Answering my own question: did some digging through the linux-raid archives, found a huge number of posts where people had problems with virtually all drive manufacturers. bad . :-( --- M K <maheshext3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Though this is not a hard-drive info thread, > someone's > complaint about Maxtor drives caught my attention, > since I have been experiencing similar issues - > quite > a few drives have been just going bad all of a > sudden > after working fine for a month or two - the > time-to-failure duration is random; My experience > has > been primarily with the Maxstor 250 and 300 GB > drives > - which the company claims are "near-line" drives. > are there any other reliable drives that anyone has > tested ? > Thanks in Advance! > --- Toby Bluhm <tkb9@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Steve Watford wrote: > > > > >Yes, I downloaded the Maxtor diagnostic program > and > > installed to a diskette. > > >It reports that the drive is failing and to back > up > > right away returning a > > >diagnostic code for an RMA. Oh well, guess it > > really is hardware. I will be > > >dd'ing it over to another drive and sending this > > one back. Then I'll work on > > >it from there. > > > > > >What would be the exact syntax for the dd command > > for the entire disk as you > > >suggested? I will be installing a parallel drive > > in the morning, also a > > >160GB drive as /dev/hdc with the bad one being > > /dev/hda. The bad drive is > > >nowhere near full, but is the max file size a > > problem still? I shouldn't do > > >just partitions instead? Although the one with > the > > actual problem is a 100GB > > >partition, although only about 20% full. Around > 22 > > Gig all together on the > > >drive. > > > > > >Thanks for the help, > > >Steve > > > > > >On Thursday 20 May 2004 10:51 pm, Toby Bluhm > wrote: > > > > > > > > >>evilninja wrote: > > >> > > >> > > >>>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > >>>Hash: SHA1 > > >>> > > >>>Steve Watford schrieb: > > >>>| Thanks, > > >>>| I'll give dd a try for backup puposes. I have > > already tried to fsck > > >>>| the > > >>>| partition it just comes back with a short > read > > error. Asking if it is > > >>>| a zero > > >>> > > >>>always be careful to check an already damaged > > disk: > > >>>| Steve Watford schrieb: > > >>>| | hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady > > SeekComplete Error } > > >>>| | hda: dma_intr: error=0x40 { > > UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=90895772, > > >>> > > >>>being not a professional but a normal user i > > think this really looks > > >>>like some hw issues. so i'd suggest better to > > copy (dd) all the data > > >>>from the disk, as long as you have time to. > every > > additional use of the > > >>>disk may cause its final death. > > >>> > > >>>i wonder why your other partitions *seem* to > > still be ok (e.g. "mount" > > >>>and using its data then succeeds)... > > >>> > > >>> > > >>Ack! I've had too many failures with Maxtor > disks. > > >> > > >>Anyway, use conv=sync,noerror with your dd > > command, preferably to an > > >>identical disk. Do the entire disk /dev/hda. > Yes, > > it will take a very > > >>long time, but you have no other recourse if you > > want maintain all your > > >>data. Then fsck the new disk. Fsck on the bad > disk > > may just make matters > > >>worse. > > >> > > >>Download Maxtor's ide utility & see if you can > fix > > the bad one - may > > >>require a total disk rewrite. > > >> > > >>Nothing unusual about the other partitions > being > > okay - just a matter > > >>of location of the sectors on the platter(s). Be > > suspicious of the > > >>entire disk though. > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > You may as well do the entire disk: > > > > dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb bs=1k conf=sync,noerror > > > > Install the new disk as hda & run your fsck on > hda3. > > > > -- > > > > Toby Bluhm > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Ext3-users@xxxxxxxxxx > > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/ext3-users > > > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. > http://messenger.yahoo.com/ > > > _______________________________________________ > > Ext3-users@xxxxxxxxxx > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/ext3-users __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ Ext3-users@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/ext3-users