DISK TECHNICIAN(R)
FACTORY TEST FOR SEAGATE(R) DRIVES
USER GUIDE
Version 1.22
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives
is a Disk Technician Corporation product,
distributed by Seagate Technology, Inc.
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Seagate Drives programs. License to use these programs is granted
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Test For Seagate Drives programs or any rights under this License
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FACTORY TEST FOR SEAGATE DRIVES PROGRAMS IN ANY MANNER FOR ANY
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The Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives programs are
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i
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create any warranty or in any way increase the scope of the
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Disk Technician(R) is a registered trademark of Disk Technician
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are servicemarks of Disk Technician Corporation. Seagate(R),
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(C)1991-93 DISK TECHNICIAN CORPORATION. All rights reserved.
ii
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Table of Contents:
*****************************************************************
Legal...........................................................i
Introduction....................................................1
Requirements....................................................2
Setup...........................................................3
Operating Instructions..........................................4
Using The Test Results..........................................6
Product Support Services........................................6
Appendix A: Eligible Seagate Drives
And Matching Controllers/Adapters...................7
Appendix B: Installing Jumpers And Terminators.................11
Appendix C: White Paper On Disk Technician Factory Test
For Seagate Drives.................................12
Appendix D: Disk Technician Gold And The Rest
of The Hard Drive Reliability Story................17
Appendix E: White Paper On Disk Technician Gold................18
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
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Introduction:
*****************************************************************
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives puts the power
of Seagate factory testing in your hands. It requires no special
hardware and is fast and easy to use. Its two tests assure the
reliability of Seagate drives for you and your customers:
* A Quick test rapidly identifies gross failures.
* Media certification creates a new, updated media defect map
and recertifies the drive for normal use.
Disk Technician Gold(R), the retail end-user version, puts the
power of Seagate factory testing in your customers' hands. It
makes hard discs continuously self-repairing. It's the first hard
disc preventive maintenance software that works all of the time
-- in the background.
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives was developed
especially for you. That makes you our most highly-valued source
for how to make it better. We need your suggestions. Please let
us hear from you.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
*****************************************************************
Requirements:
*****************************************************************
* AT-286, -386, or -486 class machine with at least 640K of
RAM and a 1.2 megabyte 5.25" or 1.44 megabyte 3.5" floppy
drive.
NOTE: Some older AT-286 clones do not support AT (IDE)
drives. If you are using one of these early computers as
a test system, you may find that you are unable to test
certain drives unless you update the computer's BIOS.
Also, make certain that your test system is set-up so
that, if a diskette is loaded into the floppy drive, it
will boot from the floppy drive.
* The recommended controller/adapter for the hard drive to be
tested. See "Appendix A" for details.
NOTE: To precisely match Seagate factory testing and
assure your customers that their hard drives have been
recertified on that basis, it is best use the recommended
controller or adapter.
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives may
operate with controllers and adapters not listed in the
README.DOC. However, these have not been tested or
certified with Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate
Drives and may give invalid results.
* A printer.
* A MS-DOS 5.0 or 6.0 bootable 1.2 megabyte 5.25" or 1.44
megabyte 3.5" diskette.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
*****************************************************************
Setup:
*****************************************************************
Copy all files from the Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate
Drives distribution diskette to the DOS 5.0 or 6.0 bootable
diskette. This will be your work copy.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
*****************************************************************
Operating Instructions:
*****************************************************************
Because Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives
automatically configures itself to each Seagate drive, you will
NOT need to:
* Change any CMOS settings when setting-up or testing
different drives.
* DOS format or FDISK any drive prior to testing.
WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!
All data on the drive being tested will be destroyed.
For nondestructive testing, use Disk Technician Gold.
WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!
1. Make certain that the power is off, then install the
Seagate hard drive and recommended controller/adapter in
the test system. See "Appendix A" for details. Please be
certain that:
* You have correctly installed all jumpers and
terminators on the drive to be tested. See "Appendix B"
for details.
* You are using the recommended controller or adapter.
See "Appendix A" for details.
* For MFM and RLL (ST412-type) drives, confirm that the
interleave is set at 1 prior to testing. If it is not,
low-level format with an interleave value of 1.
2. Be sure the printer is on and connected.
3. Turn on the computer and boot from the Disk Technician
Factory Test For Seagate Drives work copy diskette.
The opening screen will appear with a flashing message that
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives is
"Configuring To The Test Drive. Please Wait." When
configuration is complete, you will see another flashing
message, "Press any key to continue." Press any key to go
to the "Tests" menu.
NOTE: Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives may
not automatically recognize all drives. In these cases,
you will see a list of eligible drives on screen.
Highlight the correct drive and then press ENTER to
continue.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
4. Press ENTER to start the "Quick test." The "Quick test"
screen will appear and testing will start.
Or use the up/down arrow keys to select "Media
certification." (If you select "Media certification," go to
step 7 now.)
The "Quick test" rapidly identifies gross failures,
including the inability to seek and/or to perform
read/write operations. The "Quick test" does the following
operations on the drive:
* Seek testing.
* Quick read and write testing of the entire drive for
soft and hard errors.
5. When the test is finished, you will see the "Quick test
report," with a pass/fail result. Type P for a printed
report.
NOTE: To remove from service all new defect locations
detected by Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate
Drives, simply perform a high-level format under
the appropriate operating system (DOS, UNIX, etc.).
6. Press the Escape key to return to the "Tests" menu. Or
press F10 to quit.
NOTE: If you choose to quit now, skip instructions 7-9
and go to the last section, "Using The Test Results. "To
test a different drive now, turn off the computer and
begin again from step 1, above."
