"hda: disk not ready for command"

A

Anonymous

Guest
Gateway 450ROG, Toshiba MK4019GAX drive running PRNG

This is an interesting little message because while it appears that the erasure is progressing as normal, and the error counter still stands at 0, this message appears randomly scattered in black rectangles 8 or 9 times on the screen. Any expedient knowledge would be greatly appreciated, as I have to ship the drive off to Gateway in the next seven days. I should very much like to have my personal and accounting information hidden by then from any Joe who cares to pick the disk up after Gateway tosses it out, because the drive is defective and they want the old drive in exchange for the new replacement they sent while my warranty is still good.

I noticed another user with the same drive having a problem, though I see no relation: DBAN won't load after booting from CD-R

Do you think the drive is actually erasing? Or is it just an exercise in futility to try to protect my privacy and money?

Also note, the first operation performed on the disk, a blanking wipe, worked like a charm. DBAN's the only thing i've been able to get to work without error on this drive lately--the blanking function in Western Digital's hard drive scanner stalled out at about the halfway point.
 
That error is usually fatal, and it would have corrupted the screen.

If the wipe continued to 100% after the error, then your disk has been mostly wiped.

It is more likely that the wipe stopped at the error and "DBAN finished with non-fatal errors" was reported. In this case, you should physically destroy the disk to ensure that your data is not compromised.
 
Thank you for replying so quickly.

The log reads:

hda: write_intr error1: nr_sectors=128, stat=0x11
hda: write_intr: status=0x11 { SeekComplete Error }
hda: write_intr: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: status error: status=0x11 { SeekComplete Error }
hda: status error: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: drive not ready for command
hda: status error: status=0x11 { SeekComplete Error }
hda: status error: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: drive not ready for command
hda: status error: status=0x11 { SeekComplete Error }
hda: status error: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: drive not ready for command
ide0: reset: success

several times. Then at the end of the log:

ide0: reset: success
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x01 { AddrMarkNotFound }, LBAsect=10633, sector=10633
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=10633, sector=10633
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:00 (hda), sector 10633
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=10633, sector=10633
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:00 (hda), sector 10633

And it appears that the wipe did complete...

[2004/07/05 17:48:48] dwipe: notice: Program loaded.
[2004/07/05 17:48:48] dwipe: notice: Opened entropy source '/dev/urandom'.
[2004/07/05 17:48:48] dwipe: info: Automatically enumerated 1 devices.
[2004/07/05 17:49:33] dwipe: notice: Invoking method 'PRNG Stream' on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/05 17:49:33] dwipe: notice: Starting round 1 of 1 on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/05 17:49:33] dwipe: notice: Starting pass 1 of 1, round 1 of 1, on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 04:23:14] dwipe: notice: Finished pass 1 of 1, round 1 of 1, on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 04:23:14] dwipe: notice: Finished round 1 of 1 on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 04:23:14] dwipe: notice: Blanking device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 13:59:42] dwipe: notice: Verifying that '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc' is emtpy.
[2004/07/06 14:01:21] dwipe: dwipe_static_verify: read: Input/output error.
[2004/07/06 14:01:21] dwipe: error: Unable to read from '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 14:01:24] dwipe: notice: Program finished.

Do you think it is mostly being wiped?
 
Thank you for replying so quickly.

The log reads:

hda: write_intr error1: nr_sectors=128, stat=0x11
hda: write_intr: status=0x11 { SeekComplete Error }
hda: write_intr: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: status error: status=0x11 { SeekComplete Error }
hda: status error: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: drive not ready for command
hda: status error: status=0x11 { SeekComplete Error }
hda: status error: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: drive not ready for command
hda: status error: status=0x11 { SeekComplete Error }
hda: status error: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }
hda: drive not ready for command
ide0: reset: success

several times. Then at the end of the log:

ide0: reset: success
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x01 { AddrMarkNotFound }, LBAsect=10633, sector=10633
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=10633, sector=10633
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:00 (hda), sector 10633
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=10633, sector=10633
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:00 (hda), sector 10633

And it appears that the wipe did complete...

[2004/07/05 17:48:48] dwipe: notice: Program loaded.
[2004/07/05 17:48:48] dwipe: notice: Opened entropy source '/dev/urandom'.
[2004/07/05 17:48:48] dwipe: info: Automatically enumerated 1 devices.
[2004/07/05 17:49:33] dwipe: notice: Invoking method 'PRNG Stream' on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/05 17:49:33] dwipe: notice: Starting round 1 of 1 on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/05 17:49:33] dwipe: notice: Starting pass 1 of 1, round 1 of 1, on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 04:23:14] dwipe: notice: Finished pass 1 of 1, round 1 of 1, on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 04:23:14] dwipe: notice: Finished round 1 of 1 on device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 04:23:14] dwipe: notice: Blanking device '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 13:59:42] dwipe: notice: Verifying that '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc' is emtpy.
[2004/07/06 14:01:21] dwipe: dwipe_static_verify: read: Input/output error.
[2004/07/06 14:01:21] dwipe: error: Unable to read from '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc'.
[2004/07/06 14:01:24] dwipe: notice: Program finished.

Do you think it is mostly being wiped?
 
Sorry about the double post.

Since that last bit of information, I reinstalled Windows on a FAT32 partition, which is the only format that works, NTFS screwing up the installation for some reason. Now that I've tried to DoD erase, I'm no longer getting the error message at this time, and I'm getting much greater throughput (25000 compared with little greater than 1000). I don't really understand why this makes a difference, but it seems to. I'm erasing the drive, not the partition,

[wipe] Toshiba MK4019GAX
[****] Partition

if that has anything to do with it. There was a similar effect the last time I ran the wipe--the first run was on a drive with a fresh copy of XP installed on a new FAT32 partition and that went fine, then I ran PRNG and it gave me the error message on the third or fourth round.
 
And now it all seems to have worked enough to do 30 passes. :) Thank you for your help.
 
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