# Hard Drive Diagnostics



## mogulman (Mar 19, 2007)

I searched but couldn't find too much info other than other people see the same error code.....

I have an HR20-700 with a 1TB eSata drive (Antec MX-1). Intermittently I was noticing some funkiness in a couple of recordings. I read on hear about the hard drive diagnostics test. This is the thing where you press select while the diagnostics screen is up, then go to advanced, utilities, hard drive

Anyway.. When I run File system test I get "Passed".

When I run the short and long Hard drive test, I get failed 0x77 almost immediately.

I tried running the file system repair a few times and it passed, but the short and long hard drive test still say 0x77. The system seems to work fine.

Should I worry about the 0x77? what does this mean?


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

What kind of "funkiness" were you experiencing?
I wouldn't worry too much about the failed test.


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## mogulman (Mar 19, 2007)

it seems like a bunch of recordings from 2 weeks ago when I was on vacation have some bad pieces. At a certain point in a recorded show, the playback skips back to the beginning. If I play it again it skips back at the same spot. If I skip to a spot past the problem then it plays the rest of the show.


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## Cyrus (Oct 22, 2006)

I would worry about the failed test. These are SMART short/long self tests, so if it fails it's the eSATA itself that's running the test and reporting a failure. So there is some issue with the disk.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

mogulman said:


> it seems like a bunch of recordings from 2 weeks ago when I was on vacation have some bad pieces. At a certain point in a recorded show, the playback skips back to the beginning. If I play it again it skips back at the same spot. If I skip to a spot past the problem then it plays the rest of the show.


In this case I would be worried about the disk. What brand HDD are you using?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Download MHDD floppy/CD image and test the disk - you'll get SMART status and run full scan [F4] with Remap=ON, then you'll see how many bad sectors cured or not; check SMART by F8 before scan and after.


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## mogulman (Mar 19, 2007)

This is a WD 1 TB green drive. If I run that scan from a pc, will that erase the recordings? maybe I'll wait until we watch most of our recordings.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

No worry, that diags is non-destructive. In case if you'll try erase 'slow' sectors of will try to wipe whole disk the program will ask you a couple times, so you'll have time to think.


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## mogulman (Mar 19, 2007)

Ok.. I took the drive out of the Antec enclosure and hooked it up to my PC.

Tried MHDD on it and found a few errors.

Downloaded Western Digital Diagnostics and ran it on the drive. Short test found some errors. Ran long test overnight and had it fix a few errors. It took about 3 hours on the 1TB drive.

Put it back in the enclosure this morning and hooked it up to the HR20-700 and ran diagnostics Drive utility. Now the tests all pass.

Hopefully everything is all good.


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

mogulman said:


> Ok.. I took the drive out of the Antec enclosure and hooked it up to my PC.
> 
> Tried MHDD on it and found a few errors.
> 
> ...


Interesting. Good work and good info (thanks PSmith for MHDD).

Let us know how this works.

Question, could you have hooked you MX-1 to your PC via USB? That might have precluded removing it from the enclosure.

Mike


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## mogulman (Mar 19, 2007)

MicroBeta said:


> Interesting. Good work and good info (thanks PSmith for MHDD).
> 
> Let us know how this works.
> 
> ...


MHDD doesn't natively recognize USB drives, so I would have had to customize its boot disk with some USB/SCSI drivers. Also, some things like SMART status weren't showing up correctly with USB in the WD diagnostic tool. I hooked it up to my PC to be sure. I didn't have eSata on my PC. So if my PC had eSata I could have just left it in the enclosure. I'm sure eSata would have been recognized as just another Sata drive.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

So, what was in SMART reports - before and after scan with remapping ?

Better post those screenshots without interpretation.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

For the past week or so, my wife's HR20-700 (w/eSATA) has randomly experienced a "stuttering" situation when trying to watch a recording. This also occurred when using trickplay (not "live") at that time.

The problem occurred a few times and a simple RBR fixed the problem.

Within the past 24 hours, the problem has occurred several times so now needs to be addressed. Especially before Mother's Day! 

Have been running all of the diagnostic tests and the "short hard-drive test" just failed with a 0x77 failure.

It's an HR20-700 with Antec MX-1 enclosure with Seagate 750GB DB35 drive.

