Has this HD been brought back to life? (plus Rick's partition scheme)

[Rick Nebiolo]

I have a four hard drive system (two internals and two externals). The two internals are partitioned so that WinXP and Programs are backed up and isolated from data. Here's my scheme:

Primary physical drive: (120 gig Maxtor SATA drive)
C: partition 30 gig - WinXP and Programs
D: partition 65 gig - Data (not counting music)
E: partition 20 gig - Spare (in case I want to install a 2nd OP for dual boot)

Second pysical drive: (120 gig Maxtor SATA drive)
F: partition 3 gig - Swap File (arguable as to whether this increases speed).
G: partition 77 gig - Music.
H: partition 30 gig - Ghost Images (of the C: partition)
G: partition 5 gig - Downloads (of programs, not music)

The externals back up the Music, Data and Download partitions. The Ghost Image allows me to restore to a known good state (including every program, setting and icon!) if the primary physical drive fails (check out the Radified Guide to Norton Ghost).

This scheme has protected my data (including Pokertracker stuff) under heavy use for almost two years. But lately I've had some horrible hardware problems, mostly with unexpected shutdowns. This is probably the motherboard or BIOS and too long a story for this already long post.

As part of looking at the shutdown problem I did some checks on my hard drives. The D: partition on the primary drive wouldn't pass a WinXP based error check. Since it is easy to replace and re-partition the drive (using FDISK or Partion Magic) and re-install the OP and Programs (using Ghost) I decided to do some serious testing on the primary drive.

I deleted the old partions (using the DOS based tool DELPART), re-created and reformatted the partitions (FDISK wouldn't work but DOS based Partition Magic did), and used Ghost to get back WinXP and Programs. I re-copyied my data from one of my external drives. Everything looked good but I still couldn't get my D: partition to pass the Windows XP based test.

Next I downloaded the latest version of the Maxtor PowerMax utility and copied the program to a bootable floppy. PowerMax allows you to perform the following tests on Maxtor's physical drives:

1. Installation Confirmation
2. Basic Quick (90 Second) Test
3. Advanced Test (Full Scan Test)
4. Burn In Test
5. Low Level Format (Quick)
6. Low Level format (Full)

My primary drive would pass the Basic tests but the Advanced Test indicated the drive was failing (my other drive passed both tests). I decided to try a quick then a full Low Level Format. Note that the Low Level Format isn't really a true low level format (this needs special equipment for modern high density drives and can only be done at the factory). A true LLF "writes the groves" into the drive; instead, it deletes the old MBR (master boot record) and fills in the entire drive with zeros.[/i]

After performing the low level format I repartitioned and re-formatted the drive with Partition Magic. I then used the PowerMax utility and this time the drive passed. I then re-imaged Win XP and Programs (using Ghost) and was back up to speed (well sort of, still have some of the BIOS and shutdown problems). The partitions now pass the Windows based disk checks.

Here is my question (I think [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ):

If a hard drive is "brought back to life" using a manufacturer's disk based utility as described above, is it more likely to fail than a new drive?

Regards,

Rick

PS The post is long but some of you guys may want to consider using this type of sheme. Despite horrendous hardware problems, I haven't lost any data. Comments on the drive and partition scheme are also appreciated.

PPS If you guys can help me with this I may add some questions about my shutdown and BIOS problems.