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From: robert@hemingway.WEITEK.COM (Robert Plamondon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Harddisk Problem
Message-ID: <798@hemingway.WEITEK.COM>
Date: 27 Sep 89 16:31:59 GMT
References: <26590@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Reply-To: robert@hemingway.WEITEK.COM (Robert Plamondon)
Distribution: usa
Organization: WEITEK, Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 70

In article <26590@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> hanj@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Jining Han) writes:
>
>A friend's harddisk is on the verge of breakdown: it's a 30 mb Seagate
>(he could not tell me the model over the phone) on an XT-clone.  It
>started with a lot of bad sectors.  Then we reformatted it some months
>ago and virtually got rid of the bad sectors.  But since then the
>computer gets stuck every time "copy" command is used.  I suspected that
>something is wrong with the RAM, but since "xcopy" works fine, we just
>ignore the "copy".

This is what is referred to in technical circles as "bad news."  If
you always boot from the hard disk, the failure of COPY means that
COMMAND.COM or one of the two other system files is corrupted.  You
can test this by booting off a floppy and seeing if COPY works.

Stepper-motor hard disks often degrade gradually over time: stepper
inaccuracies turn circular tracks into zig-zags.  If this is the
problem, a LOW-LEVEL format (which is NOT performed by the DOS FORMAT
command) will fix it.

>Though he can still use or abuse the harddisk, he is desperately looking
>for a way out of this agony and sense of insecurity.  A new disk seems
>to be the easiest way out.  Yet some questions still remain:

>1. Is there any connection between the harddisk breakdown and the "copy"
>   command not being usable?  Is there any potential cause for another
>   breakdown if a new one is installed?
>
>2. Assuming that it's safe to install a new one, does he need to change the
>   controller?  This question arises because he no longer likes 30 mb disks.
>   What will his controller do to a new 20 mb harddisk (turning it into a
>   30 mb)?

The controller could be bad, the hard disk could be bad, DOS could be
bad, or something else could be bad.  I would check the following:

1. Does he have a power supply rated for 150 watts or above?  If not,
the overload can cause all sorts of errors, including hard disk
errors.

2. Does the system report parity errors?  I have a clone that turns
parity error detection off by default.  Your suspicion of RAM errors
may well be right.

3. Reload DOS with the SYS command

4. Pull out all unnecessary cards (all but the drive controllers and
display adaptor) and see if the problem goes away.

5. Back up the drive with FastBack or something (anything but DOS
BACKUP) and do a low-level format of the drive, followed by a
high-level format.

6. If the problems persist, replace the controller card.

7. If the problems persist, find a disk-drive repair company.  They
can repair your drive, or, if you want a new one, will buy your old
one (not for much, but it's better than nothing).

8. Get the drive put back inside the case so the user doesn't
continue bashing it to death.

9. His numerological suspicion that 30 MB drives are inherently
faulty is silly. 20 MB drives are no more reliable, and are probably
less so, since they're all El Cheapo drives.

	-- Robert
-- 
    Robert Plamondon
    robert@weitek.COM
    "No Toon can resist the old 'Shave and a Hair-Cut'"