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Try to use PowerMax
The PowerMax utility is designed to perform diagnostic read/write verifications on Maxtor and Quantum hard drives. These tests will determine hard drive integrity. The PowerMax utility is effective on all ATA (IDE) hard drives with a capacity greater than or equal to 500 MB. Maxtor recommends the use of this utility for troubleshooting potential hard drive problems. These problems include, but are not limited to the following:
Potential hard drive surface problems (e.g., bad clusters, bad sectors, partitioning/formatting problems, etc.).
Drive recognition problems (e.g. hard drive that is not recognized by the operating system).
Software removal.
To download PowerMax go to:
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=PowerMax_4.23&vgnextoid=a37d8b9c4a8ff010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD
(Maxtor is acquired by Seagate)
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Check the BIOS first. Can you see HDD in BIOS? If not check cable connections to the drive.
Try to use some of the utility programs from drive manufacturers.
Here are some:
Seagate
DiscWizard
SeaTools
Maxtor
MaxBlast
PowerMax
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=Downloads&vgnextoid=51e092db8a13d010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD
Seagate also has a very nice troubleshooting guide aplicable to all hard drives: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/troubleshooting_assistance/
For Western Digital go to http://support.wdc.com/download/downloadxml.asp
For Hitachi
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
Fujitsu
http://www.fujitsu.ca/support/hdd/download.html
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"Delayed Write Failed" error message when you manage files in Windows XP
SYMPTOMS
When you save or move documents or during general file-management activities in Windows XP, you may intermittently receive "Delayed Write Failed" error messages.
CAUSE
This issue may be caused if any of the following conditions exist: • The "Enable write caching on the disk" feature for your disk is turned on.
• Your Ultra Direct Memory Access (UDMA) hard disk controller is configured in either of the following ways: • You are using a 40-wire connector cable to connect the UDMA drive to the controller instead of the required 80-wire, 40-pin cable.
• Your BIOS settings are configured to force faster UDMA modes.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue: 1. Make sure that your UDMA hard disk controller is using an 80-wire, 40-pin cable. For information about how to do so, view the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact your UDMA hard disk controller manufacturer. Test to determine if the issue is resolved. If the issue is resolved, do not complete the remaining steps. If the issue is not resolved, go to the next step.
2. Warning Do not change your BIOS settings unless you are very familiar with all the effects of changing BIOS settings.
Make sure that your BIOS settings are not configured to force faster UDMA modes. For information about how to do so, view the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact your computer manufacturer. Test to determine if the issue is resolved. If the issue is resolved, do not complete the remaining steps. If the issue is not resolved, go to the next step.
3. Turn off the "Enable write caching on the disk" feature:
Note If you turn off the "Enable write caching on the disk" feature, your disk performance may decrease. Because of this, you may want to monitor system performance after you complete the following procedure. a. In Windows Explorer, right-click your hard-disk, and then click Properties.
b. Click the Hardware tab.
c. Click the hard disk, and then click Properties.
d. Click the Policies tab.
e. Click to clear the Enable write caching on the disk check box, and then click OK two times.
f. Repeat steps c-e for each hard disk that is installed in your computer.
Delayed Write Failure
Data corruption may occur if the Large System Cache feature is enabled in Windows XP. This problem does not occur on all systems. The key ingredients that lead to data corruption may include: • System Memory greater than 512 Meg. (1 gigabyte of RAM is common)
• Large NTFS disk volumes and multiple large volumes. (60-100 gigabyte hard drives possibly in RAID arrays)
• AGP graphics with large AGP resource requirements (AGP aperture greater than default)
• Large file transfers. This problem occurs when the computer runs out of system page table entries. Windows determines (at boot time) the default number of page table entries to assign, based on the amount of system memory available.
The conditions listed above all contribute to increasing the number of page table entries that Windows XP must maintain and in extreme cases the page table entries may be exhausted. To avoid this problem ensure the System Cache option is NOT selected for Memory usage.
To do this, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties to open the System Properties dialog box.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Performance click Settings.
3. Under Performance Options, click the Advanced tab.
4. Under Memory Usage, click to select Programs, if it is not already selected.
5. Click OK.
WORKAROUND
Modify the registry at your own risk!
You may be able to work around this problem by increasing the value for page table entries. To increase the value for page table entries, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, in the Open: box type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
3. In the right pane, right-click the value SystemPages, and then click Modify.
4. In the Value data box, type the following value: 0xFFFFFFFF and then click OK.
5. Exit Registry Editor.
Note 0xFFFFFFFF is the safest value however a value greater than the default but less than the maximum may provide better results.
Some common reasons for a delayed-write failure are:
1. Problems with a device driver, especially a SCSI or RAID device driver. Some RAID device drivers are known to issue spurious "Delayed Write Failed" errors in XP Service Pack 2. Most manufacturers have been alerted to this, so check to make sure the disk drivers are up-to-date.
2. Cabling problems. A faulty or broken cable -- especially for an external USB or Firewire enclosure—can generate this error. It can also happen if the cable is too long, or if it is hooked up through a hub that isn't up to spec. Another possible culprit is if you have a UDMA drive that requires an 80-pin cable, and you are using a 40-pin cable.
3. SCSI termination errors. This has become less likely with the advent of self-terminating SCSI hardware, but it shouldn't be counted out.
4. Media errors. This is the worst possible scenario -- essentially, drive failure. If you can garner statistics on the drive via SMART (such as SMART & Simple (http://www.beyondlogic.org/solutions/smart/smart.html), you may be able to determine if there's a mechanical failure in the offing. Gibson Research's SpinRite tool (http://grc.com/) is also useful for assessing media errors, but be warned: It may take a long time to do a thorough test.
5. BIOS settings on the computer are forcing faster UDMA modes than the drive controller can handle. This is unlikely, especially with newer hardware (which can support UDMA far more flexibly), but it can usually be fixed with a BIOS upgrade, or by resetting the BIOS entries for the hard drives to auto-detect settings. Devices set to UDMA Mode 6 that produce this error, for instance, might need to be set to Mode 5.
6. Controller issues. I've observed that USB controllers that contend strongly with other hardware can produce this error. In systems that have both "long" and "short" PCI slots (i.e., 64-bit and 32-bit), try moving the USB controller to the long slot. Older PCI cards will not fit in such a slot.
7. Memory parity issues. If the problem appears after installing new memory, the memory in question may be faulty or not of the correct type for the motherboard in question. (This may go hand-in-hand with other problems such as random lockups, too.)
8. The LargeSystemCache Registry tweak and ATI video adapters. One peculiar set of circumstances that has been observed on multiple machines with ATI video adapters and more than 512MB of memory involves the LargeSystemCache Registry setting, a DWORD entry found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management. This setting governs the amount of memory set aside by the system for certain kernel processes. If it's set to 1 (which allegedly improves performance on systems with more than 512MB of memory), it can cause data corruption on some systems, and produce the "Delayed Write Failed" error. Try resetting it to 0 if it's been set