Dell complaints

TJStaar · Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:00 pm Post subject: A couple questions

Hi,

I have the all too common hard drive failure issue on my C drive. Fail, return code 4, and 2 blocks with errors 0F00:0244 and 0F00:1A44.

The drive is a WD 500GB SATA. Since I have to replace it, I want to get the largest drive I can. It's a Dell XPS/Dimension 710 with Bios 1.1. Is there a limit to the size of drive I can install? It has a 750 watt PS. I also have a 2nd drive (D) that is identical to the C. I have to assume it will fail also. Any suggestions on a good drive to get?

In order to try to salvage data from the failed drive, which I know may be a long shot, I have an Antec MX-1 enclosure that I can hook up to my other computer. Do I need to run chkdsk or windows recovery first? The drive won't boot, even in safe mode.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Todd

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:02 pm Post subject:

Can't tell you if there is a size limit. A drive substantially newer in design than the BIOS may not be recognized.

When drives fail normally, gradually, they become unbootable before they become unreadable. Repair is not necessary to read them. After all, repair relies upon reading. Thus if they're unreadable they're also unrecoverable.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

TJStaar · Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:11 am Post subject:

Thanks. I guess I'll try a 1TB and see if it's recognized.

HellComputer · Emperor of Dellhateology Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 328

Since you only have a few sector read failures, all is not lost.
Remove both drives, and mark them so you don't confuse which is which.
Buy a new 1TB drive and re-install your OS.
Install the old bad drive as a secondary drive.
Buy SW that is capable of recovering data. There is some out there that you can get on a trial basis.
Get what data you can off of the bad drive and copy it to your new drive.
Remove the old drive and smash it with a hammer a few times to secure your data.
Install your other good drive.
Buy an external USB drive that you can use to periodically back up your system, or at least important files.
All set.

diashto · Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 8:16 am Post subject:

There's a theoretical limit of 2tb for drive size on WinXP, iirc.. other than that you should be ok.

TJStaar · Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:08 am Post subject:

Thanks, sounds like good advice. I had always heard that there were drive size restrictions with certain bios'. Maybe that was a long time ago.

TJStaar · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:43 am Post subject:

I've now installed a 1TB drive and have reinstalled Windows XP from the Dhell CD. Now all of the Windows updates from the last 2 years are coming through.

Once those are all loaded, what's the prevailing thought about updating the bios and drivers? I saw on the Dhell support site that there is a 1.4.1 bios update to my 1.1 version. I never noticed a problem with the current bios. If it's thought that these updates should all be done, I'd like to do them now before I load any data on the disk. Thoughts?

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 11:13 am Post subject:

I would never reflash BIOS unless I was experiencing a problem a reflash was supposed to solve.

With Dell's Chinese BIOS, the odds of CAUSING a problem are too high. If it's working don't fix it.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

TJStaar · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 11:33 am Post subject:

Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

TJStaar · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:31 am Post subject:

I installed the old drive as drive 1 with the new drive as drive 0, and it hangs on startup as if it's booting from the old one. I even moved it to drive 5 with the same result. The boot sequence in the bios didn't let you specify a particular boot drive that I could see, just CD/DVD drive followed by SATA drive. I thought drive 0 was the boot drive by default.

I then placed the old drive in an enclosure and hooked it up through USB. When I go to My Computer or Explorer it shows up as drive F:, but if I click on it, it justs asks me if I want to format the drive. I tried to run chkdsk on it, but it does nothing. When I click on properties it shows the graphic with 0.00 for total and available. It is also showing as a RAW file system.

Is there anything else I can do to try to access the data? A software program? It's not critical enough to pay hundreds to a data recovery company, but I do want to make sure I did all I can before I give up on it (I'm just that way).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

diashto · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:24 am Post subject:

You might want to try something like Spinrite. It may be able to help you.

TJStaar · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:49 am Post subject:

Thanks, I'll look into it.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 11:08 am Post subject:

Don't necessarily give up just because I told you to.

But if the drive can't identify itself, there's nothing on it that can be recovered conventionally.

One thing you don't know, is whether the rig as it stands is capable of working with a good drive in the USB peripheral.

BTW, the hang at boot was BIOS waiting to complete hardware inventory. The controller knew it was talking to a drive. But the drive identity is on the media itself and must be read. No read, no identity, no inventory, no boot.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

dennisl59 · MDh--Master of Dellhateology Joined: 17 Dec 2008 Posts: 86

Given the cost of a replacement drive, your time in hours and hours and hours of messing with it, and unless the failed drive has irreplaceable data that cannot be reproduced, just crush the bad drive, count it as a loss, and move on. Or else pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars to Drive Savers. Your choice.

TJStaar · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:17 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I hear you. I'm not planning on spending a lot of time and effort on it. I've got a couple of things left that I can try, but I'm not gonna go nuts about it.

Thanks for all the help and ideas.

Todd