7. Use the up/down arrow keys to select "Media certification,"
then press ENTER to start testing. The "Media
certification" screen will appear and testing will start.
Media certification creates a new, updated media defect map
and recertifies the drive for normal use. It performs the
following operations on the entire drive:
* Seek testing.
* Comprehensive read and write testing of the entire
drive for soft and hard errors.
* Media defect identification.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
8. When the test is finished, you will see the "Media
certification report," with a pass/fail result. Type P for
a printed report.
Save the printed report and return it along with the
customer's drive.
NOTE: To remove from service all new defect locations
detected by Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate
Drives, simply perform a high-level format under
the appropriate operating system (DOS, UNIX, etc.).
9. Press the Escape key to return to the "Tests" menu. Or
press F10 to quit.
NOTE: To test a different drive now, turn off the
computer and begin again from step 1, above.
*****************************************************************
Using The Test Results:
*****************************************************************
1. For optimal customer satisfaction: if the test drive passes
the "Quick test," it is best to perform "Media
certification" to assure that the drive is recertified for
normal use.
2. Include a copy of the test report with the hard drive when
you return it to your customer. This will provide assurance
that the drive has been recertified for normal service by
Seagate factory testing.
*****************************************************************
Product Support Services:
*****************************************************************
For product support and troubleshooting, please call Disk
Technician Technical Support at 619 272 4000. Technical Support
is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Pacific
Time.
Support is also available on the Disk Technician Corporation
electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS). It can be reached by
modem 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 619 272 9240.
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives is continuously
updated. New revisions can be obtained from the Seagate
Technology Bulletin Board System (BBS). Seagate's BBS can be
reached by modem 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 408 438 8771.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
*****************************************************************
Appendix A:
Eligible Seagate Drives And Matching Controllers/Adapters
*****************************************************************
Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives V1.22.
The following are Seagate drives supported by version 1.22. Also
listed are the controllers and adapters we recommend you use.
Controller and adapter numbers prefaced with ST are products of
Seagate, those prefaced with TMC are products of Future Domain.
NOTE: To precisely match Seagate factory testing and assure
your customers that their hard drives have been recertified on
that basis, it is best use the recommended controller or
adapter. Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives may
operate with controllers and adapters not listed in the
README.DOC. However, these have not been tested or certified
with Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives and may
give invalid results.
=================================================================
Model Number Controller/Adapter
------------ ------------------
ST1057A ST08
ST1090A ST08
ST1090N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1096N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1100 ST22M
ST1102A ST08
ST1106R ST22R
ST1111A ST08
ST1111N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST11200N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST11201N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1126A ST08
ST1126N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1133A ST08
ST1133N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1144A ST08
ST1150R ST22R
ST1156A ST08
ST1156N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1162A ST08
ST1162N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST11700N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST11701N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST11750N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST11751N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1186A ST08
ST1186N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1201A ST08
ST1201N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1239A ST08
ST1239N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST124 ST22M
ST12400N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST12401N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST125 ST22M
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
ST12550N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST12551N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST125A ST08
ST125N ST02/TMC1670/TMC1680
ST138 ST22M
ST138A ST08
ST138N ST02/TMC1670/TMC1680
ST138R ST22R
ST1400A ST08
ST1400N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1401A ST08
ST1401N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1480A ST08
ST1480N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1481N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST151 ST22M
ST157A ST08
ST157N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST157R ST22R
ST1581N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST177N ST02/TMC1670/TMC1680
ST1980N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST2106N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST212 ST22M
ST2125N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST213 ST22M
ST2209N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST225 ST22M
ST225N ST02/TMC1670/TMC1680
ST225R ST22R
ST2274A ST08
ST2383A ST08
ST2383N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST238R ST22R
ST2502N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST250R ST22R
ST251 ST22M
ST251N ST02/TMC1670/TMC1680
ST252 ST22M
ST253 ST22M
ST274A ST08
ST277N ST02/TMC1670/TMC1680
ST277R ST22R
ST278R ST22R
ST279R ST22R
ST280A ST08
ST296N ST02/TMC1670/TMC1680
ST3051A ST08
ST3096A ST08
ST31200N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST3120A ST08
ST3123A ST08
ST3144A ST08
ST3145A ST08
ST3243A ST08
ST325A/X ST08
ST325N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST3283A ST08
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
ST3283N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST3290A ST08
ST3385 ST08
ST3390A ST08
ST3390N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST3500 ST08
ST3500N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST351A/X ST08
ST3550 ST08
ST3550N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST3600 ST08
ST3600N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST3610N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST3655A ST08
ST3655N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST4026 ST22M
ST4038 ST22M
ST4038M ST22M
ST4051 ST22M
ST4053 ST22M
ST406 ST22M
ST4085 ST22M
ST4086 ST22M
ST4096 ST22M
ST4097 ST22M
ST412 ST22M
ST41200 TMC1670/TMC1680
ST4135R ST22R
ST4144R ST22R
ST41520N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST41600N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST41601N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST41650N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST41651N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST4182N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST419 ST22M
ST42000N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST42100N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST42101N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST42400N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST43400N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST43401N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST43402N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST4350N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST4376N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST4385N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST4702N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST4766N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST4767N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST506 ST22M
ST9051A ST08
ST9052A ST08
ST9077A ST08
ST9080A ST08
ST9096A ST08
ST9100AG ST08
ST9144A ST08
ST9145AG ST08
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
ST9235A ST08
ST9235AG ST08
ST9235N TMC1670/TMC1680
ST9295AG ST08
ST9295N TMC1670/TMC1680
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
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Appendix B:
Installing Jumpers And Terminators
*****************************************************************
Your Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives work copy
diskette contains a hypertext file called the "Seagate Technical
Support Desk Reference." This reference contains jumper and
terminator settings for Seagate drives, controllers and adapters.
