NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT TITLE: ESDIDisk Utility for ESDI Drives-NetWare 286 DOCUMENT ID: TID000115 DOCUMENT REVISION: A DATE: 01JUL93 ALERT STATUS: Yellow INFORMATION TYPE: Symptom Solution README FOR: ESDIDR.EXE NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION: NetWare Pre 3.11 and 2.2 ABSTRACT: The ESDIDisk file prepares ESDI hard disks for NetWare 286 file servers. Running ESDIDisk, and the manufacturer's format utility for ESDI hard disks, replaces COMPSURF. The utility will run track zero, sequential, and random read-write tests. The utility will place the COMPSURF stamp on the hard disk. ESDIDisk is not intended for PS/2 machines. _________________________________________________________________ DISCLAIMER THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO NOVELL. NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY THIS INFORMATION. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION. _________________________________________________________________ Self-Extracting File Name: ESDIDR.EXE Files Included Size Date Time ESDIDR.TXT (This File) ESDIDISK.EXE 64918 7-13-90 1:46p Testing ESDI Hard Disks with ESDIDISK April 1990 Edition Manual Revision 1.0 Novell, Incorporated 122 East 1700 South Provo, UT 84606 USA Copyright 1990 Novell, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, photocopied, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted without the express prior written consent of the publisher. Novell Part # 100-00816-001 Table of Contents Testing ESDI hard disks with ESDIDISK 1 ESDIDISK tests 2 Test data 3 Test failure 3 Formatting and verifying hard disks 4 Running ESDIDISK tests 5 Displaying a summary of hard disk data 9 Displaying current test data 10 Printing current test data 12 Terminating testing and printing a test report 13 Displaying error code information 15 Exiting ESDIDISK 15 ESDIDISK error messages 15 Trademarks 17 Testing ESDI hard disks with ESDIDISK Use ESDIDISK to prepare ESDI hard disks for NetWare file servers. Running ESDIDISK and the manufacturer's format utility for ESDI hard disks substitutes for using COMPSURF. ESDIDISK will Run a track zero test on the first 32 sectors of the disk. Error information generated during succeeding tests is saved in these sectors. Run a sequential surface test to locate additional defects not in the hard disk manufacturer's defect list. Run a random read-write test to check the functional integrity of the hard disk. Put the COMPSURF stamp on a successfully-tested hard disk so that the disk will come up under NetWare 286. When you use ESDIDISK on a hard disk, do not COMPSURF the disk before or after. If your version of NetWare does not require the COMPSURF stamp. Use ESDIDISK to add sectors flagged "bad" during format (but not spared out) to the NetWare bad block table. You can also use ESDIDISK to test the hard disk and verify that the disk channel is functional. Before you run ESDIDISK. You must first install the controller and the hard disk in the file server. Then format the hard disk using the format, verify, and sparing utilities provided by either the controller manufacturer or (if the controller is built into the system) the computer manufacturer. If you have a two-disk system. ESDIDISK can test both disks at the same time. You can begin testing one disk and then specify the other disk for concurrent testing. Since ESDIDISK runs in real mode, you must reboot the computer to exit the program. ESDIDISK tests ESDIDISK runs the following tests. Track zero test. This test is run on the first 32 sectors of the disk. Because these sectors are used for storing boot and system information, the disk fails the ESDIDISK tests immediately if any errors are detected. Error information generated during succeeding tests is saved in these sectors. Sequential surface test. This test writes and then reads back 4KB data blocks beginning at the lowest sector number and continuing to the last addressable sector number on the disk. The write buffer and read buffer are compared byte for byte. A mismatch generates a 3F error. Random read-write test. ESDIDISK generates a 4KB data block using random 16-bit patterns and then writes the block number into the first 16 bits of the data buffer. During the initialization process, this 4KB data block buffer of patterns is written to the entire disk. ESDIDISK then picks a block at random from the total addressable blocks on the disk and randomly decides whether to read or write. If a write is executed, then a read follows and the buffers are compared byte for byte. If a read is executed, the read is compared with the original write buffer. In either case, a data mismatch generates a 3F error. The program continues by going to the top of the loop and again randomly deciding whether to read or write. After the sequential surface test has run successfully and the random test has run successfully for 180 minutes, ESDIDISK puts the COMPSURF stamp on the disk. The NetWare 286 operating system must find the COMPSURF stamp to complete the installation program. Test data Test data include Error information (if errors occurred during testing); Disk failure indication (if the disk failed); Summary of reasons for disk failure (if it failed); Other data regarding the disk and its testing. You can view or print current test data while testing is in progress, or you can print a test report when you terminate the testing sequence. However, once you exit ESDIDISK, you cannot retrieve test data. If you want to print the test data. Attach a parallel printer to the computer. For an example of test data. See page 10. For an example of a test report. See page 14. Test failure ESDIDISK has the capacity to handle up to 255 errors (in addition to the media