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H D T E S T Version 1.21 R E F E R E N C E M A N U A L Jim Bracking 967 Pinewood Drive San Jose, CA 95129 Copyright (c) Jim Bracking All Rights Reserved HDtest software copyright (C) 1988 Jim Bracking, All rights reserved. This document copyright (C) 1988 Jim Bracking, All rights reserved. IMPORTANT WARNING HDtest is a powerful tool that provides the user with a great deal of flexibility in testing hard disks on a wide variety of computer systems. In order to accomplish this, HDtest is dependent on some environment variables within the computer system. HDtest should always be run in a stand-alone environment. That means all TSR's and disk cache programs should be removed first. The safest way to accomplish this is to format a DOS system floppy, copy HDtest.exe to that floppy, re-boot the system and run HDtest from the floppy. HDtest will work with RLL and ST506 drives ONLY. It has not been tested with ESDI drives on the XT or AT and WILL NOT work with PS/2 ESDI drives. The BIOS must be 100 percent compatible with IBM's BIOS. HDtest is dependent on the drive parameters to be correct. If the drive parameters displayed at the bottom of the screen are NOT correct the program will not function correctly. You need to correct the drive parameters before proceeding. Since introduction of the original XT there have been many new hard disk controllers. For that reason HDtest will support the XT only through the BIOS. This means that you will not be able to modify the drive parameters on the XT. The diagnostic cylinder is defined as the last cylinder on the drive for the XT and AT and the next to last cylinder for the PS/2. This cylinder is used to perform all writes. If the drive parameters are incorrect you could destroy live data on the drive. You should read the entire documentation before executing HDtest. I. LICENSE No version of HDtest, including version 1.21, is public domain software, or free software. HDtest is a work copyright (C) 1988 by Jim Bracking. Non-registered users are granted a limited license to use HDtest on a trial basis for the purpose of determining whether HDtest is suitable for their needs. Use of HDtest, except for this limited purpose, requires registration. Use of non- registered copies of HDtest by any person, business, corporation, governmental agency or other institution is strictly forbidden. Registration permits a user a license to use HDtest only on a single computer. A registered user may use the program on a different computer, but may not use the program on more than one computer at the same time. No user may modify HDtest in any way, including but not limited to reverse compile, disassembling or otherwise reverse engineering the program. All users are granted a limited license to copy HDtest only for the trial use of others subject to the above limitations, and the following conditions: 1. HDtest must be copied in unmodified form, complete with the file containing this license information. 2. The full HDtest documentation must be included with the program. No fee, charge or other compensation may be collected for distribution by any licensee. 3. HDtest may not be distributed in conjunction with any other product without prior written permission. Operators of electronic bulletin board systems (Sysops) may post HDtest for downloading by their users only as long as the above conditions are met. Distributors of public domain or user supported software may distribute copies of HDtest subject to the above conditions only after obtaining written permission from Jim Bracking. Such permission is usually granted; please write for details. See the Ordering section for more information on registration, corporate licensing and similar topics. II. WARRANTY Jim Bracking makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. Jim Bracking shall not be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, special or consequential arising from a failure of this program to operate in the manner desired by the user. Jim Bracking shall not be liable for any damage to data or property which may be caused directly or indirectly by use of the program. IN NO EVENT WILL Jim Bracking BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, LOST DATA OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. III. