pinto_guy Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 I have revived yet another SE30. The HDD, however (Quantum Prodrive 80S) is throwing errors. I thought that a Lido format would find and reallocate bad blocks, but it does not seem to be doing that. So I tried the "Overnight Test" in the Lido software, hoping to do just that. However, it seems to be giving up after 100 errors have been found. Would anyone have a suggestion ? I could replace the HDD of course, but would prefer of course to keep the original, even if that means reducing the capacity a bit. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Unknown_K Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 If you are getting new defects save the data (if needed) and get another drive. I have old MFM drives with defects but they don't get new ones so I use them as is. Anything newer that's starts giving me problems get trashed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pinto_guy Posted August 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 No, I don't think I get new ones. Just the ones that had grown during the 25 years in storage. The HDD was dead, but Lido's Format revived it. However, a 7.0.1 OS install failed. I tried to split the 80M drive into two partitions, and I could install the OS into one of them. However, I found more bad blocks in that partition as well. Do you know of any format/test software that reallocates bad blocks, and that is not limited to 100 media errors ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
techknight Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 The fact that it is a Prodrive is means enough to get rid of it, but now that it has bad sectors? thats likely because the heads are slinging melted rubber everywhere and its only a matter of time before it dies with the click of death. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IlikeTech Posted August 29, 2017 Report Share Posted August 29, 2017 Try silverlining pro. I heard it can work wonders. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
techknight Posted August 30, 2017 Report Share Posted August 30, 2017 Case in point: NO amount of software is gonna fix this: (this was a prodrive. Cant remember if it was a 2.5" or a 3.5") Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BadGoldEagle Posted August 30, 2017 Report Share Posted August 30, 2017 (edited) Weirdly enough all my quantums work great, I've only had bad luck with the sonys. (2 outta 3 are shot) It's usually the other way round. One of the Sonys is currently on hold, having the same symptoms as your prodrive... But I ran out of sectors so I guess this one is toast. The Mac OS is able to format it fine though. Edited August 30, 2017 by BadGoldEagle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
68krazy Posted August 30, 2017 Report Share Posted August 30, 2017 I've had mixed luck with Quantum drives, good luck with IBM drives.... excellent luck with SCSI2SD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pinto_guy Posted September 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2017 Thanks ILikeTech for the advice. Downloading Silverlining Pro now, and will try this week-end when I finally got time to tinker. And yes Techknight, I spend 27 years in R&D at Seagate, IBM, and HGST, working on HDD reliability, so I can tell you everything you want to know (or don't) about HDD failure modes!! By the way, I used to create all my system floppies on a PC using Transmac and Disk Copy, but now that I have a MacBook, I use the "sudo dd" command on the Mac Terminal, using a $9 USB floppy drive bought on eBay, and it's a breeze ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pinto_guy Posted September 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2017 I finally found a solution to my problem. I used a combination of Lido and Macinstor software (I have an old external 600MD HDD from them, with the software in it). I found that most of the bad blocks were clustered in a small range, in the middle of the drive. What I did then was to note the range of block address (in my case between blocks 58,200 and 58,300), and create 3 partitions. Two of them with the "good" areas, and a small one with the bad block zone. Somehow, Lido allows for a "scratch" partition which never mounts. So now, I have a boot partition of ~30MB, and an extra data partition of ~50MB. I installed system 7.0.1, and I'm now up and running ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pinto_guy Posted September 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2017 Weirdly enough all my quantums work great, I've only had bad luck with the sonys. (2 outta 3 are shot) It's usually the other way round. One of the Sonys is currently on hold, having the same symptoms as your prodrive... But I ran out of sectors so I guess this one is toast. The Mac OS is able to format it fine though. Yeah, those Sonys are finicky. I spent almost the whole week-end going through my collection of old 3.5" SCSI HDD's. I have 19 of them, and 6 external ones. Interestingly, none of my two Sony's full height 40MB spun on power on, but both did after I gently tapped their side. Looks like they both suffered from a mild case of stiction. They both formatted OK. Of the 19 bare drives, 6 of them did not make it (2 Miniscribe, 2 Conner, 1 Quantum, 1 IBM). I love the 20MB Miniscribe drive, with its noisy stepper motor actuator that you can actually see. I still have two working ones and they are beautiful. Of my 6 external ones, two were dead. So all in all, not a bad ratio overall. The thrill of reading data from magnetic domains on a disk surface, that had been dormant for so many years is incredible. I must say I also feel a bit of a voyeur when I open documents that people had left on them. My best find: a full height HP 540MB, as healthy as ever, which I installed in one of the dead external drive. By the way BadGoldEagle, I know you live in France. Are you French (I am) ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BadGoldEagle Posted September 18, 2017 Report Share Posted September 18, 2017 Yeah I'm a French guy living in France. Are you too? According to the website, you're in CA... Are you French (I am) ? If that second Miniscribe is taking too much space on your desk, I'll happily take it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pinto_guy Posted September 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2017 I'm a French expat, born and raised in Paris, but now living in the SF Bay Area. Great place for a vintage Mac fan ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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