defects listed by the hard disk manufacturer), but the hard disk will fail testing before this capacity is reached. A hard disk fails testing if it has any one of the following conditions. More than 3 hard or soft errors detected in the sequential surface test for pattern 1, 2 hard or soft errors for pattern 2, 1 hard or soft error for pattern 3, no hard but 1 soft error for pattern 4, or 1 soft error for pattern 5. More than 2 soft errors in the random test. A 3F data compare error generated by the test program when the data read back does not match the data written out. A 19 error is not counted against the hard disk's error count. The manufacturer's sparing routine flagged bad sectors it could not spare out; ESDIDISK detects the flag, puts the block number of the sector containing the flag in the NetWare bad block table, and displays a 19 error code. If a disk fails the test, testing does not automatically terminate. If you want to interpret the error data. See page 15 or select "6" in the main menu for error code information. Formatting and verifying hard disks Install the ESDI controller and the ESDI hard disk(s) in the computer you plan to use as a NetWare file server (v2.1 and above). If you have data on a hard disk you want to test, be sure to back it up before you format the disk or run ESDIDISK. Use the documentation that accompanies the controller, the hard disk, and the computer. Follow the recommendations of the hard disk and computer manufacturers on BIOS Sparing Sector translation Formatting To format and verify the hard disk before running ESDIDISK, complete the following steps. Boot the computer with DOS. Format the disk and spare out any media defects. Do not map additional defects manually. (ESDIDISK will enter additional defects in the NetWare bad block table on the hard disk.) If your controller is built into the system. Run the computer's setup program and use the utilities provided by the computer manufacturer, following the manufacturer's recommendations for format and sparing out media defects. If the controller is separate or not supplied by the computer manufacturer. Run the format, verify, and sparing programs provided by the controller manufacturer, following the recommendations of the controller manufacturer. Exit the setup or format program and return to DOS. Running ESDIDISK tests To start testing for a hard disk, complete the following steps. Boot the computer with DOS. Insert the diskette that contains the ESDIDISK program in a floppy disk drive and change to the same drive. At the prompt, type ESDIDISK The program title appears. Press the space bar. The main menu appears with the following options (the column headings that appear above the options are explained in Step 5). 1. Begin testing. 2. Terminate testing and print results. 3. Print current test data. 4. Display current test data. 5. Display help on these options. 6. Display error code information. 7. Display summary of hard disk data. If you want more information on the main menu options. Press "5". To specify the hard disk you want to test, press "1" and then respond to the following prompts. Enter the hard disk address off the controller. (0-1) Enter the serial number of the hard disk. The serial number for the disk is optional. If you enter a serial number in the 11-character field, it will be recorded on the hard disk with other information generated by the program. If you have two hard disks and plan to test both disks concurrently, the serial number will help you distinguish them (additionally, each disk is assigned a reference number for its testing slot). If you do not want to specify a serial number, press . Set test parameters in response to the following prompt. Enter the number of patterns to use in the sequential surface test. (1-5) The minimum number of patterns you can specify is 1. Choose more than 1 if you want a more thorough test. The time required to run the sequential surface test depends on the size and speed of the disk and on the speed of the computer. When you have specified the disk and set test parameters, a summary of disk and test information similar to the following appears on the screen. HARD DISK and TEST INFORMATION The following information applies to disk n Date: 29 May 1990 Time: 13:35 Serial number: 123456789 Hard disk address: 0 Heads: 15 Cylinders: 1600 Sectors per track: 54 The hard disk will NOT be formatted. The sequential surface test will use n pattern(s). The bad block list will not be used. Press the space bar to start the test OR Press to return to the main menu. The date and time are set by the computer when the test begins; other information is read from the hard disk or specified by you. If you want to test the other disk in your system. Press the space bar to proceed with testing. Since the main menu displays when testing is in progress, you can repeat Step 3 to specify the other disk for concurrent testing. Press the space bar to proceed with testing. The main menu appears. Column headings and information are also displayed similar to the following example (showing two disks being tested concurrently). Novell ESDIDISK Test Program v1.00 Ref No Addr Ser No Test Pass Errs Patt Block Min 1. 0 123456789 S 1 of 1 0 49 1892 2 2. 