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From: rkl@cbnewsh.att.com (kevin.laux)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: "Sector not found"  What the hell does this error mean?
Message-ID: <1991Mar18.140406.3719@cbnewsh.att.com>
Date: 18 Mar 91 14:04:06 GMT
References: <45723@ut-emx.uucp>
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 26

In article <45723@ut-emx.uucp>, readdm@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (David M. Read) writes:
> I suddenly picked up a weird gremlin today: I keep getting these 
> "Sector not found" errors...sometimes a "retry" makes it go away,
> sometimes it doesn't.
> 
> What is the source of this error, and how do I make it go away?
> The drive is a Seagate ST-277R, less than a year old.  The Controller
> is a Western Digital RLL hard/floppy unit...
> 

	First, back up the entire hard disk.  You should do a low level
format and then DOS's format.  The problem is that the heads drift a bit
over time and use.  When you read/write files from the disk, they are
located by read the sector id's.  The sector id's never get re-written
after the formatting is done.  It is entirely possible to write a new
file, then try to read it and get the Sector Not Found error message.
Also, if you change the orientation of the drive (to/from horizontal/vertical),
you should reformat the disk in its new orientation.  To maintain your
hard disk and refresh your sector id's, get a hard disk maintenance program
such as Spinrite or Disk Technician and run it on a regular basis.

-- 
________________________________________________________________________________
	R. Kevin Laux				Email: rkl1@hound.att.com
	AT&T Bell Labs				Voice: (908) 949-1160
	Holmdel, NJ 07733			Fax:   (908) 949-0959