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<p>Many people find themselves in a situation while using PC&#8217;s that they suspect or find out they have a hard disk problem. The big question then is what to do about it; how to handle the problem, and in which order. This article is intended to help people with those problems.<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Here is my troubleshooting guide for hard disks:<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="text-decoration: underline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">1-How to set up the PC?</strong></span><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />a) If you have a PC with an OS that is fully functional, I suggest to take the problem drive and hook it directly to the SATA or IDE connector &#8211; so don&#8217;t use any USB bridges, or external USB boxes.<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />WHY? These use a bridge chip that converts the USB interface to the SATA or IDE interface, thus adding an extra layer (read : more possible problems)<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />An IDE drive is best connected with a separate IDE cable, and jumpered as Master (you don&#8217;t need the cd drive at this point, so disconnect it.<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />If that is not possible, you add it as 2nd device, and verify the correct jumpering ! (probably as Slave)<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Any SATA drive is Master on its own cable, and can be connected without any jumpering problem.</p>
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<p>b) If the problem disk is a laptop drive, you have to use a 2.5&#8243; to 3.5&#8243; IDE adaptor cable (which does NOT add an extra layer); here an example (not even 5$): <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-108&;cat=HDD" target="_blank">http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-108&;cat=HDD</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />c) If for some reason, you cannot directly connect the drive, and have to use an USB adaptor, you can use a powered one that connects 2.5&#8243;, and 3.5&#8243; IDE, and SATA drives: <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156102" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156102</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />***note that some diagnostic cd&#8217;s will not recognise any USB devices!<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="text-decoration: underline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">2-How to handle the problem disk ?</strong></span><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />&#8211; when you connect your (new) disk, verify if it is seen in the bios; this is the FIRST MUST : it must be identified correct in the bios!<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Only then can you pursue other testing or diagnosing avenues<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />&#8211; if not, check the options you have for the disk for installing it, e.g., jumper, power connector, other cable&#8230;<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />you can also swap cables, and use other power connectors, to avoid bad contact problems.<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />How to install an IDE disk: <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.easeus.com/resource/install-ide-hard-drive.htm" target="_blank">http://www.easeus.com/resource/install-ide-hard-drive.htm</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />How to install a SATA disk: <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.easeus.com/resource/install-sata-hard-drive.htm" target="_blank">http://www.easeus.com/resource/install-sata-hard-drive.htm</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />&#8211; here a nice guide for installing and testing a disk drive : <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-us&;name=install-troubleshoot-sata-non-mac&;vgnextoid=2b089d2c3c90e010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD" target="_blank">http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-us&;name=install-troubleshoot-sata-non-mac&;vgnextoid=2b089d2c3c90e010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />&#8211; then run the full manufacturers (long test) Diagnostic on it &#8211; you find them all here, if you can still boot up your OS :<a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287" target="_blank">http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />&#8211; if you are unable to boot the PC from disk, run the diagnostics from a bootable diagnostic cd, like:<a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/</a> <br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />&#8211; and, if I have old disks or disk drives of unknown quality, I run HDD Regenerator over them: <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.dposoft.net/" target="_blank">http://www.dposoft.net/</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />You can also use Spinrite. These tools repair more than 60% of all drives reported bad!<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />&#8211; if the data must be recovered, you can try to replace the hard disk logic board, with one of the same model and firmware, as shown in this article: <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.deadharddrive.com/" target="_blank">http://www.deadharddrive.com/</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /> &#8211; a discussion on the disk sizes : <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_drives/hard_drive_size_barriers.htm" target="_blank">http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_drives/hard_drive_size_barriers.htm</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="text-decoration: underline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">3- And what if you need the data, from an unbootable disk ?</strong></span><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Without running recovery software (which is out of this topic), you can always boot from a bootable cd, like the BartPe, or ubcd4win Live CD&#8217;s: <br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />BartPe: <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/" target="_blank">http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />UBCD4Win: <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.ubcd4win.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ubcd4win.com/</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />but the one I prefer is Knoppix &#8211; which lets you access the disk, the internet, USB devices, and much more!<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Find it here : <a style="color: #777777; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html" target="_blank">http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html</a><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />download the file in English (en), or German (ge) or other language in the download section<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />(note that it is 600-700Mb)<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />You can summarise the above like this:<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />-connect the disk properly, to be able to execute all tests<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />-if possible, backup the data<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />-then run the proper diagnostics; either from a running OS, or from a bootable CD, both mentioned above<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />-if this reports a bad disk, or bad sectors, use the HDD regenerator tool, or Spinrite<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />-in some cases, replacing the disk logic board will make the disk useable again<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />I hope this helps YOU! [<a href="http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Hard_Drives/A_3000-The-bad-hard-disk-problem.html" target="_blank">nobus via EE</a>]</p>