| PC-3000 SCSI
The package
includes a specialized PC-KEY board which allows for software
control over the power supply for one hard drive under
test allowing you to power down and power up the drive
as needed. If you plan to run test on a multiple SCSI
HDD an external standard PC power supply unit is needed
to provide power to the rest of the drives in the configuration.
 Basic
principles of operation
The program has an intuitive interface identical to the
PC-3000 complex for Windows.
Testing provides for performance benchmarking of various
operations that a standard SCSI HDD would have and this
testing allows for a complete check-up of all their functionality
in accordance with the SCSI specification for particular
HDD.
Below is the list of test procedures:
Running of elementary tests (readiness check, recalibration,
self-diagnostics, drive ID reading, spindle stop/start).
Surface verification.
Read, write, and seek tests.
Complex HDD test including all of the above.
Reading and viewing of PLIST and GLIST defect tables.
Relocation of defects.
Low-level HDD format.
Launch of short HDD self-test.
The program performs testing of HDD performance and outputs
the results in the form of diagrams. Data exchange rate
is displayed in MB/sec for commands actually pertaining
to data exchange or as a number of LBA processed per second
for tests, which do not transfer data, e.g. surface verification
test.
The program has a built-in sector editor, which allows
reviewing and modification of specified surface areas
as well as their saving to file.
PC-3000 software for SCSI allows HDD image creation.
Copying can be performed from a single drive to several
ones simultaneously. The feature is useful in cases when
source HDD has damaged sectors and we have to recover
its data, but hanging or malfunctioning drive prevents
that.
The program allows users to save any part of HDD surface
to a file on another HDD and then record the data to a
selected HDD. The feature may be applied for HDD duplication
or data recovery.
Advantages of the PC-3000 for SCSI.
Incredible rates of data transfer can be performed between
source and target drive. When using modern Ultra320 controllers
with transfer speed of 320 MB/sec between HDD buffer and
the controller proper, the actual transfer speed will
be limited not by the controller but rather by the maximum
transfer speed of the read channel in the drive (sustained
between HDD surface and its buffer). In modern HDD it
does not exceed 90 MB/sec. Therefore, if we connect to
the controller, e.g., 4 Ultra320 HDD and launch a read
test on all 4 of them or start data image creation from
a single HDD to 3 others, the transfer speed on each of
the HDD will approach the maximum of 60-80 MB/sec matching
the speed achieved during connection of just one HDD to
the controller. In case of simultaneous verification of
a maximum HDD number (up to 15) verification speed will
be at the top value equal to the speed achieved when just
a single HDD is connected. E.g., verification or reading
of the whole surface area of a 73 GB HDD will take approximately
24 minutes. Simultaneous verification of all surfaces
on 5 HDD of the same capacity will take 24 minutes just
as well.
The software structure of the PC-3000 complex for SCSI
includes (in addition to a universal utility) specialized
utilities for factory mode operations on SCSI HDD. Currently
there is just one specialized utility for IBM-HGST SCSI
HDD; it allows testing of those drives in factory mode,
saving and restoration of their firmware data. In case
of error detection the utility uses an additional list
of vendor error codes (Unit Error Code, UEC), which may
not be accessed from the universal utility. The UEC list
details error causes and in many cases allows very precise
definition of its background as well as possible methods
of HDD repair or data recovery.
At present we are developing an identical specialized
utility for Maxtor-Quantum HDD. Our plans also include
development of a specialized utility for Seagate HDD.
PC-3000 for SCSI features an opportunity to create custom
tests using built-in Visual Basic Script programming language.
The language allows access to all functions of "PC-3000
for SCSI": its window interface, database operations,
sending of any SCSI command, operations with data buffer,
etc.
All test results can be saved to files or a database.
For that purpose the application creates a special directory
with a unique name for each HDD. The results can be used
for further reviewing or subsequent testing. The application
logs all its actions while running. The log can be saved
to a file for reviewing later.
PC-3000 for SCSI software complex can function under
the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows 98/ME,
Windows 2000, Windows XP.
The hardware requirements to PC are determined by the
corresponding requirements of the operating system.
The system must have an installed SCSI controller.
The software is supplied with a technical manual, which
includes a detailed description of SCSI interface and
all components in a SCSI system: cables, connectors, terminators,
signals, messages, commands, etc. The manual describes
the guidelines for work with the software and basic methods
of HDD diagnostics and repair.
Description of the specialized utility for IBM-HGST HDD
contains the most important information about all drive
families of those manufacturers. It also provides recommendations
for the repair and diagnostics of those HDD.
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