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. LICENSE II. WARRANTY III. TABLE OF CONTENTS IV. PREFACE 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 FEATURES 1.1.0 MESSAGE BUFFER 1.1.1 LOG DEVICE 1.2 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS 2.0 ABOUT THE HARD DISK 2.1 UNSUPPORTED HARD DISKS 2.2 SECTOR 2.3 TRACK 2.4 CYLINDER 2.5 WRITE PRECOMPENSATION 2.6 CONTROL BYTE 2.7 INTERLEAVE 2.8 LANDING ZONE 2.9 DIAGNOSTIC CYLINDER 2.10 HARD DISK DEFECTS 3.0 GETTING STARTED 3.1 COMMAND LINE SWITCHES 3.2 THE MAIN MENU 3.3 NAVIGATING HDtest 4.0 HELP MENU 5.0 OPTIONS MENU 5.1 select drive 0 5.2 select drive 1 5.3 select all drives 5.4 view message buffer 5.5 change interleave 5.6 change d0 parameters 5.7 change d1 parameters 5.8 color/bw 5.9 enable/disable logging 5.10 Loop tests Yes/No 6.0 DISK TESTS MENU 6.1 read/write/verify 6.2 seek test 6.3 head select test 6.4 ecc test 6.5 run all tests 6.6 defect scan 6.7 park the heads 6.8 interleave test 6.9 performance test 7.0 FORMAT MENU 7.1 format drive 7.2 format track 7.3 flag defective track 7.4 format diag cylinder 7.5 surface analysis 8.0 BIOS CMDS MENU 8.1 run single command 8.2 run all commands 9.0 APPENDIX A - MESSAGES A1.0 STARTUP MESSAGES A1.1 RUNTIME MESSAGES - INFORMATIONAL A1.2 RUNTIME MESSAGES - ERRORS A1.3 ERRORS and POSSIBLE CAUSES 10.0 APPENDIX B - LICENSING INFORMATION B1.0 SOURCE LICENSING B1.1 OEM and VAR LICENSING 11.0 APPENDIX C - ORDERING INFORMATION C1.0 ORDERING INFORMATION C1.1 CORPORATE and QUANTITY PURCHASES C1.3 ORDER FORM V. PREFACE This manual is intended as a reference manual describing the operation of HDtest. Additionally, there are chapters that cover various aspects of hard disk operation, plus DOS and the DOS format command. It is not intended as a tutorial on hard disks in general. The reference material provided with your hard disk or system should be consulted for the proper setup and operation of your hard disk and/or computer system.. 1.0 INTRODUCTION HDtest is a Hard Disk Diagnostic program designed to provide the user with a easy to use yet comprehensive Hard Disk Diagnostic and performance test that will: 1. Accurately isolate and diagnose Hard Disk errors. 2. Provide a means for correcting most Hard Disk errors. 3. Provide a consistent and reliable test of the system Hard Disk BIOS commands. 4. Provide the user with a snapshot of the Hard Disk performance. HDtest operations fall into two categories, NON-DESTRUCTIVE and DESTRUCTIVE. The NON-DESTRUCTIVE tests will use the Diagnostic Cylinder for reads, writes and formatting while the DESTRUCTIVE tests will use the data portion of the hard disk. The only DESTRUCTIVE tests are in the Format section and you will be given an opportunity to cancel the test before any data is overwritten. 1.1 FEATURES 1.1.0 MESSAGE BUFFER While HDtest is running a Diagnostic or Performance test, the test status and all error messages are displayed on the screen. These messages are also recorded in an internal circular buffer that holds the last 100 messages. This internal buffer can be reviewed at any time by selecting "view message buffer" from the Options menu or by pressing F2 key from the main menu. 1.1.1 LOG DEVICE The log device provides the user with a option for recording all of the message log activity. It can be enabled or disabled by selecting the "enable/disable logging" option or by pressing the F8 key from the main menu. The default Log Device is the printer. The user can specify a different logging device such as a floppy disk when HDtest begins execution by using the command line parameter "/logd=". (See "COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS" for more information). 1.2 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS HDtest requires a minimum of 180K of available RAM to execute properly--that is, 180K in addition to the operating system and any resident programs, including such memory resident programs as SideKick, SuperKey, etc. If you are operating with less than 192K total RAM, HDtest might not be able to load. HDtest operates under MS-DOS on the IBM PC/XT, PC/AT, PS/2 models 50,60 and 80 and any close compatible, and may be used with color, composite or monochrome displays and hard disks using the ST506 or RLL interface. 2.0 ABOUT THE HARD DISK The Hard Disk is a external storage device that magnetically reads or writes blocks of data called sectors. A Hard Disk consists of one or more circular platters stacked one on top of the other. A platter is like a floppy disk except the platter is rigid instead of flexible. Thus the name of hard or rigid disk. Each platter generally has a pair of heads used to read or write data on that platter. The platter is organized into cylinders and tracks. Unlike a floppy where the motor is turned on only when accessing data, the hard disk runs continually. The read/write heads do not ride on the surface of the hard disk when the hard disk is running, but ride on a cushion of air between the platter and the read/write heads. This is why the hard disk platters and read write heads are sealed in a container. If the system is moved or bumped to hard while the hard disk is running, the read/write heads can touch the platter surface. This is generally called a "head slap" or "head crash" and can cause damage to the platter resulting in lost data. 2.1 UNSUPPORTED HARD DISKS This release of HDtest DOES NOT include support ESDI hard disks. 