To use this reference:
1. From the system prompt, type the following:
SETTINGS and then press ENTER.
2. Follow the instructions on your screen.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
*****************************************************************
Appendix C: WHITE PAPER
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives
And The Elimination of No Problem Found Drive Returns
*****************************************************************
The Problem:
On average, 35% of all drives returned to Seagate Customer
Service Repair at Oklahoma City for repair (in or out of
warranty) have absolutely nothing wrong with them.
These "No Problem Found" (NPF) drives not only waste both Seagate
and reseller resources, but they also cause customer
dissatisfaction and damage to Seagate's valuable reputation for
product quality.
Seagate's Objective:
Seagate's objective was to provide a simple solution to No
Problem Found drive returns by empowering its resellers with the
ability to perform on-site drive testing with factory-level
accuracy. In order to be readily adopted and remain in use, any
proposed solution would have to:
* Be fast. Resellers must clearly perceive the potential for
greater profits as a result of quick drive turnaround and
immediate customer satisfaction.
* Be easy to learn and operate. Training time must be minimal.
Test operators selected by resellers are likely to be non-
technical.
* Precisely match Seagate factory hardware test results. Both
Seagate and the resellers must be assured that results
obtained from the field NPF solution will correlate to those
of Customer Service Repair (CSR).
* Be affordable. Resellers would be unlikely to participate if
the solution required an investment in special equipment,
periodic recalibration or maintenance.
The Solution:
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives is software that
eliminates No Problem Found drive returns from Seagate's direct
accounts (and, eventually, from distributors' dealers). It puts
the power of Seagate factory testing in the resellers' hands.
It is purposefully designed as a quick and easy to use Go/No-Go
tool for non-technical operators. As such, it does not perform
failure analysis. Instead, Factory Test completely exercises and
tests the drive's electronics and mechanics, tests the media,
then produces an authoritative "Pass" or "Fail" report with a
list of any new grown defect locations detected.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
A "Pass" result allows Seagate resellers to immediately return a
No Problem Found drive to their customer with the assurance that
it has been recertified by Seagate factory testing for normal use.
A "Fail" result indicates that the drive can be returned to
Seagate with certainty that the drive requires further analysis
and repair.
Factory Test has been extensively researched and examined by
Seagate Technology and has been found to be an effective method
of testing and recertifying Seagate disc drives. It was developed
in close consultation with Seagate Engineering and is designed to
factory certify Seagate disc drives and avoid needless returns.
It is the most effective substitute available for Seagate factory
testing available.
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives achieves all of
Seagate's objectives for eliminating NPFs at the reseller site:
* It is fast. On average it takes only 2 minutes to test a 40
megabyte IDE drive, although testing time will vary depending
on drive specifications and the number of defects found.
* It is easy to learn and use. Factory Test was designed for
non-technical operators. It automatically recognizes and
configures itself to Seagate drives.
* It has been tested against Seagate factory test hardware on
a large number of hard disc drives to assure that results
precisely match.
* No special equipment is needed. Any AT-class machine is all
that is required.
* It is provided free to Seagate's direct accounts (and,
eventually, to distributors' dealers).
Requirements:
* An AT-286/386/486 machine with at least 640K of RAM and a
1.2 megabyte 5.25" or 1.44 megabyte 3.5" floppy disc drive.
* The recommended controller or adapter for the hard drive to
be tested (these are listed in the README.DOC file on the
Factory Test distribution diskette).
* A printer.
* A DOS 5.0 bootable 1.2 megabyte 5.25" or 1.44 megabyte 3.5"
diskette.
Setup:
All files from the Factory Test distribution diskette are copied
to the DOS 5.0 bootable diskette. This will become the work copy
diskette.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
Operation:
Factory Test only recognizes and tests Seagate drives. It
automatically configures itself to any Seagate drive in the test
program (these are listed in the README.DOC file on the diskette.
Additional drives may be added at the determination of Seagate).
Because of this, there is no need to verify or change any CMOS
settings, DOS format or FDISK any drive to be tested.
Additionally, because Factory Test overwrites all data on the
drive being tested -- including sectors marked bad, it will test
drives formatted under any operating system (i.e. DOS, UNIX,
Macintosh, etc.).
The operator simply installs the Seagate drive to be tested with
the recommended controller or adapter. (A listing of the correct
jumper and terminator settings for each drive can be found in the
Seagate Technical Support Desk Reference file on the work copy
diskette.)
After making certain that the printer is connected and on, the
operator inserts the work copy diskette into the computer's
floppy drive and turns on the system.
Important! Factory Test overwrites (destroys) all data on the
drive being tested. This destructive test method allows drives to
be tested regardless of the operating system under which they
were formatted (UNIX, DOS, etc.). It also makes testing time much
quicker.
How Factory Test Eliminates NPFs:
Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate Drives performs
comprehensive NPF testing of the entire hard disc drive subsystem
(including electronics, mechanics and media) in the following
order:
1. When Factory Test begins, it tests host-to-drive
communications. It then issues a drive identification
command to verify that it is operating on a Seagate drive.
2. Factory Test next obtains geometry for the specific drive
from its own internal tables and sets the system parameters
for the drive to be tested.
Then the operator selects either the Quick Test (to rapidly
eliminate gross failures) or Media Certification (to recertify
the drive for normal service).
3. Next, Factory Test does random and step seek tests.
These check the drive electronics as well as the positioning
mechanics (including motor, stepper and positioning system).