Running diagnostic "405.1.2 Fix Hard Drive File System" now.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would do more serious check like mentioned before - using independent programs like MHDD or Victoria. Get the SMART table from your HDD and post it here for analysis.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

P Smith said:


> I would do more serious check like mentioned before - using independent programs like MHDD or Victoria. Get the SMART table from your HDD and post it here for analysis.


thanks P. starting with the hr20 fix program. still running. at 37%, been running for 1-2 hours already. going to let it finish. also downloaded Seatools from the Seagate site.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

While I used manufacturer's utilities at work ( strictly for obtain RMA), they are tend to hide valuable info from end user, treating those ppl as JSP. I don't like this disposition: someone made a disk, he made a tools, he made decisions by the tool and left to us a role of monkey. That's why I'm proponent of independent software and open source.
Try Windows version of Victoria or at least some SMART monitor SW.
Best way - load DOS and use MHDD or Victoria [DOS version].


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

P Smith said:


> Best way - load DOS and use MHDD or Victoria [DOS version].


The HR20-700 diagnostic tool took about 5 hours and finished with a message that is passed. I then re-ran the short test and did not get the 0x77 message. It passed.

The family was anxious to get their DVR back so rebooted and all has been fine.

Will play some more tomorrow and run the long test, but so far the problem may be fixed. We'll see ...


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Get that SMART table will be easy under Windows, it take a few minutes actually and will give you a lot of valuable info regarding bad sectors/pending/reallocated/etc what you cannot pull out of the internal tests. You'll have base line for future analysis, catch bad trend and avoid loss of your recordings. Obtaining the table doesn't require extensive knowledge, but a value of it is significant.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

Sixto said:


> The HR20-700 diagnostic tool took about 5 hours and finished with a message that is passed. I then re-ran the short test and did not get the 0x77 message. It passed.
> 
> The family was anxious to get their DVR back so rebooted and all has been fine.
> 
> Will play some more tomorrow and run the long test, but so far the problem may be fixed. We'll see ...


The problem is back. Mom's DVR is not behaving on Mother's Day. 

Was also just looking at the other thread: old vs new recordings.

Thought it was the same problem but it appears not.

HR20-700 w/eSATA. Antec MX-1 with Seagate 750GB DB35 drive. 37% available.

"Live TV" is fine.
Trickplay of "Live TV" stutters constantly.
All recordings after 4/15 0x02F4 stutter constantly.
Some recordings before 4/15 0x02F4 are fine but others stutter.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

Sixto said:


> The problem is back. Mom's DVR is not behaving on Mother's Day.
> 
> Was also just looking at the other thread: old vs new recordings.
> 
> ...


Just RBR.

All harddrive tests (from diagnostics) "passed". Fine.

After RBR, trickplay and all recordings play fine.

But do expect the problem will return eventually ...


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Check SMART - the disk could be heading to graveyard.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

P Smith said:


> Check SMART - the disk could be heading to graveyard.


I'm not yet convinced it's a hard drive problem. It may certainly be, and I do plan to run MHDD when I get time to install the drive in a PC.

But for now, it's running fine and attempting to see if the problem re-occurs without accessing any recordings prior to 4/15 (0x02F4). Experimenting a little ...

When the problem occurs, everything is out of whack and simple interaction with the remote is very slow.


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## vandergraff (Sep 26, 2007)

Sixto said:


> The problem is back. Mom's DVR is not behaving on Mother's Day.
> 
> Was also just looking at the other thread: old vs new recordings.
> 
> ...


Like you I am not certain what I am seeing is the hard drive. I see

"Live TV" is fine
Trickplay of Live TV has the stuttering/freezing
All recordings after 4/9 0x02f4 stutter
All the recordings I have tried before 4/9 are fine.

I am running the Directv long hard disk drive diagnostic and we'll see what is says. Per the other thread I am also seeing intermittent Tuner 2 issues since 4/9 0x02f4 update and I wonder if that is the real culprit here.

Have you tried running the system test from set up menu? When I do this I get a Satellite alignment error about 50% of the time. Looking at the Tuner 2 signal levels some transponders are intermittent showing 90 most of the time but drop to 0 for short periods. Seems to have started with 0x02f4.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

You will get settle the uncertainties about the disk after you'll get a few SMART tables in row.


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## msmith (Apr 23, 2002)

How long does "Fix Hard Drive File System" run? I've been running it for 24 hours on an HR21-700 and it's only up to 25%.

I've been getting freezes when playing back any locally recorded program and trouble with trick play.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

msmith said:


> How long does "Fix Hard Drive File System" run? I've been running it for 24 hours on an HR21-700 and it's only up to 25%.
> 
> I've been getting freezes when playing back any locally recorded program and trouble with trick play.