2.2 SECTOR Most Hard Disks are "soft sectored" devices, meaning that the sector size can be 256, 512 or 1024 bytes long. The sector size used by IBM is 512 bytes. If the hard disk uses a different sector size either a device driver or the BIOS must present the data to the operating system as a 512 byte sector. 2.3 TRACK As discussed earlier, each platter has a pair of read/write heads. Each read/write head corresponds to a track. For example, if your hard disk has two platters it will have four read/write heads.«MDRV»«MDNM» The top side of platter 1 is head 0 or track 0 and the bottom side of platter 1 is head 1 or track 1. The top side of platter 2 is head 2 or track 2 and the bottom side of platter 2 is head 3 or track 3. A track consists of a group of sectors numbered 1 to 17 on a standard ST506 hard disk. 2.4 CYLINDER Cylinders are a collection of tracks. Using the above example, a cylinder would consists of tracks 0 to 3. Cylinders are numbered starting at the outermost edge of the platter with cylinder 0 and working to the inside of the platter.«MDRV»«MDNM» Some drives have more than 1024 cylinders but they require special code to support this feature. Because there is no established standard for supporting this feature, this program will not support more than 1024 cylinders. 2.5 WRITE PRECOMPENSATION To understand write precompensation you must learn a little about how data is recorded. Data is recorded as 0's and 1's by applying current to the read/write heads as the disk platters passes under the heads. Because the disk platter rotates slower on the outer cylinders than the inner cylinders, the data bits tend to be spaced closer together. This can cause problems by sometimes confusing a 0 as a 1 or a 1 as a 0. This is sometimes referred to as "bit crowding". Write precompensation specifies the starting cylinder that the controller should be concerned about this and reduce the write current applied to writes thus giving greater spacing between the data bits. Some hard disks do not require the controller to do this and write precompensation is then disabled by specifying a -1. 2.6 CONTROL BYTE The control byte is generally controller dependent and is a means for specifying certain options for the controller to use. HDtest uses the control byte to disable retries. 2.7 INTERLEAVE In order to achieve the maximum performance from your hard disk, it is VERY IMPORTANT to format your hard disk using the correct interleave. The interleave simply specifies the order in which the sectors are organized on the track. The following examples demonstrate how interleaves of 1:1 and 2:1 would look: 1:1 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 2:1 1,10,2,11,3,12,4,13,5,14,6,15,7,16,8,17,9. In order to better understand how interleave affects your disk performance you need to know a little bit about how a read/write operation occurs. First, remember that the sectors are numbered from 1 to 17 on a standard hard disk. Let's assume your disk was formatted with a interleave of 1:1 and you want to read 10 sectors of data starting with sector 1 from cylinder 1, head 0. First, the controller must tell the drive to go to cylinder 1 and then select head 0. At this point the read/write heads are positioned at the correct cylinder and head for the read. Next, the controller begins looking for the sector to be read. When the ID for sector 1 is detected, the controller begins reading the data as it passes under the read/write head. After the sector has been read, the controller begins looking for sector 2. Remember that the disk is spinning at 3600 RPM. For most controllers, the amount of time it takes to complete the read for sector 1 and begin looking for sector 2 would have allowed the ID for sector 2 to have passed the read/write head. This means it will take another revolution of the disk before sector 2 can be read. This is why interleave is so important to disk performance. In my testing, I have found that most controllers will support an interleave of 2:1. However there are a few controllers available that will support an interleave of 1:1 such as Adaptec. It is worth paying a little more for a hard disk controller that will support an interleave of 1:1 than for a faster hard disk. For example, a hard disk with an average seek time of 40ms that is formatted at 1:1 will give you a better data transfer rate than a 28ms hard disk formatted with 2:1. It