4. The guaranteed good sector 0/0 is tested multiple times
with all Seagate test patterns and their inversions.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
5. If the Quick Test is selected, the media is tested for
soft, ECC and hard error locations by reading and writing
to all sectors with a single Seagate test pattern.
6. If Media Certification is selected, the media is tested
for soft, ECC and hard error locations by reading and
writing to all sectors using all Seagate test patterns and
their inversions.
7. In the final stage of both the Quick Test and Media
Certification, defect locations are globally analyzed by an
expert system for patterns indicating electronic, mechanical
and media failures.
The "Pass/Fail" Report
Upon completion of testing, a report appears on-screen with a
"Pass" or "Fail" finding, along with a list of media defect
locations. This report should be printed so that it can accompany
the drive.
The Pass/Fail standard for each Seagate drive has been
predetermined by specifications set by Seagate Engineering.
If the drive passes the Quick Test, it is recommended to perform
Media Certification to assure the customer that the drive is
recertified for normal use.
If the drive passes Media Certification, a copy of the test
report containing the updated list of the new media defect
locations should be included with the drive when it is returned
to the customer. This provides assurance that the drive has been
recertified by Seagate factory testing.
NOTE: To remove from service all new defect locations
detected by Disk Technician Factory Test For Seagate
Drives, simply perform a high-level format under
the appropriate operating system (DOS, UNIX, etc.).
If the drive fails either the Quick Test or Media Certification,
a copy of the test report should be included with the drive when
it is sent to Seagate for analysis and repair. This will
significantly reduce both diagnostic and turnaround time.
Benefits:
* Disk Technician Factory Test is backed by the Seagate
name.
* Seagate resellers now have a resource when "failures"
occur.
* Seagate resellers enjoy more profit, less handling, less
work.
* No Problem Found drives are eliminated by Seagate resellers.
15
Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
* Rapid turnaround creates happier, more loyal customers.
* By eliminating NPFs, Seagate's reputation for product
quality is enhanced.
Product Support Services:
For product support and troubleshooting, please call Disk
Technician Technical Support at (619) 272 4000. Technical Support
is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific
Time.
Support is also available on the Disk Technician Corporation
Bulletin Board System (BBS). It can be reached by modem 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week, at (619) 272-9240.
Additional drives may be included in the Factory Test program at
the determination of Seagate.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
*****************************************************************
Appendix D:
Disk Technician Gold
And The Rest of
The Hard Drive Reliability Story
*****************************************************************
Seagate drives are born perfect. Before they arrive at your
door, each one must pass a rigorous quality control process
that is the acknowledged world standard. And each drive is
factory certified for long and reliable service.
So why do you get returns? Call it physics, or call it the law
of nature. But, as soon as hard drives begin their long life of
service, a host of microscopic, natural forces also begin a
relentless attack on the various parts. These cause "grown
defects," spots on the media surface that can no longer store
data reliably, and that "grow" after factory certification. As
they evolve from subtle, to marginal, to bad, grown defects wreak
havoc with your customers' data. When that happens, you get a
return. A preventable return.
Disk Technician Gold makes your customers' hard drives
continuously self-repairing. It stops grown defects before they
get a chance to grow up. Operating as a memory-resident device
driver, Disk Technician Gold goes to work automatically every
time the computer is switched on. And it stays on the job
continuously to prevent the very problems that cause drives to be
returned to you.
Disk Technician -- either the Factory Test For Seagate Drives
or the Gold version -- is the only software that uses the same
soft error test standards as factory quality control to monitor
every hard disc access -- only tolerating perfect performance.
However, since Disk Technician Gold is designed to work on "live"
drives loaded with data, its testing is nondestructive. And, when
a problem is detected, Disk Technician Gold not only reports it,
it fixes it. On-the-fly. In the background.
So how can you do fast turnarounds on returns -- and make your
customers happy? Just keep Disk Technician Factory Test For
Seagate Drives on your test bench. And how can you prevent
returns in the first place -- and keep your customers happy? Just
recommend Disk Technician Gold. It's the rest of the hard drive
reliability story.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
*****************************************************************
Appendix E: White Paper On Disk Technician Gold:
Comprehensive Preventive Maintenance
For The Hard Disc Drive and Its Subsystems
*****************************************************************
The Problem of No Problem Found Drive Returns:
Before leaving the factory, each Seagate hard disc drive
undergoes rigorous quality control and is certified for long and
reliable service. Yet, once these drives are installed in end
user computer systems, an array of natural microscopic forces
begins a relentless, continuous attack on the media, electronics
and mechanics. While these forces can be effectively managed in a
laboratory environment through scheduled, proactive diagnostics
and repair, end users can only react to the catastrophic problems
that these forces will eventually cause if left unchecked.
However, problems inherent to the hard disc drive itself are only
a small part of the picture. Failures in other computer
components such as the power supply also affect data reliability
and therefore the end user's perception of hard drive quality.
End users seeing a DOS error message such as DRIVE NOT READY
cannot distinguish between a problem caused by worn or dirty
connectors, intermittent ribbon cables, an intermittent power
supply -- or within the hard drive itself.
Still other causes of perceived hard drive reliability problems
that happen after the drive has left Seagate's reseller channel
include such things as improper drive installation, incorrect
CMOS setup, viruses, CHKDSK errors, improper software
installation, and physical abuse.
In any case, end users are not concerned with inter-industry
engineering issues and intra-industry finger pointing. Fairly or
unfairly, when any problem affects their precious data -- no
matter what the actual cause may be the finger of blame is
invariably pointed at Seagate and the hard drive is returned for
repair or replacement.
