HDD Corrupts the data

[koolance]

Dear All,

I have a problem with a HDD, every time i write data to HDD, MD5 hash of file is changed and file got corrupted.
I have used a Test Disk 6.11 with Write TestDisk MBR code to first sector, this saved a situation. Disk works fine with no problems, until i format it.
After a format i have to run Write TestDisk MBR code to first sector again to get functionality. can you please advice maybe there is a change to make a permanent fix on HDD.

Disk is WD10EADS-11M2B2

Thank you.

[Vulcan]

I have a problem with a HDD

You have not convinced me that blaming the disk is the correct diagnosis, because you say:

Disk works fine with no problems, until i format it.

A disk drive does not know the difference between an OS format, or any other kind of I/O. So if your problem (whatever it is), only starts after an OS format, then I do not see that as evidence of a problem with the disk, which seems to be what you are claiming.

Over the years, I have worked on many data corruption issues on large computer systems - only a very small percentage were caused by the disks. Until you have eliminated the other parts of the I/O stack, you cannot say that the problem is with the disk IMHO.

What diagnosis did you do, which you believe identified that the problem was caused by the disk, and not the HBA, motherboard, drivers etc.?

What is the history of this problem e.g. when exactly did it start (date/time)? What changed just before the problem started? What parts have you replaced already, and with what results after each change?

Finally for this reply, it may help to see exactly what corruption you are describing, as the details are not clear to me from your first post e.g. if you are claiming that the MBR is being corrupted, then please post the "corrupted" contents of the MBR so that we can see what the corruption looks like - this sometimes helps to identify what has been written instead.

[koolance]

Hello,

The problem is not with my windows operating system, because i have tried my drive at list on 4 PC.
When it came it was not working, i was trying to find the solution and only

Test Disk 6.11 with Write TestDisk MBR code to first sector

Helped me to make it operate. But when i format disk i get the same problem. So seems it is mbr sector issue on a HDD, but do not know how to resolve it
WDC support was trying to help, but found no solution. I could not return the drive as i bought it in US and now i am in Europe.

Can you please clarify, how can i get corrupted data and post in here, what tool is recommended
Thank you.

[Vulcan]

The problem is not with my windows operating system

Please read my reply carefully again, and you will see that I never suggested that

i have tried my drive at list on 4 PC.

Ah! Now you are starting to give some new information (I guess you mean "least" instead of "list"), although it is not the detailed information which I asked for. That is a shame, because I lose interest when people ask for help, but don't answer my questions

When it came it was not working

But you did not answer my questions on the history of the drive, including when the problem first started etc. You also can't say "not working" - that is too vague for anyone to know what you are saying...

So seems it is mbr sector issue on a HDD

Your first posting also said you were getting MD5 mismatches on files saved to the disk. Since files are not saved to the MBR, then any "problems" cannot be clearly limited to the MBR IMHO, although that is the first issue where I would start to look at what is happening (if I was trying to solve this), since you say that writing a new MBR stops "the problem". You might find that after investigating one problem, that there is another one also (e.g. one problem affecting the MBR & one problem affecting other files); I think that is unlikely, but don't rule out the possibility.

I'm wondering if an MBR virus should also be considered as a possibility, if writing a new MBR fixes the problem (temporarily)...? It would need more time, effort & detail from you, to explain the exact steps between "no problem" and "problem" (and preferably creating a minimum test case) in order to explore this and other possibilities.

As far as I can tell, since you are formatting the disk (several times?), then you don't care about the data. Therefore I think that your aim is to somehow make the disk usable & reliable. Please give more explanation if that is not your aim. I'm surprised that just fixing a disk, without data recovery, is worth investigating...

Let me be clear - the vague and unhelpful information I have seen so far, does not make me want to spend much time on this issue IMHO. Therefore I will give some brief answers below, and then I'll let you wait for help from someone else, since you don't want to answer my questions.

Can you please clarify, how can i get corrupted data and post in here, what tool is recommended

I think you are asking which tools can be used to capture a copy of the (expected to be) corrupt MBR, to allow for more review? If so, then make sure to capture the MBR before and after running TestDisk to replace the MBR (since that is your temporary "fix"), to allow for comparison between the 2 versions of the MBR.

Most hex dump tools can also read physical sectors e.g. WinHex, HxD, Tiny Hexer etc. are just a few examples. You can also use the MS "Sector Inspector" command line tool from the link below, if you are running Win2k or later. I recommend that you install it (or any other hex dump tool) onto a different disk in the test PC, since you report that you cannot rely on the integrity of files written to the "problem" disk:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=dd3ef22a-a586-4079-9489-c3ea14573fc4&displaylang=en

The basic output from running that utility (no parameters) and redirecting the output to a file, will include the raw hex, and interpreted, versions of the MBR for you to see.

Good luck.

[DR-Kiev]

Dear All,

I have a problem with a HDD, every time i write data to HDD, MD5 hash of file is changed and file got corrupted.
I have used a Test Disk 6.11 with Write TestDisk MBR code to first sector, this saved a situation. Disk works fine with no problems, until i format it.
After a format i have to run Write TestDisk MBR code to first sector again to get functionality. can you please advice maybe there is a change to make a permanent fix on HDD.

Disk is WD10EADS-11M2B2

Thank you.

This is new drives with 4Kb sector size and 64Mb cash size. Which OS you have used?

[koolance]

I have used windows 7.
Now i have downloaded a Win hex, will provide details of 2 files shortly.

[N.C.]

I have used windows 7.
Now i have downloaded a Win hex, will provide details of 2 files shortly.

Try to replace the drive with non-WD, just for testing!

I have one WD drive wich "forgets" to check the ECC data somehow, maybe caused by firmware bug.
The issue was the drive was totally error free while R/W test, but if i filled the drive with FF/55/AA, the FF pattern have bit-errors.
I have seen this only on one WD drive no more.
(i have tested a lot maybe more than 1000 HDD with this tests, various size/brand/if/capacity/age)

Janos