is important to note that the interleave only affects the data transfer rate for multi-sector read/write operations. You can use the "interleave test" to determine the proper interleave for your hard disk. 2.8 LANDING ZONE The landing zone is an area on the hard disk that is not used for data and thus is safe for the read/write heads to rest on. When the hard disk is powered off, the read/write heads come to a rest on the surface of the platter. Some hard disks have "self-retracting heads" meaning that when the power is turned off or interrupted the heads automatically move to the landing zone. Other hard disks like the Seagate ST225 do not have this feature and the heads come to a rest whereever the last disk access was made. Over an EXTENDED period of time this will weaken the spot where the read/write heads rest. If your hard disk does not have self-retracting heads, you can use the "park heads" feature of HDtest to move the heads to the landing zone before turning off your computer. 2.9 DIAGNOSTIC CYLINDER The diagnostic cylinder is the last cylinder on an AT or the next to last cylinder on a PS/2. This cylinder is used only for testing and NO USER DATA is stored on this cylinder. 2.10 HARD DISK DEFECTS Almost every hard disk comes from the manufacturer with one or more defects. The defects are usually noted on the top or side, or a on a separate piece of paper with the hard disk. These areas were determined to be either "bad" or "weak" spots on the hard disk and should be flagged as a defective track. On a PS/2 system the last cylinder is used to store a defect map that identifies the location of all defects on the hard disk. The AT does not support this feature. In any case, when you use HDtest to format your hard disk you MUST enter the defects or let HDtest find them for you to insure that no data will be stored in these areas. 3.0 GETTING STARTED Start HDtest by typing HDtest, then press <Enter> at the DOS command prompt. When HDtest starts, it will determine the number and characteristics of the hard disks in your system. 3.1 COMMAND LINE SWITCHES When HDtest is started, there are some command line switches that can be specified to override some HDtest options. The following demonstrates the format of those switches: hdtest [/logd=devname] [/log=yes] [/bw] [/nft] The default log device is the printer. By using the "logd=" switch you can specify a different device for logging. For example "logd=a:hdlog" would cause HDtest to open a file called "hdlog" on the a: drive. The /bw switch should be used if you have a monochrome monitor attached to a color card. The /nft switch is used to disable the display of the "first time user" screen. Example: hdtest /logd=a:hdlog /log=yes The above example will start HDtest with a log file on the a: drive with a file name of hdlog. NOTE: THE LOG FILE SHOULD NOT BE OPENED ON THE HARD DISK YOU WILL BE TESTING OR UNPREDICTABLE RESULTS CAN OCCUR. 3.2 THE MAIN MENU The following is a sample of the HDtest screen for a system that has one 70meg hard disk. (The pull-down menus are not shown) ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ 1 ║ Hard Disk Test - version 1.00 ║ ║ Copyright (c) Jim Bracking, 1988 ║ ╟──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ 2 ║ Help Options Disk tests Format Bios cmds Quit ║ ╟──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ 3 ║** Start of message buffer ** ║ ║Drive 0 is ready ║ ╟──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ 4 ║Model: AT Selected drive: 0 Loop tests: No Interleave: 2:1║ 5 ║ Type Drive Cyl Head Precomp Ctlbyte Lzone Sectors ║ ║ 45 0 1024 8 -1 192 1024 17 ║ ║ 0 1 Drive not installed ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ 1. Copyright and version number. 2. Main test menus. 3. message buffer. 4. Status line that shows the type of system you are using, the drive that has been selected for testing, whether or not the tests are to loop until stopped and the interleave used for format. 5. The drive parameters for the installed drives. 