Hard Drive Horrors (Full Version)

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santa7 -> Hard Drive Horrors (11/2/2006 19:08:08)

I've been having a small problem with my 250 GB Samsung HDD SP2514N, or kind of an on-going problem.

The first time one of these drives had problems was when one day it decided not to boot with the read error message for no reason after working perfectly for a month. Well after that I attempted to reinstall and it worked fine, for a day, and then got the same exact problem so instead of trying again I decided to send it back to Samsung for a replacement as I had a new 5 year warranty, and I planned to use it. So after waiting a great deal of time and with no contact from Samsung I eventually got my replacement (5 days after they estimated) so I decided to install it into my computer. After all the wires are nicely connected and both of my hard drives and disk drives were connected, I booted up and inserted the windows install CD.
Everything seemed to be fine until I tried to format it for the first time, and then I got a "cannot format" message so I tried again. Same thing, then I tried doing a full format instead of quick format, no luck. So I decided to take it over to another computer and format it as a USB disk, and that worked out fine as it seemed so I brought it back down to the other computer. Same problem.
After many attempts it seems like I need to see if something can be done about this before trying again or contacting Samsung, because I don’t feel like waiting for another week to get a replacement and paying for shipping.

So I was wondering if it is a problem with this drive or just this model specifically.

All help and comments are appreciated.



TJolly -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/3/2006 13:03:58)

Hello santa7

What os are you trying to install?



santa7 -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/3/2006 15:34:38)

Windows XP Pro SP2



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/3/2006 15:55:27)

Can you post the exact error message, word for word?



santa7 -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/3/2006 16:07:16)

I cant give you the exact error at the moment but in the windows xp setup, when i attempt to format the drive (quick format) it goes from 20% instantly to 100% and then says it cannot format the drive, disk may be corrupted.
When i tried formating it on another computer as a USB drive, it seems to format fine, but then when i take it back down to install windows it either says cannot use C drive, it is corrupted, or it will copy the files then when it restarts it says something like nldr.dll is missing (im just guessing the name, i will try to find it later on)



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/3/2006 16:55:25)

Could it be ntldr.dll is missing?



santa7 -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/3/2006 18:03:05)

yes that is the file



caz -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/3/2006 20:00:20)

In these situations Google really is your friend [:D]

Try the steps outlined here, NTLDR is missing

Then I would download and run the disk diagnostics software from Samsung and see what it reports. This is what I did with a Seagate HD.




BobbyDouglas -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/3/2006 23:05:16)

quote:

when i attempt to format the drive (quick format) it goes from 20% instantly to 100% and then says it cannot format the drive

- This sounds like what might have caused the ntldr error message.

So the steps you have done are this?
1) Boot from XP CD
2) Perform clean install
3) Format the primary partition
4) After 20% is reached, it goes to 100% right away
5) Error message displays saying it cannot format the drive
6) Despite the fact the drive couldn't format it continues to install XP
7) When it restarts, you get the ntldr is missing message

Is that right? If the drive fails to format, XP shouldn't be able to install....



santa7 -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/4/2006 12:43:48)

no, no
i can install XP if i format it without using XP install, just use XP install to create a raw parition then I format it with my USB HDD adapter and then try to install xp and get the NTLDR missing thing after the files copy and it restarts



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/4/2006 13:08:22)

So during the XP install process, you create a new primary partition, and then exit out of the entire install process, and use the USB HDD adapter to format it?



santa7 -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/4/2006 16:37:54)

it's the only way i can get XP to install to this HDD
also I'm pretty sure it is not a faulty IDE cable because I am able to install XP on my smaller 40 GB HDD with no apparent problems



santa7 -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/4/2006 16:39:51)

also another thing, anyone know where i can find a diag tool for my hdd, one of them i found from samsung doesn't work (hutil.exe), just opens up the command window and closes and creates a long text file with numbers



caz -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/4/2006 19:24:17)

Was the link I posted of no use?



santa7 -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/4/2006 19:57:00)

okay well i have given up on this, i will be calling samsung for a new replacement tomorrow.
The drive defiantly looks to be corrupted and there seems to be no fix.
Thank you for all your help, i appreciated all of it

~Thomas Bags



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/4/2006 20:09:53)

quote:

also I'm pretty sure it is not a faulty IDE cable because I am able to install XP on my smaller 40 GB HDD with no apparent problems

- That's only true assuming you used the same cable with the same connectors. Most IDE cables have a primary/seconday connection, if one works on the primary, it doesn't mean the one on the secondary will also work.



TJolly -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/5/2006 6:16:24)

Hi santa

Please try this:

Clean install of xp



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/5/2006 12:19:24)

If he can't format the drive using XP, then performing a clean install won't do anything.



TJolly -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/5/2006 12:32:41)

quote:

If he can't format the drive using XP, then performing a clean install won't do anything.


I don't think he's formatting correctly and that is why I posted that link.



santa7 -> RE: Hard Drive Horrors (11/6/2006 17:12:21)

I have moved this topic:
http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/m-346889/tm.htm#346889



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