HD Tune Problem ??

I have a bit of a suspicion that this should really be in Hardware section, but...

On my PC, HD Tune, the disk diagnostic software, does not seem to run to completion. Can anyone describe to me how to get to work please ?

I'm testing a Hitachi 250GB SATA hard disk drive, via a USB connection. I have noticed that sometimes, after being away, that I get the message 'USB device now connected' or something, as if some device which I had plugged into the PC had 'woken up'.
I'm using HD Tune to perform full error scans.
What happens is this: HD Tune completes the task but it shows a huge block of bad sectors/blocks (red) - often 95% of the disk, once as little as 60% (or something like that). They are always the later part of the test - i.e., good sectors are detected, and then bad sectors start and carry on until the end of the test is reached. So the bad sectors start appearing in the middle or towards the start of the test, and continue unbroken until the end of the test is reached.

The issue I have is that each time I try to run it, is gives a different number (%) of bad sectors, and therefore I do not believe it. The disk probably does have some bad sectors. I'd like to get some credible results.

Dumb_Question
22.February.2014
Compaq Presario S5160UK DT261A under XP/SP3
Processor - Celeron 2.7 GHz
Motherboard - MSI MS-6577 v2.1
RAM - 1GB + 512MB (1GB +1GB max) DDR PC2700
PSU - Octigen 300W model 10270PSOTG ('upgraded' from original Bestec 250W PSU [in 2011?])
Nvidia GeForce 6200 graphics card in AGP slot.

 

David,

Thanks for your suggestions, I will double check them.

The user I login as has administrator privilege/is adminstrator: I assume this what you meant, but it is not the user named administrator, which doesn't usually show up.

I don't think I have a yellow warning triangle by any of the entries in expanded the USB device tree under Hardware/Device Manager. But somehow I suspect the disk or USB is turning itself during an error scan, resulting in subsequent blocks being shown as bad because the disk/USB is not responding ??? Is this plausible ? In power management, I set everything to 'Never' turn off, and after I did that one or two scans got significantly further without detecting a bad block (up to ~40% from 5%)[coincidence ?]. However, as I remarked in my opening post, another thing I find worrying is that when I return after a number of hours, and move the mouse, the box saying 'USB is now connected' (or similar) appears, as a 'bubble' from the system tray (could be from the USB 'Eject' icon there ?)

I have just checked (been through the procedure described in kb/305780, except there is box labeled 'domain') and it gives me the choice of two users in the drop-down menu, the user I am, which is an admin user, and another which I know to be not an admin user. I am already logged in a the former. I have also checked Hardware>Device Manager>USB and this does not display any warnings.

Dumb_Question
22.February.2014
Compaq Presario S5160UK DT261A under XP/SP3
Processor - Celeron 2.7 GHz
Motherboard - MSI MS-6577 v2.1
RAM - 1GB + 512MB (1GB +1GB max) DDR PC2700
PSU - Octigen 300W model 10270PSOTG ('upgraded' from original Bestec 250W PSU [in 2011?])
Nvidia GeForce 6200 graphics card in AGP slot.

 

Is there any chance Windows is turning your USB device off?
I have had a couple of tests run too long and fail because Windows disconnected the device, but reconnected when I came back. You will have to check whenever you update Windows as some updates reset the USB power/disconnect options.

 

->DOA
Windows turning the USB device (a hard disk) off would explain a lot (even everything maybe) - that's what it looks like. I don't know if that is it, nor how to stop it if is.

Perhaps I should have mentioned that the disk passes Seatools short tests, but fails Long Generic (I think unless it's a Seagate any disk with any bad sectors whatsoever will do that), WD Lifeguard behaves similarly, the disk passes HGST DFT ok, CHKDSK /f /r shows no errors either.

I have a message atm that indicated Windows are available (yellow shield in system tray). I always have auto update to 'off' because I got fed up with it interfering processes that I was running overnight (some things take ages...HD Tune error scans being one of them:-D)

Dumb_Question
22.February.2014
Compaq Presario S5160UK DT261A under XP/SP3
Processor - Celeron 2.7 GHz
Motherboard - MSI MS-6577 v2.1
RAM - 1GB + 512MB (1GB +1GB max) DDR PC2700
PSU - Octigen 300W model 10270PSOTG ('upgraded' from original Bestec 250W PSU [in 2011?])
Nvidia GeForce 6200 graphics card in AGP slot.

 

OK, so how do I prevent an external USB disk from being turned off in the middle of an operation to it ?

I have checked the power options, and they are set to "Always on" - ie monitor, which does drop into screen save, HDs, standby, sleep, hibernate - never. Still it occasionally turns off the disk, and makes bad sectors seemingly appear.

What else can I do ?

Dumb_Question
30.November.2014
MSI MS6577 v2.1 / 1GB RAM / 2.53GHz Celeron / Windows XP 32-bit