3.3 NAVIGATING HDtest Every attempt has been made to standardize the use of keys throughout this program. Exceptions for the following key definitions will be indicated by a pop-up window with the new key definitions. The following key definitions are valid from the main menu. F1............This key will invoke the help function. F2............View the message buffer. F3............Select drive 0 for testing. F4............Select drive 1 for testing. F5............Change drive 0 parms. F6............Change drive 1 parms. F7............Change interleave. F8............Enable/disable logging. F9............Loop tests yes/no. Up arrow......Move the cursor up. Down arrow....Move the cursor down. Left arrow....Move the cursor left. Right arrow...Move the cursor right. Enter.........Select the highlighted test from the menu. Esc...........Exit the sub-menu. Additionally, you can go directly to a main menu or sub-menu item by pressing the highlighted key. Note that the main menu keys must be upper case and the sub-menu keys must be lower case. 4.0 HELP MENU The "help" menu provides you with on-line access to information either about HDtest or the specific test. You can access help for the specific test by positioning the cursor anywhere in the test menu and pressing "F1" or by going to the "help" menu and selecting the test you would like help on. Help is available for the following items: overview options disk tests format bios cmds first time user 5.0 OPTIONS MENU The "options" menu is used to either change or set options within HDtest. Listed below is the sub-menu selections and their definitions: 5.1 select drive 0 Select drive 0 as the target drive for testing. 5.2 select drive 1 Select drive 1 as the target drive for testing. 5.3 select all drives Select all drives for testing. NOTE: When HDtest is started, the default is all drives if you have more than one drive. 5.4 view message buffer This will allow you to review the message buffer. 5.5 change interleave Specify a new interleave value. 5.6 change d0 parameters Allows you to change the drive parameters for drive 0. This will not work on the XT. 5.7 change d1 parameters Allows you to change the drive parameters for drive 1. This will not work on the XT. NOTE: If the drive you want to test was not installed when you started HDtest you can use "change drive parms" to install the drive for HDtest -- except on the XT. 5.8 color/bw Turn color on or off. 5.9 enable/disable logging Turn logging on or off. logging can be enabled at start-up time. See "COMMAND LINE SWITCHES". 5.10 Loop tests Yes/No If you want to loop the "disk tests" or "surface analysis" until you stop them you would use this option to loop the tests. 6.0 DISK TESTS MENU The disk tests menu provides you with a series of tests designed to test the different functions of the hard disk and report any errors. All writes are done on the diagnostic cylinder. You should make sure that the diagnostic cylinder has been formatted before running these tests. 6.1 read/write/verify This test will write a data pattern of xb66d, read it back and verify the contents for xb66d. 6.2 seek test This test will execute a seek to head 0 of every cylinder, then execute a seek to the first and last cylinders and execute 1000 random seeks. If you have a very slow hard disk it is possible to get a "Seek error" while executing a seek greater than 400 cylinders. This does not always indicate the hard disk is defective but can be caused by the BIOS not allowing enough time for the seek to complete. If the error occurs during the track-to-track seek test then the drive is suspect. 6.3 head select test This will execute a verify command each head on the disk. 6.4 ecc test The ecc logic allows the controller to correct temporary read errors where one or more data bits were invalid. This is accomplished by the controller writing a 4-byte ecc (6 bytes on PS/2) with every 512 byte sector. When the data is read, the controller uses an algorithm to determine if the data is correct and attempts to correct it if it is incorrect. The implementation of this feature varies depending on the controller you have. This test will first write a data pattern, then read the data and ecc, modify one bit, write the data and ecc, read the data and verify the data. This test WILL NOT work on systems that do NOT support the "read long" and "write long" commands. 6.5 run all tests This will execute all of the above tests. 6.6 defect scan This test will verify every sector on the hard disk, reporting any errors. 6.7 park the heads Move the heads to the landing zone. 6.8 interleave test This test will format the diagnostic cylinder with interleave values from 1:1 to 7:1, execute 50 multi-sector reads and report the average time the read took. This test can be used to determine the best interleave for the hard disk. 6.9 performance test This test will execute a series of reads, track-to-track seeks and random seeks to determine the drive performance. 