SeaTools for DOS and Windows - How to Use

Brink · 04 Dec 2015

hottroc said:

Golden said:

Did you change the controller to IDE as explained in the tutorial?

Oooops!!!, I completely missed that bit and now I feel REALLY stupid.
Even after you said, I had to read it a few times as I thought it didn't apply to me. I thought, no my PC is definitely AHCI, and no my HDD is definitely not IDE as it is SATA.

After changing it I tried again and sure enough it worked this time.

I ran the Short Test and it Passed.
I ran the Long Test and it found 3 bad blocks or sectors (I forget the actual word) so Failed but then offered to repair them after which it then said Passed. So that's brilliant. Objective achieved.

The only minor thing though was that it did mention something about an electrical failure again.
It said it created a log on the C drive but now I have rebooted back to Windows I cant seem to find it.

Great news.

Thank you for pointing that out Colin. I just assumed that he did.

Golden · 04 Dec 2015

If you ran it from a bootable medium, then the log file is only stored in memory temporarily until you reboot.

hottroc · 05 Dec 2015

OK, thanks, well I think I got the gist of it anyhow. I just worry about the "electrical failure" line. I might see if I can get any response from Seagate.

lonewolf07 · 27 Feb 2016

free dos only i in boot scren

betaupsilon · 26 Apr 2016

I just used SeaTools for DOS & got to step 2 with an indicated problem. I hit done, but I did not get the 3rd screen shot of the option to repair failures. Instead, it initiated a SHORT DST scan & has been going for the past 3 hours. The progress bar appears to remain at the 10% value while the execution wheel continues to spin. Is it still preparing for repair options or is it stuck in a hopeless loop? How can I check?

PART - IV: Results

Test results are of two types, in general.
Passed; and
Failed with errors; which may yield two possible alternative ultimate outcomes.
Passed after repair
Failed after repair
1. If passed, its all good.
-passed.jpg
2. If the test result a failure, with bad sectors etc, it will suggest you to have a warranty replacement, with a supplied test code.
-failure.jpg
Click on "Done". It will supply you some options to repair the failures.
-11.jpg
You need to opt for "Repair this one and all remaining".

betaupsilon · 26 Apr 2016

betaupsilon said:

I just used SeaTools for DOS & got to step 2 with an indicated problem. I hit done, but I did not get the 3rd screen shot of the option to repair failures. Instead, it initiated a SHORT DST scan & has been going for the past 3 hours. The progress bar appears to remain at the 10% value while the execution wheel continues to spin. Is it still preparing for repair options or is it stuck in a hopeless loop? How can I check?

PART - IV: Results

Test results are of two types, in general.
Passed; and
Failed with errors; which may yield two possible alternative ultimate outcomes.
Passed after repair
Failed after repair
1. If passed, its all good.
-passed.jpg
2. If the test result a failure, with bad sectors etc, it will suggest you to have a warranty replacement, with a supplied test code.
-failure.jpg
Click on "Done". It will supply you some options to repair the failures.
-11.jpg
You need to opt for "Repair this one and all remaining".

NEVER MIND the REPAIR options just popped up. If I have further ??'s I will post later.

betaupsilon · 26 Apr 2016

Out of curiosity would a drive designated for data with bad sectors affect the OS booting? I can understand not retrieving data, but not necessarily affecting the boot procedure.

Brink · 26 Apr 2016

I've had a dead data drive prevent Windows from booting until disconnected before.

betaupsilon · 26 Apr 2016

Well, SeaTool indicated that it successfully repaired my drive, but my bootup is still sluggish with the data drive connected. It is perfect with the drive disconnected. I think I might have a driver or some BIOS setting incorrect. What is the best way to diagnose?

Another 2 observations: if a copy a file from that drive to another SATA drive the transfer rate is less than 1 Mb/sec;
WINDOWS shutdown is sluggish as well, So something is AWRY.

FURTHER:
I used the DISKPART to mount a .vhd file on that drive it failed & the drive was no longer accessible through WINDOWS EXPLORER. IF this file is corrupt can I simply delete it or is something amiss with the file system?

betaupsilon · 26 Apr 2016

betaupsilon said:

Well, SeaTool indicated that it successfully repaired my drive, but my bootup is still sluggish with the data drive connected. It is perfect with the drive disconnected. I think I might have a driver or some BIOS setting incorrect. What is the best way to diagnose?

Another 2 observations: if a copy a file from that drive to another SATA drive the transfer rate is less than 1 Mb/sec;
WINDOWS shutdown is sluggish as well, So something is AWRY.

FURTHER:
I used the DISKPART to mount a .vhd file on that drive it failed & the drive was no longer accessible through WINDOWS EXPLORER. IF this file is corrupt can I simply delete it or is something amiss with the file system?

It would appear I have a NORMAL boot sequence now. I am not sure of the cause, but I suspect the .vhd. I suppose if I want to reuse the drive I had best wipe & repartition? Should I use SeaTools or Partition Wizard?
Any opinions on that?