Drive failed SpinRite's data transfer verification

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  • BootAble – FreeDOS boot testing freeware

    To obtain direct, low-level access to a system's mass storage drives, SpinRite runs under a GRC-customized version of FreeDOS which has been modified to add compatibility with all file systems. In order to run SpinRite it must first be possible to boot FreeDOS.

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mdkerman

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Apr 4, 2024
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Samsung EVO 860 1TB boot drive suddenly failed and now getting the message, "Drive failed SpinRite's data transfer verification". I have swapped SATA ports and cables and checked multiple times with the same warning message. The other (non-boot) drive in the system passed with no issues so I know the second SATA port and cable are working.

Should I proceed with attempted Level 2 recovery?
Or better to first attempt to clone the drive?

Any suggestions?
 
What is the history of the failed drive. How new is it? Had it had a lot of writing done to it over time? Was it fairly full? I know that some Samsung models have a failure mode such as this but I thought that was the 890 series and not the 860. (I guess a certain small percentage of all devices have sudden failure modes.) In any case, SpinRite is attempting to verify the drive is behaving as a drive should, and the drive is being uncooperative at this. Please confirm you have the latest release of SpinRite 6.1 (Release 2 is officially released, but Release 3a is possible. You should have one of these two.)
 
To what Paul asked, I would add: I assume that the drive is recognized by SpinRite? SpinRite shows the drive and you're able to see its name and model number, etc. ??

Given the unknown state of the drive (unknown other than something is very wrong) I would DEFINITELY first pull anything & everything of value that you can from it. There will always be time to allow SpinRite to examine it further... but if the drive still CAN be read, I would read everything you can that's critical. Once that's done, then, yes... a Level 2 after pushing past the data verification failure would tell you more.
 
The drive was purchased 3/6/2020 and was about 50% full (as best as I can remember). There is no physical damage. I downloaded SpinRite 6.1 last night and believe it was Release 2 (I do not have the bootable usb with me at this time). I have hooked the drive up to two different external sata adapters (usb-a interfaces) but the drive is not recognized by either Ubuntu or Windows 11 machines.

SpinRite did recognize the drive name and model number. Is 3a worth a shot at this point?

Is there a program that might enable me to clone the drive to a fresh ssd in order to recover files before getting SpinRite to attempt a repair?
 
It might be that the start of the drive is unreadable. Since that's where the partitioning info lives that would explain why neither Linux nor Ubuntu are seeing any data there. SpinRite (v6.1) will not care about the missing partition info... so, yes, I would say that allowing SpinRite to see what it can do at Level 2 would be your best bet.
 
You should also potentially consider running Samsung Magician software on it. This is the OEM/Manufacturer supported utility, and it may be able to provide you with additional diagnostic info. In particular, it may also help you to know if the drive is still under any warranty for replacement. (I doubt that includes data recovery however.)
 
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Samsung Magician did not recognize the EVO 860 whether plugged into the motherboard or mounted in the external SATA drive. SpinRite level 2 is currently doing Dynastat data recovery and is up to sector 75 after 8 hours and 45 minutes (.039MB of the 1TB drive). Am guessing that I should let it run for a day and see things move any faster?
 
Is DynaStat recovery succeeding at all? Or is the “unrecovered sectors” counter simply incrementing very slowly without any successes?

You might also try interrupting SpinRite and restarting at the beginning. The question would be: Does it then zip through those first 75 sectors to arrive at where it was working? Or does it again just start grinding away (futilely) at sector 0 all over again?

Another thing to try would be restarting at the 50% point just to quickly see whether there's trouble only at the front of the drive, or whether the entire drive is apparently dead.

And another thing just occurred to me: If ValiDrive does "see" the drive when it's plugged into an external SATA-to-USB enclosure, ValiDrive's "spot checking" might provide some useful feedback.
 
Currently on sector 80 and another screen shows 80 unrecoverable sectors. How would I restart at the 50% point?
 
Hit ESCape and then 4 to return to the Main Menu.
Press Enter to accept the drive selection.
At that next screen, hit TAB to switch to the starting and ending point screen.
Edit the starting point, setting it to 50.0000 (percent).
Then Enter to proceed. (y)
 
Started at 50%, after 20 minutes - 3 unrecoverable sectors, Raw data shows empty sector all 0's or 1's
Started at 20%, after 40 minutes - 5 unrecoverable sectors, raw data shows empty, sector all 0's or 1's
Started at 10%, after 20 minutes - 2 unrecoverable sectors, raw data shows empty, sector all 0's or 1's

Am I correct in guessing that the interface on the drive has failed (sectors all 0's or 1's) and that the only option for recovery would be a drive repair service to repair the circuit board interface? Any suggestions?

Thanks much for all of your help in working on this!
 
Yes, I'm afraid so. It sure does appear that the entire drive media is completely offline. It's likely that nothing has actually been happening with that drive's media. It's just not there anymore. :(
 
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