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Unreadable first block/sector on WD easystore 8TB or false alarm


asdaHP

Question

I bought an 8TB WD easystore external HD which has (and yes pretty much everyone knows this) a red drive EFAX (WDC WD80EFAX-68LHPN0). I ran the short and extended tests on HD sentinel and everything was fine.

 

Now when i left it attached to my server which has stablebit scanner, i received an email stating"

One or more disks are damaged and have data on them that is unreadable:

WD easystore 25FB USB Device - 344 KB unreadable (688 sectors) - The rest of the disk is still being scanned

  • Model: WDC WD80EFAX-68LHPN0"

 

When i look at the sectors it is the very first block part of it is which is unreadable (Red color block). I did a file scan and that was normal. EDIT: The rest of the drive on the surface scan checked out completely normal.

 

Given that i didnt find something with HD sentinel, is this potentially a false alarm especially given its the first block? I vaguely remember having a similar issue nearly 9 months back on another external drive and it turned out a false alarm. There was something about using a beta rather than stable version of scanner. I am running currently 2.5.2.3103 beta. I forget what the return policy for BB is and if this is a real issue, id rather return it now than have to setup a warranty with HD.

 

thank you

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This is most likely a "bug".  Specifically, some drives ... have some weird issues with how the data is reported.  It causes issues for the surface scan in released versions, unfortunately.

 

Please try this version and rescan: 

http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.2.3126_BETA.exe

 

To rescan, double click on the drive in question, click on the fourth button on the left side (with a green circle), and select "mark all as unchecked" (or something like that). 

 

This should complete "properly". 

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This is most likely a "bug".  Specifically, some drives ... have some weird issues with how the data is reported.  It causes issues for the surface scan in released versions, unfortunately.

 

Please try this version and rescan: 

http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.2.3126_BETA.exe

 

To rescan, double click on the drive in question, click on the fourth button on the left side (with a green circle), and select "mark all as unchecked" (or something like that). 

 

This should complete "properly". 

Hi @drashna

Thanks. When i tried installing it, message that "The specified account already exists" comes. I went to task manager and stopped scanner and still same result. Must i uninstall the previous beta version 2.5.2.3103 first? Does that cause it lose the info on the other drives? thanks

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@drashna

 

Thanks. Yes had to uninstall previous beta version and reinstall the version you sent. Now all sectors are green !! So it was just a bug with previous beta version

 

Curiously this version is an exe file so runs a separate program rather than within the essentials dashboard (i am running windows server 16 essential). Not really an issue as I can constantly run both the dashboard with the drivepool and this file separately. BTW Does the exe file run as a service when the computer boots up or do I have to start it?

 

Uninstall the software, reboot the system and then reinstall.  

 

That should fix the issue in this case. 

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Ah, that would be part of the reason why. then.  If you want the dashboard version, then uninstall and install this version: 

http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWhs2/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.2.3126_BETA.wssx

 

 

And I'm glad to hear that this version fixed the issue.  Specifically, this was the cause: 

 

 

.3109

  • Apply the corrected size / bytes per sector / sector counts to the sector map on each service start.
  • When correcting the size of the drive, also correct the bytes per sector and the sector count, but only if we can validate the last sector.
  • When reading the disk signature from the disk using Direct I/O, use the real bytes per sector. Some drives (like the WD My Passport) will show up, incorrectly, as having 4096 bytes per (virtual) sector.
  • When correcting the total size of the drive, validate the last sector before applying the new size. While this works for most drives, some drives (like the WD My Passport) will report an incorrect size.
  • If a manual scan was started on some disk, then automatic scanning was toggled on, and the disk that was being scanned manually was not scheduled to scan, then the manual scan could not be stopped afterwards. Also, the service would not shut down properly in this state.
.3108
  • [issue #14557] Added DirectIO_DoNotCorrectSize advanced setting. When set to True, we won't correct the drive size based on the data that we get back from the disk directly. The service will need to be restarted for this to take effect.
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The Scanner is now telling me that half of my drives are Damaged.  Most are at the last sector of the scan.

Drives are as follows.

Western Digital My Passport 0820  & 0830  - 2TB WDC WD20NMVW-11AV3S2 & WDC WD20NMVW-59AV3S3

Western Digital My Passport 25E2 WDC WD40NMZW-11GX6S1

Seagate USB Model: ST1000LM010-9YH146 1TB

 

Like was said.  All seem to show damaged but it is the last sector on the drive.  If I remove the drive an do a slow format.  The problem goes away but I haven't taken enough time to see if it stays away and some drives can take up to 12 hours to format.

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Using latest Beta Scanner.

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Verified.

If you slow Format the Drive.  Stablebit Scanner has no problem with the last sector problem.

It seems to only be a Fast format problem.  Tried it with the 0820 and 25E2.

Am currently running chkdsk with /f parameter

 

Question:  Could this be an easier Fix.

Most admins have and use programs like partition wizards instead of messing with the OS data management

Would it be better to shrink the partition down 1 on both sides to set up a buffer between stops.  Pretty much the way windows sets that blasted 100M partition in front of the OS when installing Win 7 on up.   I read somewhere they did that to stop the Hard drives from beating up the Sector 0.  Shame the Hard Drive People didn't read that also.  

 

Sounds really solid and I know it can create havoc on HD tables for large arrays.  Just a thought.

Making me rethink about a new HD before I put it into service and get caught up chasing my tail.

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v 2.5.2.3103

 

I had upgraded to the Beta version.  Until then I didn't have too much problems with damaged.  Just the system would voice over SMART or Previous Overheat.

 

Everything is still working just the drive shows Damaged.  When you open the window up for the data scan screen,  the Lower Right hand corner reports a bad block.

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Just did the Passport 0830 on Slow Format.

It hasn't finished but on the Tiny setting, I see no failures.  I do know that it has to go thru all of the drive first to clean out the errors from the last scan so will wait.

 

Well It still showed failed on the last largest number block.  Seems  the scanner starts there and moves to the lowest.  Don't know what to say.

Sorry.  I am ignoring the warnings because I don't think the scanner is reading them right but it is working for the better part.

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Could you make sure that you're on the latest internal beta?

http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.2.3128_BETA.exe

 

There are a couple of issues with the My Passport and similar drives that pop up in StableBit Scanner due to some issues with "drive geometry detection".  The linked version should correct that.

 

If that doesn't fix the issue, let us know.

 

 

As for the full format, it may be because it's allocating some of the volume information in a different way. Otherwise, not really sure (Alex is more of the expert at the low level drive stuff, than I) 

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On 10/1/2017 at 1:56 PM, Christopher (Drashna) said:

Could you make sure that you're on the latest internal beta?

http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.2.3128_BETA.exe

 

There are a couple of issues with the My Passport and similar drives that pop up in StableBit Scanner due to some issues with "drive geometry detection".  The linked version should correct that.

 

If that doesn't fix the issue, let us know.

 

 

As for the full format, it may be because it's allocating some of the volume information in a different way. Otherwise, not really sure (Alex is more of the expert at the low level drive stuff, than I) 

I was having the same problem with a new 8TB WD My Book, found this post, and this seems to have fixed it.

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