Here we go again. Sorry this issue is similar to a previous problem, but I believe the difficulty here is different. I am installing two identical Hitachi Cinema Star SATA 500 GB hard drives, and things are not going smoothly. These two hard drives were formerly server drives, so I'm told. There was an identical operating system on both drives before I used GParted to delete, restructure partitions and follow up with ext3 format. Several months ago this computer (Dell Dimension 3100, 2.8 GHz P4 w/HT, 1.0 GB DDR ram) was running a 1TB hdd on drive SATA-0 and 500GB hdd on drive SATA-2. [You may recall that I played around with BIOS quite a bit when I was trying (unsuccessfully) to install two identical Seagate 2TB hdd's. Those two large hdd's were installed to another faster computer, leaving this computer without hdd(s).] I ran a live CD of Linux to prepare the computer for a new OS. GParted detected the two drives with no problem, and there were desktop icons representing the partitions. After partitioning with GParted, those icons had changed to represent the new partition structure. I then installed Linux (Slacko 5.5 non-PAE) and legacy GRUB, and rebooted. The computer would not boot, giving the same error that occurred before partitioning. "Error auto-sensing secondary hard disk drive0. Press F1 to retry boot. No boot device available." As far as I know, there is no secondary hard disk drive0 (PATA-0??), and furthermore, this drive is turned OFF in Setup. When I looked at the boot order, whadya know, onboard SATA hard disk not present. I look at drive SATA-0 drive in Drives, the drive is described as "unknown" with no Drive ID. I removed the second hdd at SATA-2, and got the same result when I rebooted with a single hdd at SATA-0, that there was an error auto-sensing secondary hard disk drive0, and also, no boot device present. Any idea what the trouble is?
Possibilities:
1. The used SATA drive(s) is defective.
2. Need to update BIOS
3. GRUB has misnamed the hdd devices (hd0,etc)
I reread my post above, and realize that I have discussed three different situations or circumstances, so read carefully to distinguish between them, and the current problem.
Dell Dimension 3100 does not see SATA hdd(s)
Dell Dimension 3100 does not see SATA hdd(s)
Last edited by nubc on Mon 01 Sep 2014, 14:40, edited 2 times in total.
Thanks for your responses. These drives are Hitachi CinemaStar HCP725050GLA380, which are AV drives that have been removed from DVRs, in all likelihood. AV disk drives typically do not spin up during boot, and this is why BIOS does not detect the drives. There is a way to force the drive to spin up using Linux command hdparm with well-chosen arguments. To make the desired behavior (spinning up during boot) persistent, it is suggested to place the command somewhere in /etc/rc.d either rc.local or rc.sysinit. If anyone can find the specifics of this workaround to get the drives to spin up during boot, it would be much appreciated. More precisely, I would like to know the exact hdparm command with arguments, and where exactly to place the command to make it persistent for every boot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdparm
hdparm man page
http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/hdparm.8.html
There is also a possibility that Hitachi (bought by Western Digital) provides disk management software that could facilitate re-purposing an AV drive for use in a PC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdparm
hdparm man page
http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/hdparm.8.html
There is also a possibility that Hitachi (bought by Western Digital) provides disk management software that could facilitate re-purposing an AV drive for use in a PC.
All the drives I've taken out of Video recorders have been standard drives. The formatting is different but the mechanical drive is standard.
Those Hitachi drives are designed for use in AV equipment and are likely slower than you would want in a PC.
They are specifically designed to be cooler, quieter, use less power, be on for LONG times. They are typically used in security and other 24/7 equipment.
Those Hitachi drives are designed for use in AV equipment and are likely slower than you would want in a PC.
They are specifically designed to be cooler, quieter, use less power, be on for LONG times. They are typically used in security and other 24/7 equipment.
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush" - T Pratchett
You'll notice the name of the Hitachi hard drive, CinemaStar, so cinema = movie = dvr. But yeah, it could just as well be security storage. I am fairly certain they are not standard drives, because of the spin-up issue. I'm told that AV drives are different from standard drives because of the storage strategy, that files are kept in one continuous piece to enhance continuous streaming. Thus when an AV disk drive is re-purposed for PCs, files are not distributed throughout the drive as is standard, but rather tend to be located in the first part of the drive, thus causing wear and tear, shortening the life of the drive.
