Hard Drive Resources

Last Updated: 27Jan12 | Status: To Be Continued

1. General

2. Installation And Troubleshooting

Learn Why 250GB Is Not Ever Reported As 250GB (blogs.techrepublic.com.com)
Beginners Guides: Diagnosing Bad Hard Drives (pcstats.com)
Zip & Jazz Click of Death (grc.com)
Error Message When You Start A Windows 7 Or Windows Vista-Based Computer After You Change The SATA Mode Of The Boot Drive: "STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE" (support.microsoft.com)
Note: With some motherboards (e.g., my Intel DG33FB) and a bootable SATA hard drive, changing the BIOS SATA mode to AHCI before enabling the Windows Vista/7 default SATA AHCI controller drivers results in a reboot loop, not a STOP 0x0000007B error. Either way: 1.) restart the computer and return the BIOS SATA mode to the original value (likely IDE); 2.) restart the computer and perform the two registry modifications described to enable the Windows Vista/7 default SATA AHCI controller drivers; 3.) restart the computer and change the BIOS SATA mode to AHCI; 4.) restart the computer and let Windows Vista/7 detect and install the SATA AHCI controller, which is listed in Device Manager under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers; and 5.) to update the SATA AHCI controller drivers, install/reinstall the latest motherboard chipset drivers.
SATA II Hard Drives And Compatibility With SATA I Controllers (wdc.custhelp.com)
Problems Encountered Installing SATA 3.0 Gb/s Hard Drives On SATA 1.5 Gb/s Controllers (wdc.custhelp.com)
Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cable Lengths (seagate.custkb.com)

3. Utilities

Seagate SeaTools (seagate.com)
Hitachi Drive Fitness Test (hitachigst.com) (Apparently used by Geek Squad.)
Important Note: Hard disk manufacturers provide tools, free for download from their Web sites, for testing and repairing hard disk problems. Due to the differences between manufacturer's hard disks, the functionality of these tools is often limited, or should be limited, to basic nondestructive tests when run on a different manufacturer's hard disks. Therefore, it is suggested that you use the hard disk manufacturer's own tools for testing and repairing hard disk problems. When this is not possible, the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test is recommended because it is designed to run only basic nondestructive tests on non-Hitachi/IBM hard disks and its basic nondestructive tests are compatible with a large number of different manufacturer's hard disks.