[danjo-xx]

I received a brand new 3.5" hard drive by post this morning it was in a hard plastic kinda bubble wrapper which was then put into the usual bubble wrap bag but this only covered 75% of it and then it was in a Jiffey bag.

Despite being labeled with two stickers 'FRAGILE' postie bunged it through the letter box and it fell (of course) away from the mat and onto the vinyl tiled floor.

I can't test it until I get the caddy next week, but what are the chances it's not D.O.A.

[yoyo]

Originally Posted by danjo-xx

I received a brand new 3.5" hard drive by post this morning it was in a hard plastic kinda bubble wrapper which was then put into the usual bubble wrap bag but this only covered 75% of it and then it was in a Jiffey bag.

Despite being labeled with two stickers 'FRAGILE' postie bunged it through the letter box and it fell (of course) away from the mat and onto the vinyl tiled floor.

I can't test it until I get the caddy next week, but what are the chances it's not D.O.A.

Hard drives should not be knocked around ,even the drop from a letterbox to a vinyl floor would probably affect it, I've seen companies use these air packaging which expands over a hard drive which is pritty good, but still not probably going to help if the device is thrown about.
Even if it works I would definitely run a diagnostics on it once you get around to trying it, no point in trusting a possible dodgy drive

Nick

[danjo-xx]

I saw a post somewhere that if the arm thingy is in the original position as it would would be with a new hd, then it can withstand shocks much better than a used hd.

every little helps....clinging to straws

[yoyo]

Originally Posted by danjo-xx

I saw a post somewhere that if the arm thingy is in the original position as it would would be with a new hd, then it can withstand shocks much better than a used hd.

every little helps....clinging to straws

It will be "better" protected but still fragile, ie a active drive getting a knock will likely be affected much more than one turned off (due to the drive head working over the disk at the time), still though hard disks are complex devices and knocks can serious affect them, even the slightest. Worth checking out anyway, its the suppliers problem if the device wasn't packaged and shipped using correct ways for such a device

Nick

[danjo-xx]

Originally Posted by yoyo

It will be "better" protected but still fragile, ie a active drive getting a knock will likely be affected much more than one turned off (due to the drive head working over the disk at the time), still though hard disks are complex devices and knocks can serious affect them, even the slightest. Worth checking out anyway, its the suppliers problem if the device wasn't packaged and shipped using correct ways for such a device

Nick

Without getting into consumers issues too much nick, do you think AnPost have any responsibility in this by shoving a packet clearly marked
*FRAGILE* through the letter box instead of trying to hand it in first.

[yoyo]

Originally Posted by danjo-xx

Without getting into consumers issues too much nick, do you think AnPost have any responsibility in this by shoving a packet clearly marked
*FRAGILE* through the letter box instead of trying to hand it in first.

Its up to the person shipping it to argue that, not yourself, but yes I would imagine "Fragile" means that an post workers should not put such a packet through the letter box. If a hd diagnostic passes you should be ok though, do try it

Nick

[danjo-xx]

I have assembled this and pc says 'found new hardware' and I could hear the disk spinning or vibrating, all normal sounds.

However it's not showing up in 'my computer' as a new drive.

Connecting the HDD to the Caddy:
It said , First check your HDD and configure your hard drive jumper settings to Master Mode.

I haven't a clue what that means and I could see nothing to adjust so I just went ahead.

[yoyo]

Originally Posted by danjo-xx

I have assembled this and pc says 'found new hardware' and I could hear the disk spinning or vibrating, all normal sounds.

However it's not showing up in 'my computer' as a new drive.

Connecting the HDD to the Caddy:
It said , First check your HDD and configure your hard drive jumper settings to Master Mode.

I haven't a clue what that means and I could see nothing to adjust so I just went ahead.

SATA drives don't generally need a jumper (look at imfo booklet that came with drive jic one is needed to run the drive externally), you must then go into Disk Management and Initialize and Format the new disk

Nick

[danjo-xx]

Originally Posted by yoyo

SATA drives don't generally need a jumper (look at imfo booklet that came with drive jic one is needed to run the drive externally), you must then go into Disk Management and Initialize and Format the new disk

Nick

It seems to be there in Disk Management, but says 149GB and its supposed to be 160. According to instructions it has to be partitioned first.

But when I select Action, new partition is shaded out. Is there another route Nick.

[danjo-xx]

I found me way through the maze

Now what software do I need to run to do a diagnostic test on this.

[I Kill You Scum!]

Do a low-level format in Seatools Dos or the equivalent software for whatever drive you have. It'll write and then read data to every sector on the disk and if there's any bad ones they will get reallocated. Shouldn't take too long with a 160GB disk.

Then boot back into windows and check the smart data with any HDD diagnostic tool. If you've a rake of reallocated sectors then the drive is a goner imo, in my experience once you get more than a few it just snowballs.

[EarthlyPangaea]

Originally Posted by danjo-xx

It seems to be there in Disk Management, but says 149GB and its supposed to be 160. According to instructions it has to be partitioned first.

But when I select Action, new partition is shaded out. Is there another route Nick.

That sounds about right. 160 GB is the marketing capacity, real (formatted) capacity is about right at 149 GB. For example, on my 1 TB external HDD, there's about 930 GB formatted capacity. Article at wikipedia.

[danjo-xx]

@ I'll kill you scum, too late formatting was under way. Has finally completed and drive marked 'healthy'

Was looking at the seagate site for diagnostics tool but it sends me around in circles when I hit the download button and a warning not to d/L unless you trust this site, the usual stuff.

Can anyone give me a safe link to some tool I can run to test this drive, thanks. o.s. winxp 32bit.

[riclad]

http://hddscan.com/
theres a smart extended test takes 30mins to 2hours .
see
S.M.A.R.T. tests

The program allows running three kinds of tests:
Short test – lasts about 1-2 minutes. The test inspects drive’s main schemas, scans small part of drive’s surface and checks sectors from the Pending-list (such sectors may have read errors). This test recommended for quick drive testing.
Extended test – lasts 0.5-2 hours. The test inspects drive’s main schemas and scans the whole drive’s surface.
Conveyance test – usually lasts several minutes. The test inspects drive’s main schemas and logs which may indicate inaccurate transportation or storing.

Copy say ten gig data ,before you begin the test, ,like to partitition a drive into 2 partition,use partition 2 for backups.
CHANCES are drive is ok, drive goes to parking mode when powered off.

[danjo-xx]

thanks riclad I'll run that tomorrow as going out shortly.