7.0 FORMAT MENU This menu provides the user with the capability of executing a low-level format of the entire hard disk or specific tracks, flagging defective tracks, formatting the diagnostic cylinder, or to perform a surface analysis of the entire disk. With the exception of formatting the diagnostic cylinder, these tests WILL overwrite the data portion of the hard disk. The hard disk format should not be confused with the DOS format command. This format executes a physical or what is sometimes called a low-level format of the hard disk. In order to make the disk usable for DOS, you must run the FDISK command to partition the hard disk and the DOS format command to format the DOS partition. The interleave used for the format command is the displayed at the bottom of the screen as "interleave: n:1" The format command WILL OVERWRITE user data so care should be used with this command. 7.1 format drive This option will provide you with a secondary menu allowing you to enter defects or to scan the disk for defects. If the hard disk has never been formatted with a low level format program you must enter the defect list manually using the defects listed on the drive. If the drive has been formatted before you can use the "scan for defects" to automatically build the defect list. 7.2 format track This option will provide you with a secondary menu allowing you to specify up to 100 tracks to be formatted. 7.3 flag defective track This option will provide you with a secondary menu allowing you to specify up to 100 tracks to be flagged as defective. 7.4 format diag cylinder This will format the diagnostic cylinder. Since this does not destroy user data, no prompt will be given. 7.5 surface analysis This option will write a data pattern of xb66d to every sector on the hard disk then read it back 3 times. If any errors are found, the track will be flagged as defective. If you have specified "loop: yes" then the second to n passes will perform only the read. 7.6 re-format drive This function will format the selected drive WITHOUT any loss of user data. This is accomplished by first reading the data, formatting the track and then restoring the data. This can be used for correcting temporary errors, preventive maintenance through formatting and to change the interleave. It is STRONGLY recommended that the disk first be backed up. Tracks that have any hard errors will NOT be processed. 8.0 BIOS CMDS MENU This test is designed to exercise the hard disk BIOS and attempt to determine if the disk command worked correctly. All writes are done on the diagnostic cylinder. You should make sure that the diagnostic cylinder has been formatted. 8.1 run single command This will provide the user with a secondary menu for every BIOS command. 8.2 run all commands This will execute every BIOS command and report the results. 9.0 APPENDIX A - MESSAGES A1.0 STARTUP MESSAGES When HDtest is started there are some conditions that can occur to prevent successful execution. These messages are listed below: message: "Unknown or Unsupported Model ID - Model m Sub-Model s - Program terminated" This will occur if you execute HDtest on a system other than a XT, AT or PS/2 model 50, 60 or 80. Message: "Insufficient memory for program execution" There is not sufficient memory for HDtest to execute. Message: "Invalid parameters specified" HDtest detected one or more invalid parameters on the command line. A1.1 RUNTIME MESSAGES - INFORMATIONAL Every attempt has been made to keep the user informed of the status of each test as it is executed. For example, every test informs you when it starts, what phase it is executing, when the test has ended, and whether or not the test passed or failed. The start, phase, and end messages are not documented here. Message: "No drives installed" On the bottom portion of the screen HDtest shows the drive type, drive number and drive parameters. If there is no drive installed then this message will be displayed instead of the drive parameters. Message: "Drive not present" This message will be displayed when the "modify drive parms" function is used to install a drive that does not exist. Message: "Unknown type" This will be displayed on the lower portion of the screen when the drive type is not known. Message: "You must select a specific drive for format" When using format you can not select all drives. Message: "Function canceled by user request" This indicates that the user canceled the test that was executing. Message: "Press any key to cancel the function" When this message is displayed on the lower left corner of the screen you may cancel the test in progress by pressing any key. Message: "Pass n completed" When "Loop: yes" is specified this message will appear at the end of each test cycle with n representing the number of test cycles that have completed. Message: "Average read time for two tracks is r ms" "Data transfer rate is kb kbytes per second" "Average seek time is s ms" "Average track to track seek time is ts ms" These messages appear after the performance test. Message: "Enter new interleave value (1-7):" This prompt occurs when you select the "change interleave" option. Message: "Drive n is