1 123454790 S 1 of 1 0 49 903 1 Each disk is assigned one of two reference numbers to indicate a testing slot. Other information displayed on the screen identifies the disk and indicates the progress of the test. The column headings for the test data and their fields are explained as follows. Ref No One of two testing slots assigned to a disk being tested. Use this number (rather than the hard disk address) when you select options that prompt you to specify which disk. Ser No The serial number of the hard disk being tested (optional). If you entered this information, it will be recorded on the disk with the test data. Addr The hard disk's physical address off the controller. Test Indicates which test is in progress. Zero (track zero) test Sequential surface test Initializing the disk for the random read-write test Random read-write test Pass Refers to the track zero and sequential surface tests and indicates how many of the five test patterns have been written to and read from the disk. The format of this information is "n of n." When each test has been completed (the track zero test usually takes only one or two minutes), the pass number will be equal to the number of test patterns you specified. Errs The total error count for media defects detected during testing. Patt The two-character field indicates which test pattern is being used. The five patterns of the sequential surface test are indicated by c6, 49, 33, 6a, and ab. Initialization for the random read-write test is indicated by d0, and c0 indicates the random read-write test itself. Block The number of the 4KB block the program is currently accessing. Min The total number of minutes the current test phase has been running. The number is reset when a new test phase begins. If you want to display current test data. Skip to page 10 for instructions. If you want to print current test data. Skip to page 12 for instructions. If you want to terminate testing with the option to print a test report. Skip to page 13 for instructions. Displaying a summary of hard disk data You can display information that you entered and that ESDIDISK knows about the hard disk. To view this summary, complete the following steps. Press "7" at the main menu. Specify the disk by entering the reference number at the following prompt. Which disk's data would you like to see? (Use 3 to escape.) A table similar to the following appears. HARD DISK and TEST INFORMATION Date started: 13 Oct 1989 Time started: 9:44 Serial number: 12121212 Hard disk address: 0 Number of blocks: 81453 Formatted capacity: 333631488 Total heads: 15 Total cylinders: 1218 Sectors per track: 26 Random reads completed: 315396 Random writes completed: 495709 The hard disk was NOT formatted for this test. The old bad block list was not used. Press the space bar to return to the main menu. Displaying current test data You can display current test data only when the test is in progress. (Once you terminate the test, you cannot display the data even though ESDIDISK is still running.) To display the current test data, complete the following steps. Press "4" at the main menu. Specify the disk by entering the reference number at the following prompt. Which disk's data would you like to see? (Use 3 to escape.) If no errors occur, a message similar to the following appears. No error data recorded for hard disk 1234567890. If errors occur or media defects are detected, current test data similar to the following appears. Bad Block Information for hard disk 9876543210 Block Cyl Head Err Funct Patt Pass MFTS Day Time 15880 504 0 17 r c0 1 of 1 11 3 13:20 38278 1215 1 17 r c0 1 of 1 13 3 13:22 32775 1040 3 17 r c0 1 of 1 14 3 13:23 21550 684 0 17 r c0 1 of 1 17 3 13:26 To display more data when the screen fills, press the space bar. The column headings for the test data screen and their fields are explained as follows. Block The number of the block where the error was detected. Cyl The number of the cylinder where the error was detected. Head The number of the head in use when the error was detected. Err The error indication reported by the controller. Press "6" at the main menu to display error. Funct Indicates whether the error was detected during a read or during a write. Patt The test pattern in use when the error was detected. Pass The number of the test pattern in which the error was detected (out of the five test patterns used in the sequential surface test). MFTS The number of Minutes elapsed From The Start of the test when the error was detected. Day The day of the month when the error was detected. Time The time of day when the error was detected. Press the space bar to return to the main menu. Printing current test data You can print current test data for either disk or, if you prefer, you can print a test report as you terminate testing (see page 13 for instructions on how to print when you terminate testing). You must have a parallel printer attached to the computer controlling the hard disk being tested. You cannot print test data after you terminate testing or exit ESDIDISK. Current test data and test reports use the same format (see page 11 for an explanation of the headings and columns.) To print current test data, complete the following steps. Press "3" at the main menu. If the printer is not turned on or if the data cable is not plugged in, you will be prompted. When you have either turned on the printer or plugged in the data cable, return to the main menu and press "3" again. Specify the disk by entering the reference number at the following prompt. Which disk's error data would you like to print? (Use 3 to escape.) To print, press the space bar. When the printer is on and ready, current test data prints. Testing continues in the background and is not terminated. Terminating testing and printing a test report Testing continues until you stop it. When you terminate testing, you have the option of printing a test report before the testing stops. If you want to print, you must have a parallel printer attached. The random read-write test must run successfully for 180 minutes before the COMPSURF stamp is put on the hard disk. To terminate testing with an option to print a test report, complete the following steps. Press "2" at the main menu. Specify the disk by entering the reference number at the following