Hi,

I was switching my 320gb SEAGATE HDD from NTFS to ext3 for my Linux machine (which I felt good about!).

I was doing it in Gparted, but it felt like it was taking forever and wasn't even doing the first step just kept loading and loading. The HDD worked previously on my Linux machine on NTFS so I know the drive did work. However I got impatient and said CANCEL, and it said may cause severe filesystem damage and I said ok (thinking I could just reformat it)

However now it just won't even recognise my HDD in fdisk -l or in GPARTED and my Windows machine won't even see it in the Disk Management tool.

Have I hosed it? Can I recover it?

Currently I put it in a spare comp and put a Ubuntu CD on it and trying to install Ubuntu on the HDD so it will reformat it. But it's hanging on 33%

Any way of recovering or is it gone?

When I did boot into Ubuntu from Install CD before it loaded up the real install screen it showed up on command line with these lines:

ata1.00 status DRDY

exception Emask

and some other numbers etc.

took a while then finally booted in.

Cheers

You might want to try running a commercial program called SpinRite to test the drive for errors... the drive may be beyond saving- a good friend of mine had an old Windows laptop that was just hosed with junk- so I reformatted- but the drive was too far gone to save. Give that program a run and see what happens.

I also think there might be a comparable program on the free Ultimate Boot CD

I did a bit of searching and found out that if I do

ide=nodma idebus=66

Then I have no problems on boot, and it reads it fine. Really weird. Going to google to check it out

Please post your h/w specs.

It may be those 'firmware related' problems.

The whole error message will make it clear...

Also use smart monitoring tools to get all the details.

What does seatools say?

There is no need to disable dma

Seatools won't install on Windows machine (unknown drive F this is without the drive even plugged in - I was using an external box

The errors were: hda DMA_timeout_error status=0x58 { Drive Ready, Seek, Complete }

and DMA Status 0x21

I'm going to try get the full boot log now

I've got two linux machines, won't work as an external on my main machine (AMD Athlon 2200+ 1.8ghz, Fedora 10, 1gb RAM).. wont even recognise in external box (tried with and without master jumper)

and an old machine which is a Pentium III with 128 MB of RAM, won't work as main and gives the DMA errors

seagate provides a standalone utility (freedos based) for checking disks.

You can boot that from CDROM or floppy

Thanks, I'm currently running the full diagnostic allowing the drive to check itself

did a quick diagnostic and said no problems

will report back. currently scanning for bad sectors. 0% complete as of yet

After the full diagnostic (took overnight) it says no problems found.

Going to look into it a little further with google now. I'm thinking could be firmware, but I'm not sure

OK I finally have a bootlog for you... I did manage to reformat in gparted and it did it without error (ext3)
create new ext3 filesystem 00:21:03 ( SUCCESS )

mkfs.ext3 -L "" /dev/sdb1

Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
19537920 inodes, 78142160 blocks
3907108 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=0
2385 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8192 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616

Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 38 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
mke2fs 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)

Also did a Check filesystem, everything OK

Check and repair filesystem (ext3) on /dev/sdb1 00:39:57 ( SUCCESS )

calibrate /dev/sdb1 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS )

path: /dev/sdb1
start: 63
end: 625137344
size: 625137282 (298.09 GiB)
check filesystem on /dev/sdb1 for errors and (if possible) fix them 00:39:57 ( SUCCESS )

e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/sdb1

Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information

11 inodes used (0.00%)
0 non-contiguous inodes (0.0%)
# of inodes with ind/dind/tind blocks: 0/0/0
1275097 blocks used (1.63%)
0 bad blocks
1 large file

0 regular files
2 directories
0 character device files
0 block device files
0 fifos
0 links
0 symbolic links (0 fast symbolic links)
0 sockets
--------
2 files
e2fsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
grow filesystem to fill the partition 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS )

resize2fs /dev/sdb1

resize2fs 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
The filesystem is already 78142160 blocks long. Nothing to do!


I've posted the relevant part of dmesg (this is a secondary hard drive, slave on a working computer - primary works fine)