It should come as no surprise then, that on average, 35% of all
drives returned to Seagate Customer Service Repair in Oklahoma
City for repair -- in or out of warranty have absolutely nothing
wrong with them. Or that, depending on the reseller, this figure
can go as high as 80%. It is easy to deduce that servicing these
No Problem Found (NPF) drives not only wastes both Seagate and
reseller resources, but also cause customer dissatisfaction and
damage to Seagate's valuable reputation for product reliability
and quality.
End User Resistance to Hard Drive Preventive Maintenance:
The benefits of hard drive preventive maintenance are many,
particularly to business and professional users. Because of the
value of the data stored on their hard drives, these users
typically own one or more hard disc utility software packages.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
Unfortunately, users rarely remember to run these utilities until
after a severe problem has occurred, too late for preventive
measures. Nor are these utilities preventive in the proper sense
of the word, in that they cannot detect or measure soft errors.
Further, the sole function these utilities provide is media
surface scanning, which does not address the many other (and much
more prevalent) causes of hard drive reliability problems.
In addition, these utilities took from 1-1/2 to 5-1/2 hours to
run on a 20 megabyte drive, which discouraged regularly scheduled
maintenance. However, today's desktop computer is much more
likely to have a 120 megabyte drive, and many new systems are
shipped with 200 megabyte or greater drives. The effect of this
is that critically necessary hard drive maintenance time has now
eclipsed potential computer production time.
With the decreasing cost of hardware and increasing
sophistication of software applications, the PC has assumed many
corporate mission-critical tasks that were previously in the
domain of mainframes and minis, including things such as
accounting, vendor and customer records, engineering and
manufacturing process control. For business users, however, PC
hard drive data reliability has remained the single, unresolved
issue.
Seagate's Objective:
While Disk Technician Factory Test provides Seagate's resellers
with a go/no-go software solution to eliminate NPFs once drives
have arrived back in the channel (for more information, see the
Factory Test White Paper), no one would disagree that it would be
far preferable and mutually profitable to prevent these drives
from being returned in the first place. Further, suppose a
comprehensive tool could be developed which could detect and
eliminate all of the previously mentioned problems affecting data
reliability? Suppose that it could be installed right in the
computer operating system, such that hard drive preventive
maintenance would not require end user involvement? One result
would surely be that unnecessary drive returns would plummet to
virtually zero. Everyone -- from end users, to dealers, VARs or
VMRs, to distributors, to System Integrators, to OEMs, to Seagate
itself -- would enjoy the benefits of self-repairing hard drives.
Disk Technician Corporation's Objective:
Disk Technician Corporation wanted to develop a user-independent
solution to both inherent and environmentally induced hard drive
problems, as well as non-hard drive problems that affect data
reliability and hence are perceived to be hard drive-related. In
order to be an acceptable end user desktop solution, such a
product would need to:
* Detect and eliminate grown defects. Media defects develop
continuously throughout a hard drives service life. These
must be eliminated in their soft stage, before they cause
lost and corrupted data, or precipitate a crash.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
* Detect imminent electronic, mechanical and media problems in
the hard drive. If undetected, these can cause sudden,
catastrophic failures.
* Detect non-hard drive computer component problems affecting
data reliability. These can cause lost and corrupted data as
well as sudden, catastrophic failure.
* Detect other non-hard drive issues affecting data reliability
(including CHKDSK errors, viruses, improper software
installation, improper drive installation and setup, etc.).
* Precisely match Seagate factory hardware test results.
Seagate, resellers and end users must be assured that testing
results obtained from the end user preventive maintenance
product correlate to Seagate Customer Service Repair's.
* Be fast. End users will not adopt a product that ties-up
their systems for any significant period of time.
* Be easy to learn and operate. A pragmatic hard drive
preventive maintenance product must assume that the majority
of its users will be non-technical and have no desire to
learn the intricacies of hard drives or complex preventive
maintenance, repair and recovery procedures.
* Be affordable. Even "must-have" desktop solutions must be
inexpensive in order to become widely adopted.
The Solution? Build Both Prevention and Cure Right Into The
System:
Disk Technician Gold is a retail product (suggested list price,
US$149.95) designed to be installed on end user hard disc drives.
It works constantly in the background to prevent media errors and
provide advance warning of electronic and mechanical errors as
the drive functions. Once Disk Technician Gold is installed, no
further user interaction is required. It replaces traditional
hard disc maintenance utilities where the user must remember to
run the software. Disk Technician Gold begins to work the moment
the computer is turned on and can actually eliminate the types of
problems that necessitate disc drive returns. It will help ensure
that disc drives remain where they belong -- at the customer site.
Seagate Technology, Inc., has tested and approved Disk Technician
Gold. In their endorsement, Seagate stated that:
"Disk Technician Gold sets the standard for hard drive
preventive maintenance software. Seagate recommends the use of
Disk Technician Gold to ensure error-free data storage
throughout the service life of your hard disc drive."
Disk Technician Gold's key component is a 14K memory-resident
device driver (not a TSR) that becomes part of the DOS operating
system and Windows 3.1, continuously and automatically providing:
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
* Error detection, diagnostics and repair -- on the fly, in the
background, with no system performance degradation.
* Crash prevention and hard error data recovery and relocation
-- on the fly.
* Advance warning of electronic, mechanical and media failure
for all hard drive and computer components affecting data
reliability -- on the fly, in the background.
* Passive system, disc and data diagnostics.
* Test results that match those of Seagate factory hardware.
A separate, pull-down menu program provides interleave testing
and resetting, nondestructive low-level formatting,
defragmenting, manual drive testing, reports and interface
customization. An optionally installed virus prevention
device driver is also included.