What you have been told should be taken with a pinch of salt.
The two statements "files are kept in one contiguous piece" and "located in the first part of the drive" are likely mutually exclusive for a start.
Mechanical drives don't "wear out" as such. The life of the drive may be affected by overheating and drying out the spindle bearings, but even then it is likely to outlast any appliance using it. The biggest killer of drives is shock and vibration, both of which are unlikely in a recorder at home.
The two statements "files are kept in one contiguous piece" and "located in the first part of the drive" are likely mutually exclusive for a start.
Mechanical drives don't "wear out" as such. The life of the drive may be affected by overheating and drying out the spindle bearings, but even then it is likely to outlast any appliance using it. The biggest killer of drives is shock and vibration, both of which are unlikely in a recorder at home.
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush" - T Pratchett
you can use it in a pc, it just wont last as long as a regular drive.
a data drive scatters data all over the drive to even the wear between the heads and platters.
an AV drive writes sequentialy like a cd or a record to avoid glitches during playback etc.
this causes the low numbered tracks to take more wear than the others.
7200 rpm (3 Gb/s) is not slow.Burn_IT wrote:Those Hitachi drives are designed for use in AV equipment and are likely slower than you would want in a PC.
The drives are most likely locked, this video may help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_FSwZcu92g
[b]Carolina:[/b] [url=http://smokey01.com/carolina/pages/recent-repo.html]Recent Repository Additions[/url]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ahfade8q4def1lq/signbot.gif[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ahfade8q4def1lq/signbot.gif[/img]
That might very well be the case, that the drives are locked, but after viewing that video a couple days ago, I could gain no insight into how to remedy the situation. Because I deleted the partitions with GParted, not with Windows Disk Management. And then I formatted the drives ext3. What else can I do? How do I unlock a drive?
AfterDawn Discussion Forum: Reformat dvr hard drive for pc use
http://forums.afterdawn.com/threads/ref ... se.732154/
These two drives certainly look standard, that's why I bought them.Burn_IT wrote:All the drives I've taken out of Video recorders have been standard drives.
AfterDawn Discussion Forum: Reformat dvr hard drive for pc use
http://forums.afterdawn.com/threads/ref ... se.732154/
Last edited by nubc on Mon 01 Sep 2014, 11:29, edited 3 times in total.
I've only just removed the drive from my non booting DVR, the drive has no partition table, so it seems that the recorder uses a raw drive, I connected it via a USB adapter, in gparted I created a partition table and formatted it, it's now useable.
[b]Carolina:[/b] [url=http://smokey01.com/carolina/pages/recent-repo.html]Recent Repository Additions[/url]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ahfade8q4def1lq/signbot.gif[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ahfade8q4def1lq/signbot.gif[/img]
Hi nubc!nubc wrote:My drives are usable. They just aren't bootable. As far as I can tell.
I guess I could low-level format the drives with Wipe.
I would say:
Get a cheap (10$) PCI SATA Raid controller card.
Connect one drive at the time to it.
Set up the bios for "Search other devices"
Boot Puppy Linux and use 'Menu->System->Pdisk partition manager' (f.e. Precise 5.7.1)
Select 'fdisk' and delete the old partition table and create new one.
This has worked for me on other sata drives.
Last edited by FeodorF on Mon 01 Sep 2014, 11:58, edited 1 time in total.
My drive is bootable, the drive may not be locked if you could format it, the lock requires a password stored in the firmware of the device it came from, I'll keep looking.
[b]Carolina:[/b] [url=http://smokey01.com/carolina/pages/recent-repo.html]Recent Repository Additions[/url]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ahfade8q4def1lq/signbot.gif[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ahfade8q4def1lq/signbot.gif[/img]
Eew! my Wipe utility came back with all kinds of errors, similar to a bad drive. I don't think I can low-level format it.
DOS fdisk reports No fixed disks present.
