Problem at Work with SATA HDD, HELP!!!

[ivan_gromov]

Hi everyone, any input is very appriciated. Let me fill you in on what I do first.

I started working for ToolKing exactly 2 weeks ago as a full time IT. They have only had 1 real IT before me, and he left about 2 months ago. I am only 18, still in College, and I believe that I am hell of a worker . Well, there is obviously nobody to train me, nobody really has any idea how pc hardware works, and there is this one guy....who was supposed to be an IT for them, until they have interviewed me. That guy has no degree, he is 25 I believe and he was hired as an Web Developer. When their first IT has quit they kind of tried to force him to be their IT, which did not work out so well.

Anyway, the problem. This lady that I help a bit, her desktop PC has crashed two days ago, I have pinpointed the problem and it is her hard drive. For one, Dell Bios SUCKS, and after 2 hours of working on this pc I was able to get it to see the HDD, but only as a 6gb one. Well, I spoke with the manager and I called up Dell and got them to send us a replacement that should arrive in a day or two. The problem is with the fact that she needs some files from that hard drive.

Dell makes really proprietery motherboards, that PC only supports SATA drives and I do not have any spare SATA drivers at my work, only 1 IDE. Well, 5 hours later, an hour before I was supposed to be getting off that "IT" guy that I have mentioned above comes in and says that the problem is with the fact that there is a virus on that Hard Drive. Me, being their "hardware man" they have asked me to take a look by getting me the same model Dell box from another office to test that hdd. I stuck the broken HDD into that other Dell box and changed the jumpers and the Boot Sequence in BIOS so that the broken HDD is secondary. The dude says that the problem is with the boot sequence, he apperantly did a ton of reseach..... When he was trying to explain the problem to me, he was referring to CMOS and Bios, which has nothing to do with that harddrive and it made me feel as if he does not know wtf he is talking about...

The fuckin system does not even boot with both of the HDD's enabled, It pretty much says that "No Boot Drive has been found". If I disable the Broken HDD via BIos it boots just fine. I did everything I could with no luck. I ended up staying 3 hrs past the 8 hr a day mark trying everything I can. I did research on repairng the Boot Files, the fuckin system just can't read from the drive. I attempted to go through DOS to attempt to fix it, but it simply says that "No Drive has been found". I ran Dell Diagnostics Disc just to see the HDD fail most tests, and it even makes noises when system starts up, kind like the floppy drive. I took it home and spent 2 hours of my 4th of July time trying to get it to boot in my system with no luck...

Long story short, I am 98% sure that the fuckin HDD is a toast and the only solution is replacing it. The fuckin problem is with the fact that this is my first real job and it is actually in the field, I really do not want to look like a moron, I simply do not see anything that I could do to get it to work. I am however worried that that guy can get it fixed somehow, making me look bad.

Aside from the fact that I can bet money to the fact that this POS is broken, what can I do to verify it? The fact that the system won't even boot with that HDD in it is a bit suspicious, but I honsetly think that it is not a problem with the virus. Any recommendations are appriciated.

I tried repairing the Boot.ini via WIn XP Pro installation by going to repair and loading into DOS, but it simply does not see an HDD, I tried a ton of different shit, but I can't do anything since it simply can't read the fuckin thing. HELP before I go insane.

 

[aznx]

They make 6gb SATA drives?

Does it click? I hope the lady has backups or the company has $$.

 

[BillParrish]

Welcome to the real world.

I ran Dell Diagnostics Disc just to see the HDD fail most tests, and it even makes noises when system starts up, kind like the floppy drive

Long story short, I am 98% sure that the fuckin HDD is a toast

Data recovery services are very expensive, I imagine the data is more of a convenience (someone having to retype/recreate) as opposed to business critical and cannot be replaced/recreated. If it is critical get a recovery quote and tell the boss the cost, you will then find out just how critical it really is. (you have probally spent more time on the drive than it would have taken to recreate the data).

That said, some unsolicited advice.

Ahem, you are the the IT guy, BE the fucking IT guy. If you think its toast, its toast. I cant think of anything else to do that you have not already done and that is not the real point anyway.


Now having done a lot of IT hardware and software support, I feel I need to clue you in, you can stop now if you want, nothing below is technically related to your issue.

You are (in a very commendable way) trying to take responsibility for an issue that is not of your making. Apparently there are two major problems here, (well 4 really)

1) Users are uneducated on how to back up their files
2) There is no data backup policy and infrastructure



The HD is probally toast, its not your fault, however it is your responsibility to figure out a way that the issue of lost data does not happen again, or at least make sure the "Boss" understands the risk. It is his business and if he does not understand the value of the data and you can not make him understand and help you fix the situation or acknowledge and accept the risk, think about looking for work somewhere else.

If the machines are networked probally the simplest solution it to get a low powered machine with a big raid 5 array (drives are cheap now a days) on the network and see if there is some software that will crawl the network and backup everyones "my documents" folder or get the programmer guy to write a script that every Friday each user fires off to backup there "My Documents" and just overwrite previous backups. This is a super simplistic method, not for data archival but just disaster prevention. I am sure you could even come up with something better, hell buy everyone a DVD writer and a bunch of blank DVD's and write up a " how to save your data to a DVD memo. Anything. The key point is that unless given the resources to do the job, data backup is not your job and defective HD's will be trashed and replaced (that is your job).

