russell@ALF.UNOMAHA.EDU (Tim Russell) (06/12/90)
Hi folks,
I'm having a problem with a harddrive in my system, and I'd appreciate
any advice you can give me.
My system is a 20mhz 386 clone. Until recently, I had two floppies and
a Seagate ST-251 40meg drive mounted in it, with no problems. Then I
bought a Seagate ST225 20meg drive and added it in, making it drive 0 and
the ST251 drive 1, so that I could use all 40megs as one partition under
dos 3.3.
Lately, the ST251 has been acting up. Every once in awhile, it starts
making a small ticking noise, like it's seeking the head on its own. Then
the computer won't access it. The light on the drive lights up, but it
just sits there ticking. Occasionally, it makes a sound like it's seeking
the heads all the way across the disk, then it goes back to working
normally.
Does anyone know what could be causing this? First I thought heat,
but then it did it straight from a cold start one morning. Today I tried
a new data cable, thinking that the connector may be loose. No good.
I'm getting very frustrated! :-)
Thanks profusely in advance for any help you can give me!
--
Tim Russell University of Nebraska at Omaha russell@alf.unomaha.edu
"The opera ain't over till the last heterosexual falls asleep!"pfratar@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Paul Frattaroli - DCS) (06/12/90)
In article <9006112346.AA03221@alf.unomaha.edu> russell@ALF.UNOMAHA.EDU (Tim Russell) writes: >Hi folks, > [stuff deleted] > > Lately, the ST251 has been acting up. Every once in awhile, it starts >making a small ticking noise, like it's seeking the head on its own. Then >the computer won't access it. The light on the drive lights up, but it >just sits there ticking. Occasionally, it makes a sound like it's seeking >the heads all the way across the disk, then it goes back to working >normally. A friend of mine just had this same thing happen to him on his PS/2 model 50Z. The drive makes a ticking sound (or soft clunk) kind of like the sound one of those oil cans make when you squeeze the bottom. My advice is make a backup NOW!!!! Don't wait, your drive could go dead very soon. My friend's did. Trying to fix the problem with PC Tools 5.5 Compress Disk Surface analysis, only made things progressively worse. (More and more bad sectors until very little was useful anymore). While this may not be what your problem is, it sounds close. > > Does anyone know what could be causing this? First I thought heat, >but then it did it straight from a cold start one morning. Today I tried >a new data cable, thinking that the connector may be loose. No good. >I'm getting very frustrated! :-) > My friend and I were of the opinion that there was something blocking the read/write head movement. It just "clunks" into something. A piece of hardened lubricant used on the read/write head voice coil arm perhaps. This could knock it off of alignment. IMHO, I think this can be caused by uneven use of the hard disk. Like, when you have two (or more) partitions, (like my friend) and you use one more than the other. Or you almost exclusively use only one or two programs on the disk that are physically close together. This causes the head to move in a localized spot only. IMHO, I think you should regularly exercise your hard disk. An easy way to do this is running a good defragmenter or optimizer. Use the standard or packed method under normal conditions, and then once in a while run the file realignment feature. Any other opinions????? > Thanks profusely in advance for any help you can give me! > >-- > Tim Russell University of Nebraska at Omaha russell@alf.unomaha.edu > "The opera ain't over till the last heterosexual falls asleep!" ....Paul F -- Paul Frattaroli - Department of Computing Services University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2L-3G1 < pfratar@watshine.UWaterloo.ca > < pfratar@watserv1.UWaterloo.ca > [129.97.128.171] [129.97.129.140] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jawitz@ursa.UUCP (Eric Jawitz) (06/14/90)
Tim, As I understand it, under DOS 3.3, the largest partition you can have is 32 meg. Perhaps your problems are caused by your having exceeded this limit with your partitioning software. I'd suggest you try partitioning your ST-251 as 30/10 or 20/20 meg. -Ed beareq!thieb@wheaties.ai.mit.edu