Are you running on the original HD, or a much larger one?


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## msmith (Apr 23, 2002)

CCarncross said:


> Are you running on the original HD, or a much larger one?


The original


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Independent diags program with remapping bad sectors usually ( but it depend of number those bad sectors ) run for one or two hours on 320/500 GB disks.


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## msmith (Apr 23, 2002)

48 hours and I'm still only at 38%.

Is this a sign that my hard drive is dead? Should I stop it and start the replacement dance with DirecTV? Or should I let it finish?


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

msmith said:


> 48 hours and I'm still only at 38%.
> 
> Is this a sign that my hard drive is dead? Should I stop it and start the replacement dance with DirecTV? Or should I let it finish?


I would have had the replacement enroute after 6 hours. But thats just me.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

If you typing your questions on PC, why not run diag (MHDD, Victoria) against the disk from it ? If you cannot open a cover of DVR, then it's time to call and ask for replacement.


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## msmith (Apr 23, 2002)

P Smith said:


> If you typing your questions on PC, why not run diag (MHDD, Victoria) against the disk from it ? If you cannot open a cover of DVR, then it's time to call and ask for replacement.


I am capable of doing this, but I don't want to void the warranty.

I'll probably call later.


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## msmith (Apr 23, 2002)

I gave up. After 2 1/2 days it was only up to 40% on the Fix Hard Drive utility. New receiver is on the way.


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

msmith said:


> I gave up. After 2 1/2 days it was only up to 40% on the Fix Hard Drive utility. New receiver is on the way.


Holy cow. :eek2:

A few hours maybe but a few days, you're a better man then I; that's way more patience then I would have had. 

Mike


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## racermd (Dec 18, 2006)

For what it's worth, I've been running a 1TB "Green" drive in an eSATA enclosure on one of my HR20s for about 4 months without any sort of problem. How I wound up using that drive in that enclosure on that particular HR20 is a rather long and boring story that I will not go into here. Let's just say that it was a last-ditch effort at getting my HR20 working again before calling in for service.

As for the length of time the tests on your hard disk were taking - it's likely to be either a semi-fatal drive problem or a flaky controller. I say semi-fatal because, while it will likely never completely fail, it will likely never get better, either.

Of course, there are a number of variables involved and it may just be the combination of that specific hard disk unit misbehaving with the specific controller. Changing either the drive or the controller (or both) will likely yield a successful result.

Food for thought.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Right eSATA enclosure doesn't have any controller.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

Sixto said:


> I'm not yet convinced it's a hard drive problem. It may certainly be, and I do plan to run MHDD when I get time to install the drive in a PC.
> 
> But for now, it's running fine and attempting to see if the problem re-occurs without accessing any recordings prior to 4/15 (0x02F4). Experimenting a little ...
> 
> When the problem occurs, everything is out of whack and simple interaction with the remote is very slow.


To close the loop ... it was the harddrive.

Testing in a PC showed hundreds of errors.

Replaced the drive last night with a new 1TB WD10EVCS. All is well. (the 1TB was only $95!).

Returning the 750GB DB35 to Seagate for another (so will now have a spare for the future).


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Sixto said:


> To close the loop ... it was the harddrive.
> 
> Testing in a PC showed hundreds of errors.
> 
> ...


After three weeks... finally you got it done . What SW did you use ?


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## konfusion (Jan 27, 2008)

i have this same stupid problem keep getting that message on the test and when i try to run the fix i get error 72. so i cant even fix the errors. this is the hard drive in the dvr itself


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

konfusion said:


> i have this same stupid problem keep getting that message on the test and when i try to run the fix i get error 72. so i cant even fix the errors. this is the hard drive in the dvr itself


So, what is holding your hands from connect it to PC and run diagnostics [MHDD] ?


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## mogulman (Mar 19, 2007)

Ok.. Here are the Smart Attributes for my drive using MHDD. Does anyone know enough to tell me what this means?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I can tell you - your disk in good condition, nothing to worry.

Now run scan [F4] with remap=on and take SMART after that.


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## mogulman (Mar 19, 2007)

Yeah.. I'm running another scan again.. just to be sure.. In another thread I was thinking maybe some hard disk issues were causing me problems but the issues I'm seeing maybe related to the 312 HR20-700 national release... Wish I could go back to the previous to rule that out...


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