If at all possible make the users have the primary responsibility for backing up, you just provide the infrastructure/instructions. Otherwise you will be at the mercy of every moron in front of a computer in the business.

Oh about the other guy getting it working, when no one is around just clip a component lead or two on the exposed circuit board or place a large magnet on the drive case. This sounds awful, but think about it, what if somehow it does get fixed, at best you will be hero (or bum) for a day, next week when it happens again, what then ? If it gets fixed you will then have no leverage to get some kind system in place to keep these idiots from doing the same thing to you next week when it WILL be your total responsibility.

You sound like a good kid ( I can say that cause I am over 50 ) and I admire the effort you put into it, oh BTW if that guy was so damn smart , and you missed it to, if you think a drive is infected with something for gods sake you don't put it anywhere near another drive/system. Get it off the network and work on it exclusively or use a virus utility that has the capability to work from a DOS boot disk.

Best of Luck, don't try to boil the ocean, and the best thing you can do is educate the users. You have an excellent opportunity to run the whole damn place if you want to and it can be big fun, or a nightmare that would make Satan himself break out in a sweat.

In front of the other guy take the HD and announce, "This is trash!", and chuck it in a trash can as hard as you can throw it. If he does not like it, stand over his shoulder as much as you can and comment on how "uninspired" his web pages look. Unless you report to this guy, he should be doing his job and letting you do yours. Or perhaps you want him second guessing your technical evaluations all the time ? And dont forget to ask him where/how he backs up his data (be sure to have your BS meter on ).


This is very educational, I suggest you bookmark and read when you get the chance.
You really need to go back as far as you can and read the oldest first to get a good feel.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/odds/bofh/

 

[ivan_gromov]

Thanks for replies, Welll I guess I did not clarify this, but the drive is 80gb but I can only see 6 of it. When I was testing it out I made sure the Network Cable was unplugged, I actually took it to my little testing place. As I mentioned I am quite young, I do not know everything there is to know, I believe that they want to have somebody that used to work there come in and show me around before I suggest anything concerning the way they do things, THe way they do things...shocked me, everyone in the company has damn access to every server there is, I have lady that has no fuckin idea what she is doing come in everymorning to run some reports, she almost shut the server down the other day. There is no security on the servers whatsoever. The files that she needs are pretty much her passwords. There is a server that is for storing files only apperantly, employees are advised to save their data on there, and she has for the most part, I guess she had her passwords saved locally. Now chek this out, Nobody, NOBODY, in the company knows where and how their data is backed up. THey think it is being backed up, I guess the previous IT guy that hasn't been there for 3 months has moved it and he comes in every now and then to check up on it.

I did get different utuilities from WD to test that HDD via DOS to only get to Drive not found. I guess the reason why I am worried is taht by far they believe that I am their Guru, and if I am missing something that may just make me look bad. I tested it some more today, and I am sure that is fried. So, the replacement will be arriving here shortly, I will just announce that it is toast tomorrow.

See, I just can't wait when they let me take over, that way I can get things the way I believe is right. And once I work there for a year or so maybe I will move up to another company that is a little more orginized.

 

[BillParrish]

See, I just can't wait when they let me take over, that way I can get things the way I believe is right. And once I work there for a year or so maybe I will move up to another company that is a little more organized.

ahh I see, did not catch you were not prime guy yet.

I may have come across as too negative, actually it sounds like a perfect job while you are in school. You do have a marvelous opportunity to get them straightened out, it wont happen in a week but it will be a great accomplishment and when done you can probally sleep a lot on the job (which you will need your junior and senior years ) . And before you leave them ,whenever, make sure you are given the title "Director of IT " or at least Manager, it will look great on a resume. Like I mentioned, with time and work, you can run the whole place. Believe me when I say, its a lot more fun to be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big one.

 

[ivan_gromov]

ahh I see, did not catch you were not prime guy yet.

I may have come across as too negative, actually it sounds like a perfect job while you are in school. You do have a marvelous opportunity to get them straightened out, it wont happen in a week but it will be a great accomplishment and when done you can probally sleep a lot on the job (which you will need your junior and senior years ) . And before you leave them ,whenever, make sure you are given the title "Director of IT " or at least Manager, it will look great on a resume. Like I mentioned, with time and work, you can run the whole place. Believe me when I say, its a lot more fun to be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big one.

Yea I bet, their servers are pretty outdated and filled with junk. My manager said that he will be trying to bring their old IT back for a day or two to show me the way he had things set up, which sucks, but after that tney are planning on getting new servers, and guess who will be installing everything . That may be my golden opportunity here, however since there is this pregnant lady here i am doing much of her work, but I can deal with that

 

[Farva]

This is why users need to save things on the network. Period. Create an Acceptable Usage Policy and make sure users sign it and understand it. Make a a clause in there that states IT is not responsible for files on people's local computers. Train users to do File -> Save As instead of just hitting save.

It is your job to make users aware of things that are going on. Don't bend to them because they will walk all over you.

 

[ivan_gromov]

This is why users need to save things on the network. Period. Create an Acceptable Usage Policy and make sure users sign it and understand it. Make a a clause in there that states IT is not responsible for files on people's local computers. Train users to do File -> Save As instead of just hitting save.

It is your job to make users aware of things that are going on. Don't bend to them because they will walk all over you.

That is what I plan on doing once I get settled in, hell I do not have a user account as of yet.... Once they give me power I will bring some ideas up. Right now, everybody uses our fuckin server machines for nothing, makes me cry.