What does 'Invalid drive deometry' mean?

[boltusha]

What does 'Invalid drive geometry' mean?

Case: My hard disk is 500 gb. It has two factory (Dell) installed partitions: #1 with 465 gb and #0 <= 35gb.
After the HDD had stopped to work diagnostic tool Victoria produced message 'Invalid drive geometry' for partition 0.
I believe that partition 0 contained a factory image to re-install Windows 7.
Partition 1 looks okay.
Questions: How to fix this geometry if it is possible?
Should I format the entire disk?
Should these 35 gb in partition 0 be forgotten and then how to format just partition 1 only?
Should the hard disk be replaced?

 

[TVeblen]

Hello boltusha. Welcome to the forum.

That message can be given because:

• The BIOS (CMOS) does not report the same disk statistics that the drive does.
• Bad data or power cable, or incorrectly attached cables.
• Power problem (power supply)
• Incorrect jumpers (ancient problem, does not apply to SATA drives)
• Failed hard drive.

So first, test and re-seat all connections. Listen for the drive to spin up when you start the computer. Listen for any unusual noises. Unplug power to all unneeded drives and components (just as a test).

Second, perform a ClearCMOS procedure. This will clear the statistics in the BIOS and make the system re-discover them.

Third, test the drive in another computer. See if the problem follows the drive.

Formatting: I doubt that a geometry problem will be caused by formatting. Geometry is a basic count of the size of the drive in Cylinders, Heads, and Sectors. The file system (format) comes after all that.

Keep in mind that formatting will destroy all data on the disk or partition you format. So if you have data you need to keep, don't format or initialize the disk until you have back ups of that data.

Partition 0 probably contained the Dell recovery partition. This will format the hard drive (see above) and restore the computer to the condition it was in when you first got it. You do not need this partition or recovery provided you have:

• Created the Recovery Disks (which perform the same function, just from DVDs, not the hard disk)
• Create your own disk image backups (optional, but recommended)

To determine if the hard disk must be replaced, run the manufacturers diagnostic test on it. These you download and burn to a DVD. You boot to the DVD and run the test from there.

Hope that helps.

PS: Edit your thread title too!

 

[SandeepP]

Case: My hard disk is 500 gb. It has two factory (Dell) installed partitions: #1 with 465 gb and #0 <= 35gb.
After the HDD had stopped to work diagnostic tool Victoria produced message 'Invalid drive geometry' for partition 0.
I believe that partition 0 contained a factory image to re-install Windows 7.
Partition 1 looks okay.
Questions: How to fix this geometry if it is possible?
Should I format the entire disk?
Should these 35 gb in partition 0 be forgotten and then how to format just partition 1 only?
Should the hard disk be replaced?

Hi boltusha,

Welcome to Seven forums.

Along with what TVeblen rightly suggested you should also try running diagnostics from the link below:

http://dell.to/11NpLCy

Through this we can confirm the functionality of the hard-drive and if required arrange a replacement for the same as well.

Also update your system specs here by following this.

Keep us posted with the results so we can advise you further.