responding not ready" "Drive n is ready" When HDtest is started or when "change drive parms" is used to add a drive HDtest will test drive n to determine if the drive is ready for testing and report the results. If the drive is not ready then no test can be perform on the drive. Message: "Drive n de-installed" "Drive n installed" This message is displayed when "change drive parms" is used to install or de-install drive n. Message: "Drive not installed" This message is displayed when "change drive parms" is used to install a drive with more than 1024 cylinders, 15 heads or the number of sectors per track is not equal to 17. Message: "Message buffer scrolling" When the message buffer has wrapped, this message is displayed in the lower right corner. Message: "Average read time per track for interleave i:1 is t ms" After the interleave test, the average time it took to perform a read on a track formatted with interleave i is displayed as t ms. This test is done for interleaves of 1:1 to 7:1. message: " ** WARNING **" "This option will destroy data on drive n" "Reply "y" to continue or "n" to cancel:" Before any test is executed that will destroy user data this prompt will be displayed and the user given the option to continue or stop the test. Message: "Drive parameters for drive - n" "Max cyl n, Max head n, Max sectors n" "Number of installed drives - n" When the BIOS command "read drive parms" is executed this message is displayed showing the number of cylinders, heads, sectors and the number of installed drives. Message: "Drive n reporting - Fixed disk" "Total disk blocks - b" This message is displayed after the BIOS command "read dasd" is executed. It provides information for drive n on how many disk blocks are on this drive. A1.2 RUNTIME MESSAGES - ERRORS During the course of HDtest, execution errors can occur either with the hard disk being tested or with the log device. Listed below are the error messages and descriptions: Message: "(test name) completed with errors - (error)" "Drive n, Cmd n, Status n" "Cyl n, Head n, Sector n, Num sectors n" If any error occurs during the execution of a test this message will be displayed. test name - the name of the test that was executing. error - the text of the error that occurred. drive - the drive on which the error occurred. cmd - the disk command that caused the error. status - the error status returned by the BIOS. cyl - the cylinder on which the error occurred. head - the head on which the error occurred. sector - the sector on which the error occurred. # sec - the number of sectors passed to the BIOS. Message: "Error opening log file "name" - log disabled" When HDtest attempted to open the log device an error occurred. The log function was disabled. Message: "Error writing to log device - log disabled" When HDtest attempted to write a message to the log device, an error occurred. The log function was disabled. A1.3 ERRORS and POSSIBLE CAUSES Many types of errors, both permanent and temporary, will occur which CAN be fixed. In some cases it is simply a matter of formatting the drive for the first time; others could be jumpers, connections, or power. The safest approach to ANY MEDIA ERROR that occurs after the drive has been formatted with the proper write precompensation is to flag that track as defective. If the media is marginal and you just reformat the track, the error will probably occur again. Other things to always check are the drive select jumper, power to the drive, terminating resistor on the drive, and that the cables are connected properly. Error: "Bad command" The BIOS does not support this disk command. Error: "Address mark not found" Caused by media defect, drive not formatted, drive formatted with the incorrect write precomp. Error: "Write protect", (PS/2 only) The drive has been write protected. Error: "Sector not found" Caused by media defect, drive not formatted, drive formatted with the incorrect write precomp. Media defect, drive not formatted or drive formatted with the incorrect write precomp. Error: "Reset failed" : Bad controller, cable connection, terminating resistor «MDRV»«MDNM» Error: "Init drive parm failed" Bad controller, cable connection, terminating resistor «MDRV»«MDNM» Error: "Crossed DMA boundary" The program passed a buffer address to the BIOS that crossed a 64k boundary. This is a program error. Error: "Bad sector flag detected" The sector has been flagged as defective. Error: "Bad cylinder flag detected" (PS/2 only) The cylinder has been flagged as defective. Error: "Invalid number of sectors" (PS/2 only) The program specified too many sectors for a read or write operation. This is a program error. Error: "Data address mark not found" (PS/2 only) Caused by media