

In a topic entitled "Clicking Samsung and Maxtor disks with BAD sectors", you wrote ...

clicking-samsung-and-maxtor-disks-with-bad-sectors-t7968.html?hilit=clicking%20mhdd

"I have seen many of these disks which all appear to be good in MHDD, but on trying to recover the disks click constantly but the clicking is because of bad sectors not bad heads."

... and ...

"I performed head swap and got 100% data. I was not sure about Head Swap at first because MHDD will scan the disk 100% with no errors, but obviously the heads were damaged bacause head swap was successful. "

In another topic you wrote ...

hard-disk-drives-data-recovery-and-repair-f1.html

"Is your hdd identified correctly in BIOS? Are there any symptoms such as a clicking noise? Have you tried testing the hdd with MHDD? You will get much better idea of the problem with MHDD, and if you can post here the MHDD scan results I am sure I can be of more help also."

This post may make you feel a little better about yourself, but the main difference here is that I totaly understand the consequences of all my actions and consider myself pretty competent in the software I am using.

Bottom line is I know what I am doing. do you?

[Alexii]

Best defence is offence eh ? I understand though. Geting called on the hypocrisy posting sux. fzabkars post was deffinatly aimed not at feeling better himself , but maybe humbling u down a bit from ur high Hddguru horse? Waste of time it seems.