Software Installation, Configuration and Setup:
Installation of Disk Technician Gold is both simple and
straightforward. End users either allow the program to make
installation decisions, or they make their own step-by-step
choices. Once files are installed, Disk Technician Gold
configures itself to the host system by measuring and testing the
specific hardware and software parameters, including hard disc
drive geometry. It then performs a system integrity test,
followed by media certification (see the (see the System
Integrity Test Hard Disc Media Certification sections in this
white paper for more information). Once these steps have been
completed, no further user interaction is required.
How Real-Time Error Detection Works Without Performance
Degradation:
Disk Technician Gold detects errors by testing all hard drive
accesses while working transparently in the background of other
programs, without interrupting normal activity, and without
system performance degradation. In fact, because it handles
block data transfers more efficiently than DOS, there is a net
gain of about 1% in average data transfer rate with Disk
Technician Gold installed. (The rate will be slightly slower on
very large data transfers; faster on small ones.)
When a soft error is detected, its location is recorded in the
databank (a special file created during installation).
The next time the computer is booted, Disk Technician Gold
automatically performs a Bootup System Check (which includes a
series of test routines designed to quickly check the major
components of the hard drive and its subsystems). The databank is
scanned for any new error locations recorded since the last
bootup. Any data in these locations is copied into RAM, then each
location is tested by writing, then reading back, worst case test
patterns and their inversions.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
Disk Technician Gold is the only software able to measure the
exact number of attempts the hard drive makes while accessing a
particular sector. If testing determines that the soft error is
normal (non-repeating), the data is returned to its original
location. This is because a non-repeating soft error is a
harmless, random and normal event.
However, an abnormal (repeating) soft error is dangerous and may
continue to recur at the same location unless corrective action
is taken. It is a strong indicator that the sector is in a
failure mode (i.e., the soft error rate is likely to escalate
rapidly to hard, or unreadable, status). If testing determines
that the number of soft errors is in excess of the threshold for
reliable data storage set by Seagate engineering, the data is
relocated to a new, safe location. The unsafe location is then
blocked from further use by marking it bad in the FAT, all
automatically without operator intervention.
After the data is safely rewritten, Disk Technician Gold records
the location and type of error in the databank, then uses the
information for two separate purposes:
1. Intermittent error detection and elimination. Disk
Technician Gold compares past test results with current
results to determine if a repeating soft error hit
(occurrence) is intermittent. This is when an area produced
a repeating soft error hit in the past, was repaired, and
has now produced another such hit.
If Disk Technician Gold's expert system rules that the hit
is recurring intermittently, any data in the area affected
is moved to a good area and the unsafe area is marked bad
in the FAT.
2. Hardware failure advance warning. The final step in the
Bootup System Check is an expert system analysis of the
databank to determine if the error is part of a developing
pattern indicating imminent hardware failure. The importance
of this step to data reliability cannot be overemphasized,
since the majority of perceived hard drive failures are not
actually caused by the hard drive itself. Patterns
recognized by the expert system must not only encompass the
hard disc drives electronics, mechanics and media, the
controller or adapter -- but also ribbon cables and
connectors, as well as non-hard drive computer components
that affect data reliability, such as the power supply.
Each of the many causes of hardware failure has its own, unique
signature. For example, as the disc platter spindle bearing
begins to fail, the platters begin to wobble microscopically. The
further away from the platter spindle bearing, the greater the
wobble. This may cause variations in the flying height of the
read/write heads with respect to the platters. This, in turn,
results in an intermittent high soft error rate, greatest on the
outer edges of the discs and gradually decreasing towards the
spindle.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
When such a failure pattern is recognized, Disk Technician Gold
displays a message directing users to immediately back-up their
data and consult a hardware service technician.
However, people responsible for maintaining data integrity and/or
hard drive systems on multiple computers (MIS management, PC
managers and coordinators, service maintenance departments, VARs,
consultants, etc.) were concerned that, despite the seriousness
of the warning message, it might still be ignored. For these
people, then, the warning message can be self-modified to direct
end users to a specific course of action.
Depending on the type of failure, the user typically receives
from a few days' to a few weeks' advance warning. As a diagnostic
aid to service technicians, the users guide contains a list
ranking the most likely reasons the warning message was
generated.
The entire Bootup System Check, including testing and repairs,
typically takes only a few seconds, and may be bypassed (as a
convenience for users who must reboot their systems often). Note
that testing, repair, relocation of data and updating of the File
Allocation Table (FAT) all occur as part of the bootup process.
The net result is that all hard drive and associated data
reliability issues are handled automatically and transparently as
operating system background tasks.
Real-Time Recovery From Critical And Hard Errors:
Most of Disk Technician Gold's real-time error detection and
preventive maintenance functions are transparent. The single
exception is when it detects a critical error (defined as one
that would result in data loss or a drive crash). There are three
types:
1. Excessive soft errors. These indicate imminent failure,
because on the next access attempt the soft error rate may
have escalated to such a degree that the area may be totally
unreadable (a hard error). For this same reason, any hard
disc location exhibiting excessive soft errors during
Seagate final quality control testing is marked in a "Bad
Track Report" or "Microdefect Map" for removal from use.
2. Excessive soft errors and Error Correction Code (ECC) was
invoked to reconstruct data. (ECC is defined as a
proprietary series of algorithms, specific to an individual
controller or hard drive, used to reconstruct data after it
has exhausted its preset number of attempts to read data
from a track or sector. This should not be confused with
on-the-fly ECC.) On the next disc access, the soft error
rate may have escalated such that ECC may not be able to
reconstruct the data.
Note that Disk Technician Gold does not use ECC alone as a
criterion for determining media reliability. Here are three
of many reasons:
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
A. Individual controller and hard drive designs vary
widely in the number of retries they will make to get
data before invoking ECC. Many older XT-class
controllers allow 30 and more retries (soft errors)
before invoking ECC, an unacceptably dangerous
situation for data.
