Hard Drive Mount Error

[bobadrew]

I got a new hard drive and have assembled it in the carriage. When I went to mount the drive on the machine I received a "No New Vols Mounted" error. There are some jumpers that have to be set with wires from the hard drive to the carriage and I believe that I've gotten them set correctly. I am aware that the hard drive can only have one partition but I don't have any way to check this out. Any ideas on what this specific error relates to?

Also, how do some of you access your hard drives to look at them and set them up? Is there an inexpensive adapter that will allow SCSI to be connected to a modern computer? I have another hard drive ordered and I'm not sure what state it will be in when it arrives and I would like to be able to take a look at it from my 2013 Windows machine. Thanks.

-andrew

 

[witzendoz]

I have had this happen to a few drives I have bought, sigh! I think it's because the drives have a partition on them.

Try this:
Do a low level format, the drive does not have to be mounted for this, it sometimes works.

Check the pin outs on the new drive and see if they match the options of the old drive, all drive manufacturers have the pin out diagrams on the net.

I have a scsi card in my PC, it connects to a scsi tower that I can rack the drive into, however I have built a drive test bench from an old drive case so I can plug drives into the PC quickly to trouble shoot.

Alan.

 

[bobadrew]

Thanks Alan. I tried that tonight and it did not work. I received an IBM DRHS IEC-950 drive today that is not even powering up. Can't find a data sheet on that like I have all my other drives. Frustrating.....I can't troubleshoot the machine if I can't get a drive to work!

 

[witzendoz]

Checked out the IBM DRHS IEC-950, and it said it's a 50 pin drive? That won't work if this is the case.

Do you have any drives working on this machine?

You may need to set up a PC with a scsi card and plug the drive in to see if anything screwy is going on. You can format the drive to Fat32 on the PC and the MX should then see it.

I have had some drives over the years that just refuse to work on the MX or a PC yet they spin up, I am waiting for some drive repair software to arrive for my PC to see if I can solve the problem, coming from the US via carrier pigeon the time its taking.

Alan.

 

[bobadrew]

It's definitely a 68 pin. The only working drive I had started giving me the Media too Slow error. I've bought two new drives and one spins but does not mount or format and the latest is the one that doesn't even power up.

I'm going to check around locally on a board and see if there's an old SCSI style tower that I can buy. I'm almost ready to buy the SATA adapter and give it a whirl. It might be a better option moving forward. Did you ever get your's set up?

-andrew

 

[witzendoz]

It's the software that I am waiting for to help get the SATA thing set up, US Express postage and it's been over 20 days coming, it's coming by ship I bet, left seller on the 8th and US on the 11th.

Media too slow often means that the drive needs low level format, have you tried this?

Were these second hand drives? I will bet that there is a partition on the drive that is preventing the MX form seeing it. What I think happens is that the MX sees one partition and thinks the drive is too small to format??

Alan.

 

[strados]

Hi Al, nice to hear you decided to switch over from SCSI to SATA now ?
I'm already using these drives for several years without any problem.
@bobandrew: I'm sure this error occurs because the drive was already used in a computer. I had the same error and fixed it by low level format. But not only all partitions must be deleted, also all entries in MBR. The drive must be set to brand new state.

 

[bobadrew]

I tried the LLF on one drive and it didn't work. Trying another one this afternoon. Having trouble finding a used computer that is SCSI ready so that I can use it to look at the drives. SCSI to USB cable is $130 and I can get the SATA adapter for that and forgo all of the hassle of SCSI. I'm hoping I can get at least one of the drives I have to format so that I can test and work on some demos.

Anyone ever tried putting a magnet to a drive for a few days?!?

-andrew

 

[strados]

Anyone ever tried putting a magnet to a drive for a few days?!?
-andrew

Never try to do this. There are some more data on every drive on hidden parts like "table of unused / damaged clusters". During real LLF at factory this table is created initially and should of cours never be deleted. However a magnet can not distinguish this.
For complete deleting all date and MBR entries you must use a special tool like Acronis Disk Director or similar.

 

[bobadrew]

Thanks Strados! I figured that was not a good idea! I have 3 drives that are "new" that are not formatted correctly so it's kind of a bummer that I can't use them yet. Hoping to pick up a couple of formatted drives today from a friend.

-andrew

 

[witzendoz]

Having trouble finding a used computer that is SCSI ready so that I can use it to look at the drives.
-andrew

If you have an old desktop computer with PCI slots on the mother board you will get a PCI SCSI card that will connect to the drive, some cards come with internal scsi cables supplied that you can use by placing the SCSI drive inside the computer (I have the sides off my computers anyway for quick fixes LOL) you can then use the computer powers supply to power up the drive.

Alan.