prompt. Which disk's testing would you like to stop? (Use 3 to escape.) If testing is complete. The following message appears. Do you want to print a test report? Press (y/n) or to the main menu. If you want to print a test report, press "y" to terminate testing and start printing. An example of the information contained in a printed report is on the next page. If you do not want to print a test report, press "n" to terminate testing. If testing is incomplete. The message similar to the following appears. Hard disk 2 has NOT run the full 180 minutes in the random test. If you terminate the test now, the hard disk will not be left ready to install into the network. Press the space bar if you want to terminate testing OR Press to continue with testing. If you choose to terminate testing before all tests have run, you can print the available test data. A printed test report is similar to the following example (only every tenth error is included in the example). ESDIDISK Test Report Test version: 1.00 Start date: 14 June 1990 Start time: 7:30 Serial number: 876500 Hard disk address: 1 Formatted capacity: 650555392 Patterns used in the s Sequential surface test: 2 Random test time: 238 min. Random reads completed: 215151 Random writes completed: 107899 Total bad blocks: 121 The disk was NOT formatted for this test. Bad Block Information Block Cyl Head Err Funct Patt Pass MFTS Day Time 2869 29 6 19 w c6 1 of 2 3 14 7:48 4167 42 11 19 w c6 1 of 2 4 14 7:49 11315 116 0 19 w c6 1 of 2 8 14 7:53 13657 139 1 19 w c6 1 of 2 10 14 7:55 14242 146 1 19 w c6 1 of 2 10 14 7:56 31969 327 13 19 w c6 1 of 2 21 14 8: 5 54141 555 4 19 w c6 1 of 2 34 14 8:19 60938 625 1 19 w c6 1 of 2 38 14 8:23 99079 1016 2 19 w c6 1 of 2 61 14 8:46 135330 1388 0 12 w c6 1 of 2 85 14 9: 8 150189 1540 6 19 w c6 1 of 2 94 14 9:17 155123 1591 0 19 w c6 1 of 2 97 14 9:20 157554 1615 14 19 w c6 1 of 2 99 14 9:22 Summary of Errors and/or Media Defects Found by ESDIDISK ESDIDISK detected 120 sectors marked `bad' by the controller but not spared out. The blocks containing these sectors have been added to the NetWare bad block table. Sequential surface test: Pattern 1 errors: 1 Pattern 2 errors: 0 Random read-write test: Total errors: 0 Displaying error code information You can display a table of error code information to use in interpreting test data. To display the error code information, press "6" at the main menu. The following table appears. ERROR CODE INFORMATION Hex Code Error Condition Register/Bit 0 No error occurred. 2 No seek complete. Status/4=0 3 Write fault found. Status/5=1 4 Drive not ready. Status/6=0 6 No track 0 on seek. Error/1=0 11 Uncorrectable ECC error. Error/6=1 12 No ID address mark (sector not found) Error/4=1 13 No data mark found. Error/0=1 18 ECC corrected error (soft data error) Status/2=1 19 Sector already flagged bad. Error/7=1 20 Invalid command. Error/2=1 45 Drive busy. Status/7=1 3F Test program generated compare error. None Exiting ESDIDISK To exit the program, turn off your computer or reboot. ESDIDISK error messages This section is a reference to error messages generated by the ESDIDISK program. ESDIDISK messages report the information at the point in the test when the error occurred. Each entry has two parts: The actual message or error that you see on your monitor An explanation of the message and the reason the message occurs. Errors displayed will be the error number reported by the controller. Refer to the manual that accompanied your controller and consult the section that discusses the errors returned. Some of the error messages listed here include an n to represent either the hard disk's reference number (testing slot) or the number of the hexadecimal error code. Error n reading error data. This error message appears when ESDIDISK cannot read the error data to display to the screen or to print it. Error writing bad block information to hard disk n. This error message appears if the controller returns an error when ESDIDISK tries to write the bad block information to the disk. This error message appears only after several retries have been attempted, and it indicates that the disk has a serious problem. Error n writing control information on hard disk n. This error message appears if the COMPSURF stamp cannot be written to the hard disk. Hard disk n has failed! This error message appears when ESDIDISK detects either a fatal error or an unacceptable number of media defects. Fatal errors are 02, 03, 04, 06, 20, 45, and 3F. ESDIDISK generates the 3F error when the data read back does not match the data written out to the hard disk. If any of these errors occur, the disk will fail before 255 bad blocks are located. Additionally, a disk fails if any of the error conditions listed below occurs during the specified phase of testing. Sequential surface test: Pattern 1 More than 3 hard or soft errors Pattern 2 More than 2 hard or soft errors Pattern 3 More than 1 hard or soft error Pattern 4 More than 1 soft error No hard errors allowed Pattern 5 More than 1 soft error No hard errors allowed Random test: More than 2 soft errors No hard errors allowed Hard disk n has failed because of an error on track zero. This error message appears when ESDIDISK detects an error during the track zero test. No errors are allowed on the first 32 sectors of the disk. Hard disk n has more than 255 bad blocks. This error message appears when the total bad block count exceeds 255. ESDIDISK continues to run, but this message will appear each time another media defect is located. INQUIRY command error n on hard disk n. This error message appears if ESDIDISK cannot get head and cylinder information from the BIOS. The hard disk cannot be tested. Trademarks NetWare is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. ÿ