UPDATE:
This seems to perfectly described my problem. (... Or so I thought.)
The system hangs up while trying to boot the hard disk when it is first booted after turning it on, but will boot after a warm reset
Explanation: The system will only boot the hard disk after a warm reset is performed when it is powered on for the first time. It will not boot the first time that the power is turned on.
EXCEPT that a "warm" reset doesn't seem to work. I have to turn the computer off and back on quickly, which seems too similar to ignore.
My computer unfortunately doesn't respond to the remedies listed for this issue. Turning off "Quick Boot", the drive still clicks during the Memory Test and continues to until I turn the computer off and back on quickly.
Sound clip of clicking (if it'll be of any use):
http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.ph ... 833065.wav
The clicking is not as loud as it sounds - I was holding the microphone right next to the hard drive, so the sound is exaggerated.
Also, there are times when it will boot fine without me having to take any special action - luck, I guess.
MAIN POST:
Thanks, EsaT. I forgot to mention that I've done everything I could think of as far as diagnostics. HDutil from Samsung would not run (I don't even have a floppy drive so I used Nero to burn DR DOS with HDutil to a bootable CD-ROM), but since you mentioned it I'll be persistent in trying to get it to work. I used a version of Seagate's diagnostics instead that actually could detect the eSATA drive (unlike the latest SeaTools 1.08). So I ran the tests - Quick Test and Full. Quick Test was fine, Full Test was fine (no problems for either of them), but File Structure test detected (and still detects) file system issues. This isn't saying much as it detects issues for some of my other drives which, according to chkdsk /R, have no problems. Oh, and chkdsk (/R or /F) find no problems with the drive, either, when connected via direct SATA.
Anyway, I've also checked S.M.A.R.T. parameters for the device using the free (for personal use) utility
DiskCheckup. I could only retrieve this information when the drive was connected directly via SATA. It wasn't picked up with the drive as eSATA (I tried other utilities at the time as I didn't know about DiskCheckup). If anyone else with an HD501LJ would run this utility to retrieve their S.M.A.R.T. parameters and post them for comparison it would be helpful. Here they are, by the way (adjusted for better fit):
Code: Select all
SMART ATTRIBUTES:
ID Description Raw Value Status Value Worst Threshold
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Raw Read Error Rate 0 OK 100 100 51
3 Spin Up Time 3328ms OK 100 100 15
4 Start/Stop Count 62 OK 100 100 0
5 Reallocated Sector Count 1 OK 100 100 10
7 Seek Error Rate 0 OK 253 253 51
8 Seek Time Performance 0 OK 253 253 15
9 Power On Time 657 OK 100 100 0
A Spin Retry Count 0 OK 253 253 51
B Calibration Retry Count 0 OK 253 253 0
C Power Cycle Count 56 OK 100 100 0
BB (Unknown attribute) 2162688 OK 253 253 0
BC (Unknown attribute) 0 OK 253 253 0
BE (Unknown attribute) 23 OK 77 62 0
C2 Temperature 23 C OK 169 124 0
C3 (Unknown attribute) 46689010 OK 100 100 0
C4 Reallocation Event Count 1 OK 100 100 0
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 6 OK 100 100 0
C6 Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 OK 253 253 0
C7 UltraDMA CRC Error Count 0 OK 200 200 0
C8 Write Error Count 0 OK 100 100 0
C9 Off Track Errors 0 OK 100 100 0
CA Direct Address Mark Error Rate 17 OK 100 100 0
Anyway, there doesn't appear to be a problem based on tests I've run UNLESS I'm using the external enclosure which I believe to be failing. In this situation, sectors will be interpreted as "bad" when the device times out, which it often does.
And the non-external problem (direct SATA) occurs only at system startup, or when the system is booting up. As I've described before, it clicks, the drive unable to be detected. I power the computer off, immediately power it back on, and it works fine.
The drive has a physical defect that it didn't ship with caused during its installation into the external enclosure. I am confident that this is unrelated to the problem based on the bizarre symptoms the drive exhibits, but if you disagree, please explain. Anyway, there's a chip on the plastic portion of the SATA interface - the short, angled portion. The SATA cable connects snugly and with no problems, however. My point is that I don't believe Samsung would honor the warranty with this damage present, but based on its performance I believe the drive may be salvageable.
I'm just wondering if this unique power on-brief power off-power on pattern to get the drive working is familiar to anyone or indicative of anything. My theory is that the reason the drive worked (while it did) in the crappy external enclosure was that the drive was able to receive power and take its time to become ready for usage before its data was accessed. In other words, keeping the order of Plug In - Wait Shortly - Connect To Computer made it work.
Does this make sense to anyone? I've been Googling this and trying to find other instances of this problem but no luck so far. Any suggestions on things I can do or try or test to determine the cause of the problem would be immensely appreciated. Thanks in advance.
People that are unhappy with it are more likely to write (bad) things about it. I think it's awsome though.
I've edited my post now.
), or a RAID0 of two WD2000JS? Which choice gives the best random access time, which choice is the most silent, and which choice does give the best overall performance?