B. Conversely, technology now being introduced in small
form drives do not allow any retries whatsoever before
invoking ECC.
Because soft errors are both commonplace and typically
non-repeating in the normal PC hard drive environment,
ECC-dependent error detection could result in an
untimely and unwarranted condemnation of a perfectly
good drive.
C. Until recently, most drives and controllers reported
ECC information, which was ignored by DOS, but
available to diagnostic software. Today, however, most
block transfer drives (IDE and SCSI) and advanced
controllers do not return ECC status at all, such that
diagnostic software cannot detect any ECC activity
whatsoever.
3. Hard error (the area was completely unreadable). In this
case, ECC may or may not have been invoked. If it was
invoked, it failed to reconstruct the data. If not invoked,
it was because the data involved did not meet ECC criteria
for potential reconstruction.
Imagine someone working in an application such as Lotus 1-2-3 or
WordPerfect. The person has just opened a file that is in the
process of being read from the hard drive into RAM. Suddenly,
without warning, DOS generates an error message such as "Sector
not found," or "Disk error reading FAT," followed by "Abort,
Retry, Fail?". Until the introduction of Disk Technician Gold,
the only options at this point were rarely successful, after-the
-fact recovery and reconstruction attempts.
However, when Disk Technician Gold encounters a critical error,
it immediately begins a series of emergency actions:
1. It recovers the data from the affected area, using a
combination of seek-profiling, ECC and other proprietary
techniques.
2. The recovered data is recorded in the databank, along with
the error location.
3. Disk Technician Gold sounds an audio warning signal and
displays an on-screen message to alert users that a critical
error has been encountered. The message prompts users to
save their work, exit the program they are using, and reboot
their systems:
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
Users working in some graphic environments are alerted to
critical errors by the audio signal only. A special decal
(called the Audio CueCard) that is usually affixed to the
keyboard or monitor frame, is included to provide the same
step-by-step instructions displayed on-screen:
4. When the system is rebooted, Disk Technician Gold tests the
area, repairs it if possible, or, if the area is unrepairable,
relocates the data to a new, safe location and blocks the
unsafe location from further use.
Once the problem has been resolved, Disk Technician Gold updates
the databank and FAT, and returns to the system prompt. The user
may then safely resume working in the interrupted program.
Real-Time Virus Prevention:
Disk Technician Gold includes an optionally installed, 7K memory-
resident Virus Detector to help protect systems and data. Like
the Error Detector, the Virus Detector is a device driver that
loads into RAM during bootup and works transparently in the
background of other programs.
The Virus Detector helps to protect hard drives against the most
common form of viral infection, where viruses attach themselves
to other files and begin mutating and reproducing.
Disk Technician Gold acts to stop viruses before they can attach
themselves to critical files by continuously monitoring write
activity to registered file types. Whenever an attempt is made to
write one of these files, Disk Technician Gold sounds an audio
warning signal and displays an on-screen message.
Of course, not all write attempts to protected files indicate the
presence of a virus. However, Disk Technician Gold does make
users aware of suspicious write attempts and provides the option
to abort them.
Menu-Driven Tests:
A key benefit of Disk Technician Gold is that, once installed, no
user interaction is needed to maintain the hard drive system in
factory-perfect condition. However, should users wish to perform
comprehensive drive tests, Disk Technician Gold includes several
on a separate, pull-down menu program:
System Integrity Test. This battery of tests is similar to, but
more comprehensive than, the Bootup System Test. Tests include:
* A self-examination of Disk Technician Gold for evidence of
virus contamination, and for the integrity of the critical
databank file.
* Checking the hard drives seek mechanisms for gross failure.
* Confirming the ability of DOS to create, open, write, read,
close and delete a file on the drive being tested.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
* Verifying the integrity of the boot record, directory, and
FATs.
* DOS CHKDSK-type routines to identify lost clusters,
crosslinked chains, allocation errors, and subdirectory
errors.
Like the Bootup System Test, the System Integrity Test also tests
and repairs, detects intermittent errors, and checks for signs of
hardware failure. The System Integrity Test normally takes about
one minute for most drives, depending on the size and speed of
the drive, the computer, and the nature and number of problems
found.
Hard Disc Media Certification. This is Disk Technician Gold's
most comprehensive test. Media Certification thoroughly tests
every area on the hard drive for soft, ECC and hard errors. It
either repairs those areas that produced errors; or, if an area
is unrepairable, it relocates any data in the area to a new, safe
location and marks the area bad in the FAT.
In addition to test and repair, Media Certification initializes
(or updates) the databank, recreates an updated media defect map,
and recertifies the drive for reliable data storage and normal
use.
Media Certification typically takes from 20 seconds to five
minutes per megabyte, depending upon the speed of the computer
and hard drive. An interrupt/resume feature allows users to leave
the operation and return to other applications. Then, when they
return to Media Certification, they will be asked if they wish to
resume from where they stopped.
Interleave Test/Low-Level Format. Interleaving matches the way
data is arranged on hard disc recording tracks to the speed at
which the controller can read the data sequentially. Disk
Technician Gold tests various interleave settings, then
determines and displays the optimal setting for maximum data
throughput speed. Users may then perform a nondestructive low-
level format and reset the interleave to the determined setting,
or choose their own.
For drives that allow low-level formatting and resetting of the
interleave, choosing the correct interleave can make a
significant difference in data access time. Drives that do not
allow low-level formatting and resetting of the interleave are
quickly identified as ineligible by Disk Technician Gold
(typically those using the SCSI interface, IDE drives, drives
using translating controllers, and even some MFM/RLL drives).
