Hard Drive Pattern Test

[mchtower]

I'm trying to run the Hard Drive Pattern Test on a Seagate ST3250310NS drive. The message I'm getting is "Cannot run tests that are not supported by your hardware configuration." which doesn't really give me much to go on. What things exactly would cause this message. Thanks

[fwilson]

mchtower,

A lot of different things could cause this. Rather than trying to list them all, let me ask you a few questions.

What build are you running?
What type of system are you running it on (make and model)?
Is this a new drive just put in the system or the boot drive that has been running in it for a while?

If this is an older build and the system is set in AHCI mode this could be the problem.  You can switch to compatible mode, test then switch back to AHCI

-Fred

[mchtower]

Fred,

I'm running Service Center 7.5.5142.17 in Windows Server 2003
The system is a custom built Avnet machine 
It's the boot drive that's been running for a while.

[fwilson]

mchtower,

If it is a server is it by chance hooked up to a RAID or SAS card.  If it is you will need an ASPI driver to test in DOS.

-Fred

[mchtower]

Fred,

Yes, it is attached to a RAID. So there is no way to run any hard drive write tests in Windows on a drive attached to a RAID card?

[fwilson]

mchtower,

In Windows it will only do what the driver lets it do. Generally you can not test drives individually as they are presented to the OS as one volume.

I would probably not do any write tests even if allowed.  The chances of being destructive are too high.

-Fred