defect, drive not formatted, drive formatted with the incorrect write precomp. Error: "DMA arb. level out of range" (PS/2 only) The DMA arbitration level specified by the setup program is invalid. This is a program error. Error: "Uncorrectable data error" Caused by media defect, drive not formatted, drive formatted with the incorrect write precomp. Error: "ECC corrected data" The sector read had a data error but the controller was able to correct the data using the ECC. Assuming the drive was formatted properly this track should be flagged as defective. Error: "Controller error" Possible bad controller. Error: "Seek failed" Caused by a bad or slow drive that the BIOS did not allow enough time for the seek to complete. Error: "Time out" Caused by the drive, controller, drive select jumper or cable. Error: "Drive not ready" Caused by the drive, drive select jumper or cable. Error: "Write fault" Caused by the drive, controller or cable. Error: "Sense failed" /* ps2 only */ Caused by the Controller or cable. Error: "Data pattern has changed" During the ecc test, the controller indicated the data was corrected but the data did not reflect the correction. 10.0 APPENDIX B - LICENSING INFORMATION B1.0 SOURCE LICENSING A source code license for HDtest IS AVAILABLE. Call or write for details. B1.1 OEM and VAR LICENSING OEM and VAR licensing IS AVAILABLE. Please call or write for details. 11.0 APPENDIX C - ORDERING INFORMATION C1.0 ORDERING INFORMATION HDtest registration provides you with a license to use the product on a regular basis. Users need register only one version of HDtest. Individual registrations for HDtest come in two forms. 1. Registration only of the copy you have in your possession. The registration fee covers only the use of the program. Fee $35. 2. This option covers the registration fee, and a diskette containing the latest version of the program, documentation and any supporting programs that may be available. Fee $50. In addition, evaluation disks are available for $10. These disks do not include registration. The fee covers diskette, postage and handling. Please use the enclosed order form when placing an order. ORDERS OUTSIDE THE US: Please send international money orders in US dollars and include an additional $5 to cover postage. C1.1 CORPORATE and QUANTITY PURCHASES All corporate, business, government or other commercial users of HDtest must be registered. Quantity discounts are offered at the eleventh copy. Corporate or site licensing is also available. For single unit orders, use the enclosed order form. We accept purchase orders in amounts over $100 only. All other orders should be prepaid. Purchases of over 100 units may be handled as quantity purchases or as corporate licensing agreements. Licensing agreements allow duplication and distribution of specific numbers of copies within the licensed institution. Duplication of multiple copies is not allowed except through execution of a licensing agreement. Please write or call for details. The quantity purchase discounts are as follows: 0- 99 copies: no discount 100-150 copies: 15% discount 151-300 copies: 20% discount 301-500 copies: 25% discount 500+ copies: 30% discount ALL PRICES AND DISCOUNTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. Discounts are not cumulative; they apply to single orders of like products only. Unit prices are the same as for individual users. WARNING: YOU MAY NOT USE HDTEST WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION WITHOUT A PRIOR PURCHASE OR LICENSE ARRANGEMENT. C1.3 ORDER FORM Remit to: Jim Bracking - Order Form 967 Pinewood Drive Dept. CPC San Jose, CA 95129 Please send: ____ HDtest Disk (evaluation copy) . @ $ 10.00 ea $ ______ (includes program and manual on disk, no registration) ____ HDtest Registration ........... @ $ 35.00 ea $ ______ (does not include disk) ____ HDtest Registration/Disk ...... @ $ 50.00 ea $ ______ (includes registration, current program version, documentation file and supporting programs) Subtotal ............................... $ ______ Less Discount........................... $ <______> 7.00% sales tax ........................ $ ______ Total ................................... $ ______ Payment by: ( ) Check ( ) Cash ( ) PO # ____________________________________________________________ Name: ____________________________________________________________ Company: ____________________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Day Phone: __________________ Eve Phone: __________________ System type: _____ Disk Size: _____ RLL/ST506: _____ ORDERS OUTSIDE THE US: Please send international money orders in US dollars and include an additional $5 to cover postage. Sorry, no C.O.D. orders will be accepted.