Code: Select all
Error Code O1h Returned from Fixed Disk Function Call
01h = Unsupported Funct or Param
02h = Address Mark Not Found
03h = Write-Protect Error
04h = Sector Not found
05h = Reset Failed
06h = Drive Param Activity Failed
07h = DMA Overrun on Operation
08h = Data-Boundary Error
09h = Bad Sector Flag Detected
0Ah = Bad Cylinder Detected
0Bh = Invalid # of Sectors on Fmt
0Dh = Ctrl DAta Addr Mark Detected
0Eh = DMA Arb Level Out of Range
0Fh = CC or CRC Error
11h = ECC Corrected Data Error
12h = Command in Progress
13h = Devidce Not Powered
20h = General Controller Error
40h = Seek Operation Failed
80h = Time-Out
AAh = Drive Not Ready
BBh = Undefined Error Occurred
CCh = Write Fault on Selected Drive
E0h = Status Error/Error Reg = 0
FFh = Sense Operation Failed
@ FeodorF
I have a PCI SATA Raid controller card. However, Puppy sees the hard drive(s), and I can perform the suggested operations with the drives connected to mobo. Does your procedure absolutely require using the PCI connection?
EDIT: I deleted the old partition, then created a new empty DOS partition table, and consequently BIOS correctly identifies the hard drive for the first time.
I have a PCI SATA Raid controller card. However, Puppy sees the hard drive(s), and I can perform the suggested operations with the drives connected to mobo. Does your procedure absolutely require using the PCI connection?
Technically, Pdisk does not provide for "delete partition table" but it does provide for "delete a partition". And it provides for "add a new partition" and "create a new empty DOS partition table". Can you be more specific in your instructions.FeodorF wrote: Select 'fdisk' and delete the old partition table and create new one.
EDIT: I deleted the old partition, then created a new empty DOS partition table, and consequently BIOS correctly identifies the hard drive for the first time.
Last edited by nubc on Mon 01 Sep 2014, 12:50, edited 1 time in total.
From what I read if they are sata3 drives they aren't seen by a Dell Dimension 3100 unless there is a jumper to make them sata1 compatible.
What are the drive model numbers, the ones I found are " Hitachi CinemaStar 3.5" 500GB SATA 3 Hard Drive HCS545050GLA380 "
What are the drive model numbers, the ones I found are " Hitachi CinemaStar 3.5" 500GB SATA 3 Hard Drive HCS545050GLA380 "
[b]Carolina:[/b] [url=http://smokey01.com/carolina/pages/recent-repo.html]Recent Repository Additions[/url]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ahfade8q4def1lq/signbot.gif[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ahfade8q4def1lq/signbot.gif[/img]
Okay, making progress. I have treated both drives with the Pdisk procedure to create a new DOS partition table. Both drives are correctly identified in BIOS. I used GParted to set up partitions and install Slacko 5.5 on one single drive, the other drive not installed. Getting a Legacy GRUB boot error 15. File not found.
EDIT: Grub error was my oversight. Everything is working now, as normal. Computer boots to Slacko full install, no problema.
QUESTIONS: Is "creating a new DOS partition table" the same thing as rewriting the MBR?
How could I have invoked GParted to create a new DOS partition table, assuming it never saw a need for doing so?
Using Pdisk, did I really have to delete partitions in order to create a new DOS partition table? (There was no command to delete the old DOS partition table.)
EDIT: Grub error was my oversight. Everything is working now, as normal. Computer boots to Slacko full install, no problema.
QUESTIONS: Is "creating a new DOS partition table" the same thing as rewriting the MBR?
How could I have invoked GParted to create a new DOS partition table, assuming it never saw a need for doing so?
Using Pdisk, did I really have to delete partitions in order to create a new DOS partition table? (There was no command to delete the old DOS partition table.)
Device > Create Partition Tablenubc wrote:How could I have invoked GParted to create a new DOS partition table, assuming it never saw a need for doing so?
IIRC in Gparted, as soon as you create a new partition table , all previous partitions will disappear.Using Pdisk, did I really have to delete partitions in order to create a new DOS partition table? (There was no command to delete the old DOS partition table.)