DynaStat has been running for 21 hours @ 29.281% on a 750 gig WD

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Peter Wilson

Member
Feb 27, 2024
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I have a WD7501AALS drive running at Level 2 for approximately 21 hours. The Graphic Status Display (screen1) has seemingly been on the same sector 429,015,311 (both Starting and Ending) {From Real Time Activities} (Screen 2). I would estimate that it got to the 29% position within 3 hours so it has been working the same sector for 19 hours. It started at Sector 429,015,040 and is now at 429,015,311. Is this normal or is this a hung condition. I remember in one of the forum posts someone mentioning something about a hang at 29%. At this point it estimates that the time Remaining is 56 hrs 21 min. I am just wondering how to proceed. Not a big deal to me to allow it to run. This is not a mission critical drive or data. I might choose to move the drive to a slower older computer. But then I would have to find out how to resume a SpinRite session at the stop point. Or would I be better off running at a higher level than 2. I really want to verify that the drive is still worth using. Thanks for the input.
 
It sounds like SpinRite is working on a damaged area of the drive. DynaStat will try to recover data for up to 5 minutes per sector. It has worked on 271 sectors, which would be a max of 22.58 hours, which sounds right to me. As long as the sector number keeps going up, SpinRite isn't stuck. Check the log. If SpinRite says it's recovering some data from those sectors, then it may be worth it to let it keep running.

Running at a higher level than 2 will take longer. If you're trying to recover data, then stick to Level 2.

To resume a scan: go through all of the steps of starting a scan like normal, but hit TAB on the last screen before the scan starts.
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I think you can view the logs in SpinRite while it is running. Check the logs to see whats up with the sectors that it is having a hard time with. You could interrupt it completely, noting the current sector for a resume if you choose so later. Then run a level 1 (potentially starting at the problem area) to see how extensive the problem area is. You can then formulate a plan of how you might want to proceed.

DANGER: From the command line you can specify the amount of effort that DynaStat will put into recovery. You can even set it to zero and it will just rewrite the sectors with no attempt at recovery. Try issuing (from the command line) SpinRite ? to see some help on the command line options.
 
It sounds like SpinRite is working on a damaged area of the drive. DynaStat will try to recover data for up to 5 minutes per sector. It has worked on 271 sectors, which would be a max of 22.58 hours, which sounds right to me. As long as the sector number keeps going up, SpinRite isn't stuck. Check the log. If SpinRite says it's recovering some data from those sectors, then it may be worth it to let it keep running.

Running at a higher level than 2 will take longer. If you're trying to recover data, then stick to Level 2.

To resume a scan: go through all of the steps of starting a scan like normal, but hit TAB on the last screen before the scan starts.
View attachment 1078
You guys are Two for Two both within hours of asking. Thanks for a rapid on the money response.
 
At this point SpinRite has been running on a WDC7501AALS for 74 HRS. 12 MIN. it is still at 29.2813% and predicts a Time Remaining: 179 hrs. 18 min. It started on Mar 4th, 2024 @ 2:26 pm Hawaiian time. I used to have a manual that came with my first SpinRite purchase. I have no idea when I started using SpinRite but I read that manual because it provided a very clear and concise explanation of the topology and structure of the data area of the spinning hard disk. Does anyone know where that essay IS?? If so I would love to be able to read it again. I unfortunately can not find that pamphlet. I attached this file because it shows the sector that it has been working on for over 50 hours. I evidently posted to the wrong thread. I apologize. I also don't know how to paste to this forum. What should be my strategy at this point any suggestions are appreciated.
 

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It seems like there is a really problematic area of the disk.

If you didn't want Spinrite to try as hard you can tell it to only run it's recovery process (Dynastat) for a maximum of 1 minute (instead of the default which is 5). It appears as though it's not actually succeeding so perhaps the area is too badly damaged. You can even set it to 0 so that it doesn't try and recover data at all (Warning Dangerous if you want data to be recovered). All of this can be accomplished by the command line running

Spinrite Dynastat 1
Spinrite Dynastat 0

Another option would be to stop and start Spinrite from 1-2% past that area using the UI when you're selecting the disk.
 
What should be my strategy at this point any suggestions are appreciated.
What I would do is cancel working on that drive and note the % number it tells you it stopped on. Shut down and check the cable because it's reporting cable errors, maybe pull it and plug it back in if possible. Then start a new scan on the same drive BUT start it at, let's say 40%.
If it scans normally just let it go and you can start another scan earlier in the drive, if it starts Dynastat recovering again you can cancel and choose another starting point. Maybe 80%.

It may take some time but you should be able to narrow down where the bad spot ends.

How to choose start and end points:
Select the drive that you want to work on as you normally would, on the next screen hit the 'TAB" button on your keyboard then enter whatever starting point you wish, 30% may work or you may need to start at 40 or higher.
 
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What I would do is cancel working on that drive and note the % number it tells you it stopped on.
Yes! The "maxed out" cabling error count is very suspicious. I'd stop, re-seat all relevant cabling, power cycle, then restart at a point before those problems began. We've definitely seen situations where a flaky cable can be causing trouble that appears to be the drive — but it's not. : )
 
I did just what Tazz suggested and started all over with a bootable USB as opposed to the CD which I used in the first 3 or 4 day run of the drive. I wanted to get bench marking information and the logs saved for future evaluation. Changed the cabling and ran SpinRite from 30% to 100% then went back and ran the whole drive at level 2 and was done in 3 or 4 hours. Thanks for all the help from everyone.
 
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