Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Unraid

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Pre-clear hard drive on windows 7 laptop

Featured Replies

I have a replacement refurbished drive that has been returned by Seagate and i wiould like to preclear it using one of my windows 7 laptops. I can fire up unRAID on the laptop with no issues but I am unable to pre-clear the drive. I got a message saying drive cannot be precleared. The drive is connected through a usb Docking hub, will this cause a problem?

Can anyone advise the command to list all drives for me please.

 

Thank you

Download the newest preclear_disk.sh

 

then type

preclear_disk.sh -l

 

What was the reason given when it said the drive cannot be precleared?

 

Be very careful to NOT clear your laptop's hard disk... I hate to see grown men cry.

 

I don't think the usb dock will do anything other than cause the process to be VERY slow.

 

Joe L.

 

  • Author

Download the newest preclear_disk.sh

then type

preclear_disk.sh -l

 

What was the reason given when it said the drive cannot be precleared?

Be very careful to NOT clear your laptop's hard disk... I hate to see grown men cry.

I don't think the usb dock will do anything other than cause the process to be VERY slow.

Joe L.

 

I have downloaded the latest version of preclear at 09/02/2011 14:50 GMT. I run preclear_disk.sh -l and the hdd i wish to preclear is /dev/sdd/ = usb-ST350032_0AS_51CFFFFFFFFF-0:0.

I typed preclear_disk.sh /disk/dev/sdd and got the following message

Error: preclear unable to continue

smartctl is unable to run on /dev/sdd with the -d ata option

smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i486-slackware-linix-gnu] (local build)

copyright...blah blah...

Smartctl: Device Read Identity failed: exiting. To continue, add one opr more '-T permissive' options.$

 

I'm having another read of the preclear post now to see if I can spot any solutions

Download the newest preclear_disk.sh

then type

preclear_disk.sh -l

 

What was the reason given when it said the drive cannot be precleared?

Be very careful to NOT clear your laptop's hard disk... I hate to see grown men cry.

I don't think the usb dock will do anything other than cause the process to be VERY slow.

Joe L.

 

I have downloaded the latest version of preclear at 09/02/2011 14:50 GMT. I run preclear_disk.sh -l and the hdd i wish to preclear is /dev/sdd/ = usb-ST350032_0AS_51CFFFFFFFFF-0:0.

I typed preclear_disk.sh /disk/dev/sdd and got the following message

Error: preclear unable to continue

smartctl is unable to run on /dev/sdd with the -d ata option

smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i486-slackware-linix-gnu] (local build)

copyright...blah blah...

Smartctl: Device Read Identity failed: exiting. To continue, add one opr more '-T permissive' options.$

 

I'm having another read of the preclear post now to see if I can spot any solutions

You could try using the "-D" option.  Apparently, your usb device will not allow smartctl to read the disk's identity as an "ata" drive.

 

Another possibility is to try (noting the quote marks)

preclear_disk.sh -s -d "ata -T permissive" /dev/sdd

 

Unfortunately, many USB enclosure chipsets do not support the full set of SMART commands.

 

Joe L.

  • Author

Download the newest preclear_disk.sh

then type

preclear_disk.sh -l

 

What was the reason given when it said the drive cannot be precleared?

Be very careful to NOT clear your laptop's hard disk... I hate to see grown men cry.

I don't think the usb dock will do anything other than cause the process to be VERY slow.

Joe L.

 

I have downloaded the latest version of preclear at 09/02/2011 14:50 GMT. I run preclear_disk.sh -l and the hdd i wish to preclear is /dev/sdd/ = usb-ST350032_0AS_51CFFFFFFFFF-0:0.

I typed preclear_disk.sh /disk/dev/sdd and got the following message

Error: preclear unable to continue

smartctl is unable to run on /dev/sdd with the -d ata option

smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i486-slackware-linix-gnu] (local build)

copyright...blah blah...

Smartctl: Device Read Identity failed: exiting. To continue, add one opr more '-T permissive' options.$

 

I'm having another read of the preclear post now to see if I can spot any solutions

You could try using the "-D" option.  Apparently, your usb device will not allow smartctl to read the disk's identity as an "ata" drive.

Another possibility is to try (noting the quote marks)

preclear_disk.sh -s -d "ata -T permissive" /dev/sdd

Unfortunately, many USB enclosure chipsets do not support the full set of SMART commands.

 

Joe L.

 

Thanks Joe L.  :)

Option -D worked and i'm reading at 35MB/s I am going to do 3 passes of this hdd as it is a refurbished hdd and the last two I have been sent has failed after a few months use.

Download the newest preclear_disk.sh

then type

preclear_disk.sh -l

 

What was the reason given when it said the drive cannot be precleared?

Be very careful to NOT clear your laptop's hard disk... I hate to see grown men cry.

I don't think the usb dock will do anything other than cause the process to be VERY slow.

Joe L.

 

I have downloaded the latest version of preclear at 09/02/2011 14:50 GMT. I run preclear_disk.sh -l and the hdd i wish to preclear is /dev/sdd/ = usb-ST350032_0AS_51CFFFFFFFFF-0:0.

I typed preclear_disk.sh /disk/dev/sdd and got the following message

Error: preclear unable to continue

smartctl is unable to run on /dev/sdd with the -d ata option

smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i486-slackware-linix-gnu] (local build)

copyright...blah blah...

Smartctl: Device Read Identity failed: exiting. To continue, add one opr more '-T permissive' options.$

 

I'm having another read of the preclear post now to see if I can spot any solutions

You could try using the "-D" option.  Apparently, your usb device will not allow smartctl to read the disk's identity as an "ata" drive.

Another possibility is to try (noting the quote marks)

preclear_disk.sh -s -d "ata -T permissive" /dev/sdd

Unfortunately, many USB enclosure chipsets do not support the full set of SMART commands.

 

Joe L.

 

Thanks Joe L.  :)

Option -D worked and i'm reading at 35MB/s I am going to do 3 passes of this hdd as it is a refurbished hdd and the last two I have been sent has failed after a few months use.

Great news...

 

Glad the "-D" option worked for you.  (It is new as of 4 days ago, added to help somebody else with a non-standard disk controller.  You benefited from their experience and feedback.)

 

35MB/s is not too bad.  It is probably close to the limit for a USB connection.  I think that is a 500Gig drive.  If so,  three passes should take about 50 or 60 hours.

 

Joe L.

A lot of USB bridges want -d sat.

 

The latest version of smartctl has more intelligence in this regard.

I'll have to try this with an eSATA dock and my Windows 7 lappy.

  • Author

Could someone have a quick glance at the preclear results for my refurbished drive please, they look okay to me.

I've consolidated preclear_finish_sdd_2011-02-10, preclear_rpt_sdd_2011-02-10 and preclear_start_sdd_2011-02-10 into one report

 

 

Thank you

Preclear_rma_seagate.txt

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.