ata1.00 is giving the errors

[ 7.902406] ata_piix 0000:00:1f.1: version 2.12
[ 7.902605] ata_piix 0000:00:1f.1: setting latency timer to 64
[ 7.902935] scsi0 : ata_piix
[ 7.903591] scsi1 : ata_piix
[ 7.903725] ata1: PATA max UDMA/66 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0xffa0 irq 14
[ 7.903736] ata2: PATA max UDMA/66 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xffa8 irq 15
[ 7.919940] usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 8.101320] ata1.00: ATA-4: WDC WD204BA, 16.13M16, max UDMA/66
[ 8.101336] ata1.00: 39876480 sectors, multi 8: LBA
[ 8.146398] ata1.01: ATA-7: ST3320620A, 3.AAC, max UDMA/100
[ 8.146414] ata1.01: 625142448 sectors, multi 8: LBA48
[ 8.181307] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/66
[ 8.254270] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/66
[ 8.254445] ata2: port disabled. ignoring.
[ 8.254905] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA WDC WD204BA 16.1 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[ 8.255448] scsi 0:0:1:0: Direct-Access ATA ST3320620A 3.AA PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[ 9.618404] scsi 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[ 9.618563] scsi 0:0:1:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[ 9.683854] usbcore: registered new interface driver libusual
[ 9.722311] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[ 9.722975] scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[ 9.723463] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 9.723480] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[ 9.723524] usb-storage: device found at 2
[ 9.723532] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 9.769508] Driver 'sd' needs updating - please use bus_type methods
[ 9.769923] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 39876480 512-byte hardware sectors (20417 MB)
[ 9.770096] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 9.770108] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 9.770387] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 9.770798] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 39876480 512-byte hardware sectors (20417 MB)
[ 9.770943] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 9.770952] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 9.771223] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 9.771240] sda:<3>ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6
[ 9.788523] ata1.00: BMDMA stat 0x64
[ 9.788598] ata1.00: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 9.788603] res 51/84:00:07:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
[ 9.788710] ata1.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
[ 9.788758] ata1.00: error: { ICRC ABRT }
[ 9.788860] ata1: soft resetting link
[ 10.041276] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/66
[ 10.113362] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/66
[ 10.113414] ata1: EH complete
[ 10.121582] ata1.00: limiting speed to UDMA/44:PIO4
[ 10.121601] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6
[ 10.121668] ata1.00: BMDMA stat 0x64
[ 10.121729] ata1.00: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 10.121734] res 51/84:00:07:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
[ 10.121840] ata1.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
[ 10.121887] ata1.00: error: { ICRC ABRT }
[ 10.121990] ata1: soft resetting link
[ 10.381161] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/44
[ 10.453756] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/66
[ 10.453813] ata1: EH complete
[ 10.462229] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 39876480 512-byte hardware sectors (20417 MB)
[ 10.462335] sda1 sda2 <<5>sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 10.462524] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 10.484982] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 10.485110] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 39876480 512-byte hardware sectors (20417 MB)
[ 10.485178] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 10.485188] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 10.485284] sda5 >
[ 10.485894] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[ 10.490589] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 10.490731] sd 0:0:1:0: [sdb] 625142448 512-byte hardware sectors (320073 MB)
[ 10.490862] sd 0:0:1:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 10.490873] sd 0:0:1:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 10.491103] sd 0:0:1:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 10.491511] sd 0:0:1:0: [sdb] 625142448 512-byte hardware sectors (320073 MB)
[ 10.491622] sd 0:0:1:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 10.491632] sd 0:0:1:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 10.491835] sd 0:0:1:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 10.491853] sdb:<7>usb-storage: device scan complete
[ 14.724285] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic USB Flash Disk 7.76 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[ 14.725900] scsi 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 40.490127] ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
[ 40.490246] ata1.01: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/f0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 40.490251] res 40/00:00:07:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
[ 40.490420] ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
[ 40.490529] ata1: soft resetting link
[ 40.751031] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/44
[ 40.831178] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/66
[ 40.831214] ata1: EH complete
[ 70.830100] ata1.01: limiting speed to UDMA/44:PIO4
[ 70.830113] ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
[ 70.830202] ata1.01: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/f0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 70.830208] res 40/00:00:07:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
[ 70.830373] ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
[ 70.830466] ata1: soft resetting link
[ 71.101006] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/44
[ 71.183361] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/44
[ 71.183384] ata1: EH complete
[ 71.183554] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 39876480 512-byte hardware sectors (20417 MB)
[ 101.180094] ata1.01: limiting speed to UDMA/33:PIO4
[ 101.180107] ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
[ 101.180196] ata1.01: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/f0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 101.180202] res 40/00:00:07:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
[ 101.180368] ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
[ 101.180459] ata1: soft resetting link
[ 101.451051] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/44
[ 101.535392] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/33
[ 101.535416] ata1: EH complete
[ 101.535573] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 101.535583] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 131.530095] ata1.01: limiting speed to PIO4
[ 131.530108] ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
[ 131.530197] ata1.01: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/f0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 131.530202] res 40/00:00:07:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
[ 131.530367] ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
[ 131.530458] ata1: soft resetting link
[ 131.791033] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/44
[ 131.870793] ata1.01: configured for PIO4
[ 131.870816] ata1: EH complete

I keep a copy of maxblast 5 handy for these problems. Use the the cd to boot and then zero fill the drive. This has worked for me on several occasions

How is this for crazy, I installed Windows 98 on it and it worked fine! But when I try Ubuntu it gives me all sorts of errors (like above). It only recognises 127gb because it's FAT32, but it works perfectly. So I'm really stumped.

Update: Now it's recognising as an external HD in my main Linux machine... trying to put it internally... rebooting.. now

I did try Maxblast but it wouldn't work properly on my windows machine... I looked on Seagate, is there a DOS version, or CD version? All I can see is the Windows version...

I've encountered similar- using SpinRite I was unable to fix the drive and had to splurge on a new hdd.

For me however I could install Linux- but not Windows

Thanks, I think it's time to toss it and buy a new one. A spare replacement harddrive is working fine ATM.

To all: Just wait! While waiting for GParted to load and looking at this page, considering the "cancel" option, it finished. Just wait!!!

Hi,

@ddd1600
Please do not resurrect necro threads. Marginally, you really did not provide anything constructive to the thread since initialization is dependent on hardware & problem when using Gparted..

Please look at; FYI: I suggest that you look at 'How to Ask Questions the Smart Way' so in the future your queries provide information that will aid us in diagnosis of the problem or query.

Plus you might consider re-reading LQ Rules.