Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

[binsonk]

Re: Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

Yes, I could mount and browse the content, before I nuked the partitions.

[binsonk]

Re: Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

incidentally, AV drives arent very good for data use.
they are optimised for streaming rather than long life / low error rate.

Is that a permanent condition, or something that can be modified in firmware? In other words, can a DVR hard drive be re-purposed for use in a PC?

[stj]

Re: Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

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.

[binsonk]

Re: Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

Happy to report these Hitachi drives turned out to be standard hard drives. I used another utility (Pdisk) to create a new DOS partition table, and thereafter BIOS recognized the drives.

[binsonk]

Re: Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

Premature celebration. I installed everything without shutting down. I used GParted to recreate DOS partition table. Set up partitions, installed Linux. Rebooted to BIOS to see that both hdd's were detected under drives, confirmed. Continued boot to desktop. Everything was working good. I rebooted again, with similar positive results. Then I turned OFF the computer, without removing mains power. When I booted the computer again from OFF (stopped), the error returned, and drives were not detected. So perhaps, when the hdd spins up from stopped, the DOS partition table is re-written or corrupted?

[binsonk]

Re: Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

What can be deduced from the fact that the drives were made bootable by creating a new DOS partition table?

[goontron]

Re: Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

IDK, even with all i know of linux, unix, the IBM PC, and UEFI/BIOS all i can think of is firmware issues in the BIOS. is this an OEM (eg powerspec) or MFG (eg intel) BIOS?

[binsonk]

Re: Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

I guess you mean, the Hitachi hard drive's firmware. The computer is a Dell, and the BIOS version is A04, probably Intel. Summarizing, after I used GParted to create a new DOS partition table,
1. BIOS stopped giving errors and began booting
2. hdd's were accurately detected and reported by BIOS
3. a subsequently installed OS booted without difficulty, normally

After the computer is shut down, and the hdd allowed to come to a stop, the next boot fails, producing the original "error auto-sensing secondary hard disk drive0." And of course, BIOS no longer detects or reports the drives.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Dell Dimension does not see SATA hdd(s)

SATA connections suck. The weakest, mealy-mouthed pieces of crap I've ever seen on a hard drive. Those things practically fall off if you look at them wrong.