However, low-level formatting and resetting of the interleave on
"ineligible" drives are unnecessary, since these procedures only
need to be performed once in the lifetime of a drive and have
already been done by Seagate.
An Important Improvement In Failsafe Architecture:
26
Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
Some of the operations performed by Disk Technician Gold require
relocating data, and at certain times the data being relocated
only exists electronically in RAM. Should a power failure occur
at precisely this moment, some data could be lost. (It should be
noted that, since data relocation occurs rapidly, there is little
risk of losing data during Disk Technician Gold operations as a
result of power failure.)
However, for battery-powered computer users, or those who require
the ultimate assurance against data loss, Disk Technician Gold
provides an optional safe mode (also called failsafe
architecture) for media certification, testing and resetting
interleave, nondestructive low-level formatting, and
defragmenting.
The safe mode guards against data loss by requiring that a copy
of data undergoing relocation remains recorded on the hard drive
at all times, either in its original location or in a special
duplicate location. By eliminating instances when data exists
solely in RAM, the possibility of data loss due to power problems
is eliminated.
Disk Technician Gold's failsafe architecture offers a significant
improvement over previous methods. The problem was one of limited
effectiveness: data was protected only in the event that power
failed while the data file itself was being accessed. However, if
the FAT or a directory was being accessed when power failed, all
data on the affected drive could be lost. With Disk Technician
Gold, failsafe architecture works even if the FATs and directory
are being updated at the time of power failure.
Additional Features:
Media Defect Report. This report looks much like the Defect Map
affixed to ST506/412 drives, although it is more detailed because
of the additional types of errors detected by Disk Technician
Gold's expert system and continuous testing.
The Media Defect Report shows the location and number of bad
sectors on the drive, as well as the reason why they have been
marked out. (A bad sector is defined as one that cannot store
data reliably, as determined by Seagate engineering standards.
Such sectors are blocked from use by marking them bad in the
FAT.)
Monitored/Soft Error Report. This report shows the sectors on the
hard drive that produced a repeating soft error hit during
testing, but were successfully repaired. These sectors are
monitored during subsequent tests in order to determine whether
the hits were random or are part of a repeating error pattern
indicating an intermittent error or impending hardware failure.
If subsequent testing determines the sector to be unreliable, it
will automatically be blocked from use by marking it bad in the
FAT. Then, test information for this sector will be deleted from
the "Monitored/Soft Error Report" and added to the "Media Defect
Report."
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
Command Line Operation. Those responsible for maintaining
multiple systems may wish to set-up a user-transparent hard drive
optimization program. The option of command line operations
provides the ability to bypass menus, set-up time-specific, self-
executing batch files, etc.
Additionally, users who normally leave their systems on
continuously can setup a command line to run Disk Technician
Gold's Bootup System Check occasionally, in order to test and
repair error locations detected by the device driver program.
Still other users may prefer to schedule automatic drive
defragmenting by setting-up a self-executing batch file.
System Requirements:
* IBM PC, XT, AT, -286, -386, -486, PS/1, PS/2 or 100 percent
compatible with 640K of memory.
* About 14K of RAM for the Error Detector device driver (high
memory loadable).
* MS-DOS 3.1 - 6.0; DR DOS 3.41, 5.0 and 6.0.
* Compatible with Windows 3.1. However, Windows is not a
requirement.
* Hard disc drive.
Hard Drive Specifications:
* Interfaces and Drives: IDE, SCSI-1, SCSI-2, Fast SCSI-2, ESDI,
ST506/412.
* Controllers and Encoding Schemes: MFM, RLL, ARLL, ERLL,
translating, ZBR (Zone Bit Recording).
* Partitions: Supports any size DOS partition.
Optional Requirements:
* 7K of RAM for the Virus Prevention device driver (high memory
loadable).
* A Microsoft mouse or 100 percent compatible.
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Disk Technician Factory Test for Seagate Drives Manual
Other:
* Works with most on-the-fly data compression software, including
DoubleSpace, Stacker, SuperStor, SuperStor Pro.
* Works with QEMM 386, 386 MAX and most other third-party memory
managers.
* Works with both hardware and software caching.
* Works with programs that keep a duplicate version of the FAT in
RAM (such as the DOS program FASTOPEN) or on the hard drive.
* Not copy protected.
* Free, unlimited technical support by telephone, fax and BBS.
Conclusion:
Disk Technician Gold software ensures PC hard disc drive data
reliability by providing continuous, real-time background
diagnostics, repair and recovery -- coupled with advance warning
of imminent failure for hard drive electronics, mechanics and
media, as well as other hard drive-related computer components
that affect data. Once installed, Disk Technician Gold becomes
part of the DOS operating system and requires no further user
involvement.
Disk Technician Gold is manufactured by Disk Technician
Corporation, of San Diego, California. It is sold worldwide
through its authorized distributors and is available at dealers
everywhere. Development of Disk Technician technology has been
continuous since 1980, paralleling the introduction of personal
computer hard drives. The first commercial version was shipped in
March, 1987. Since that time, newer versions have kept pace with
advancements in hard drive, controller, operating system and CPU
development, culminating with Disk Technician Gold, which
prevents data loss by making hard drives continuously self
-repairing.
In 1992, Seagate Technology Inc. determined that test results
from Disk Technician software precisely matched those of its
factory test hardware, and began distributing the Seagate version
of Disk Technician to its distributors for field testing and
recertification of its drives. For more information, call Steve
Luster at Disk Technician Corporation, (619) 274-5000.
Disk Technician Corporation
1940 Garnet Avenue
San Diego, California 92109 USA
Corporate Telephone 619 274 5000
Technical Support 619 272 4000
-END-
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