Planetarion Forums

TeraHertz · 31 Oct 2003, 14:13

I have been experiancing a large number of file corruptions recently. I think it's due to file fragmentation, but I don't know what causing the fragmentation. I have switched off the indexing service, but no luck improving things yet. At the end of the week, my hard drive defrag anaylysis is very red and takes ages to complete.

Does anyone have any ideas? I use a
30GB Maxtor drive,
win2k pro sp4,
FAT32 file system
IE6 SP1
Freeserve ADSL (speedtouch 330 modem)
Athlon 2400+
512MB PC2700 DDR RAM
ASUS A7S333 mobo
SBLive! 1024 Sound Card
DVD Drive. Generic make, unsure what kind
52x24x52 Samsung CD writer
ZoneAlarm Pro 4

I have tried with the indexing service both on and off, and I've tried using both NTFS and FAT filesystems. I've also tried a low level format using maxtor powermax.
I used Maxtor's power max utility to error check, but after running it says my HDD is certified error free, so I dont think it's bad sectors.

Sympoms:
Intermitant PC crashes/restarts. Happens on it's own, when a hyperlink is clicked, or during programs. Seems random.
Download corruption (generaly it's random, but most often it's files of 200MB or more.
Install failures (from CDs I that I know are fine)
Terrible, and frequent ,file fragmentation despite constant defrags (usualy once a week)

Nodrog · 31 Oct 2003, 14:15

www.penis.com

ChubbyChecker · 31 Oct 2003, 14:18

Sounds like you have a crappy hard drive. Buy a new one forthwith.

NEWSBOT3 · 31 Oct 2003, 14:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChubbyChecker

Sounds like you have a crappy hard drive. Buy a new one forthwith.

TeraHertz · 31 Oct 2003, 14:29

isnt there some way to flag files "do not fragment"

G_frog · 31 Oct 2003, 15:17

not with windows defragmenter, but its not very good anyway. i think O&O defrag lets you do such things. probably other disc tools will too. obviously i don't condone pirating such software at all.

CjC · 31 Oct 2003, 15:56

Have you tried simply getting another drive cable? or trying the drive on the secondary controller (IDE-2).

Is the drive on an ATA controller, what speed 66/100/133?
What type of IDE cable is it (Standard ATA 66/100 etc.) Also whats the drives capability (again is it ATA and what rating)?

TeraHertz · 31 Oct 2003, 20:21

/me smiles blankly and backs away looking for a place to run.

Sorry, you'll have to excuse my HDD ignorance :-p
No, i have not tried another cable, and no, I have not tried the secondery controler. I will do that tommorrow.

I'm unsure what you mean by an ATA controller.
under Device Manager, the drive appears to be on
IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers/Primary IDE Channel/location zero and set to autodetect the mode. The mode it's set itself to is UDMA.

The Drive is a Maxtor Diamond max 8 and is ATA 133

As for the cable, I think you may have hit the nail on the head there.
It came with my motherboard, and according to the manual, it's an 80-conductor cable for UDMA 66/100 drives.

The manual also says the motherboard supports UDMA100/66/33

So what does that mean? Should the HDD use the slower speed with no probs automaticaly, or do I need to do it manualy? Or is this even possible. Does it mean I'm shafted and need a new HDD rated at UDMA 100?

MrL_JaKiri · 31 Oct 2003, 20:25

Why are you using FAT32 and not NTFS, btw?

TeraHertz · 31 Oct 2003, 20:28

Becasue I tried NTFS and it was just as bad.

[edit] so far after googling around a bit I have found nothing to suggest that my ATA133 drive would have problems on a ATA100 motherboard, it would just be a bit slower.

MrL_JaKiri · 31 Oct 2003, 20:32

NTFS is better for this kind of thing than FAT32, you know.

TeraHertz · 31 Oct 2003, 20:40

hmm, after reading the below thread I can see at a glance I have a hell of alot of stuff on my +5V . I have a 300W PSU, so I think I'll order a new PSU just to be safe.
I do not think that this is the problem however.
http://pirate.planetarion.com/showthread.php?t=155500

TeraHertz · 31 Oct 2003, 20:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrL_JaKiri

NTFS is better for this kind of thing than FAT32, you know.

Yes, so I'm told. My flat m8, NiM, said FAT32 was better for integrity, and NTFS was better for security. A few weeks later after discussing the problem, he had changed his mind. I DEFINATLEY didn't mishear him the first time. Anyway, I've decided a while ago the next format would be to NTFS.

Coffee · 31 Oct 2003, 20:57

Change your IDE cable.

The only benifit FAT32 has over NTFS is speed.

My PSU is a 200w one, I have 160 + 40 gb hdd's, a dvd-rw, xp2200+, 786mb ram and 9700pro with no problems.

TeraHertz · 31 Oct 2003, 21:04

Change my IDE cable to what? Just another ATA100 80 strand? Or should I look for a ATA133 (which I assume will cost a fair bit considering only MAxtor are doing ATA133 at the moment)

Note that my IDE cable is brand new, and as far as I can see, undamaged.

Coffee · 31 Oct 2003, 21:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeraHertz

Note that my IDE cable is brand new, and as far as I can see, undamaged.

Most data corruption problems that arn't related to a faulty drive (ie bad sectors) i've generally found that the IDE cable was to blame. Might not be, but try replacing it anyway.

TeraHertz · 31 Oct 2003, 21:43

Ordered a ATA133 cable.

TeraHertz · 1 Nov 2003, 05:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coffee

Most data corruption problems that arn't related to a faulty drive (ie bad sectors) i've generally found that the IDE cable was to blame. Might not be, but try replacing it anyway.

So what were the other causes? So far, Im going to:
Get a new AMD certified 400 watt PSU
Get a ATA 133 cable
and ow level format the drive to NTFS. (Last time I formated to NTFS, I used windows crappy standard format maybe this will help, though like I said Maxtor PowerMax reads that my disk is certified error free.)

Embroglio · 1 Nov 2003, 06:15

Posting to say hi in a TeraHertz thread.

TeraHertz · 1 Nov 2003, 17:46

lol.
hi. :-p