Couple of disc errors

When doing a regular backup of the Iyonix’s hard drive earlier in the week a couple of errors were reported. One was an operating system error when trying to read a file:

Disc error 18 at :4/0000000E605FA200

The other was perhaps from Hard Disc Companion, which we use for backups: it stated:

‘ADFS::HardDisc4.$.Programming.Unicode.ICU.release-53-1.source.data.zone.’ not recognised

Note the trailing full stop on the filename which is perplexing. It’s actually the name of a directory and I can open it and access the files via the Filer just fine.

In the first case, the file was ARMovie.Shapes.Cubes3.Cube13 and I can now read the file fine using the Filer.

Do you think this is more likely to indicate that the hard disc is on its way out (it is as old as the machine: 2011) or could it be explained by the PSU being a bit dodgy? The machine had refused to turn on a couple of times this week until I powered it down at the wall, and it seems to do this sometimes in the winter. Any further tests I could do?

Perhaps stick the HDD in an old PC and examine SMART info / run SMART test on it in any case?

Press F12 (not Ctrl+F12) and type *Verify

This will take some time to scan all of the disc, and report any sectors it can’t read with errors such as the above. The advantage over the graphical verify from the disc menu is that it will warn about sectors it can still read but requires retries.

If any errors or warnings are reported REPLACE THE DISC IMMEDIATELY!

When you have installed a new disc, the errors may prevent you copying all files over with the OS if they occur in parts of the disc used for files or directories. But DiscKnight has a backup option which will cope with most problems, and do multiple retries to read dodgy sectors. It wont be able to read sectors which have completely failed, but will read everything else, which depending on the format of the file may allow recovery of most of the data.

Do you think this is more likely to indicate that the hard disc is on its way out

Yes.

I would suggest removing it immediately and replacing it with another. Restore from the backup to the new disc, and forget about the old one. Preferably restore from a backup before the disc failures started happening, as those failures are only the things that have been detected as bad – there may be data corruption that is not detected.

Only go back to the original disc if you find something missing, or which isn’t right. Doing checks on it or thinking ’it’ll be fine, it’s only part of the disc’ will inevitably mean that the disc gets more wear – and when it finally fails badly you’ll not even be able to restore anything from it. It will increase the likelihood that data corruption that is not detected will be backed up and you’ll have lost the originals entirely.

If, as you say, you have a backup, use that. You won’t have lost anything, and you won’t be wasting time on a disc that has failed. Discs are cheap. Data is irreplaceable, so don’t faff around.

Oh, and be pleased that you’ve got a backup to restore from, so that you don’t have to go through the process of trying to recover a failed disc as your one and only source. Well done for that.

The machine had refused to turn on a couple of times this week until I powered it down at the wall

That may indicate PSU failure, or something similar – that may be the reason that the disc is failing. Remember a PSU failure can mean that it’s not providing enough power, or too much, or irregular. If you’re seeing problems which you can attribute to that, then you probably ought to replace the PSU – otherwise, a replacement disc may be damaged in the same way.

Do you think this is more likely to indicate that the hard disc is on its way out (it is as old as the machine: 2011) or could it be explained by the PSU being a bit dodgy

I had all kinds of strange things happening with dodgy PSUs, but whatever it is – take the harddisc out, put it into a known-good PC and make a complete image of the harddisc. Because if the disc is on its way out, you shouldn’t waste time to analyse things while the hardware is degrading further. And you never know if your backups are complete and/or restorable easily.

Note that the Iyonix was prone to some non-reproducable disc errors (normally disc error 22 rather than 18), which is why I suggested checking the disc. Obviously if you can reproduce the error, the disc is failing and should be replaced.

How large is your HD – and can you use a pata to SATA adapter in your Iyonix.

Can one still get new PATA drives?

Better still, get some eager retro folk to take the Iyonix off your hands!

Thank you for all the advice. The first thing I did was replace the PSU: I have a spare Iyonix which had a newer PSU so it made sense to get that into use. Then running *verify turned up three errors, none of which match the original I reported at the top:
Disc error 13 at :4/0000000E52BA9C00
Disc error 13 at :4/0000000E5F98B800
Disc error 13 at :4/0000000E61C3EC00

The drive is 114GB capacity with about 30GB free. The other Iyonix has an 80GB drive, so I’ll try fitting that and copy across or restore from backups. I’ve not yet looked into how you can fit a modern drive. I expect CJE can advise me there, but as suggested, it’s probably time to retire this machine!