I have a W2k workstation that ran really, REALLY slowly. I've determined that the current HD is reading at a snails pace. The data on it seems to be completely intact, it will boot (W2k) and work, but very very slowly.

This being said, I decided a fresh install on a new disk was the way to go. A quick PXE boot, about 20 minutes stepping through the image install and I've got the machine back up, running great.

I've re-attached the old drive as slave to copy the user's files, mostly just the .pst files for Outlook.

The copy process is going extraordinarily slowly, a few hours now for 600 MB of data.

The system also has bogged down incredibly during the copy process, but processor utilization is practically zero. It will show periods of 'usual' speed at times.

Another clue: When using the MaxBlast II utility that came with the new replacement drive, I got an I/O timeout when copying the old disk to the new (hence my decision to do a fresh install).

I'm a bit stumped as to the cause of this. The drive is running cool, and doesn't make any funny noises. I've seen drives die, but never like this. Does anybody have an explanation or theory? I'm very curious. Thanks.

-Zeke

Did you check for any viruses?

Yeah, I'd thought of that, and done periodic on-demand scans on this machine in the past few weeks, despite the fact that
I've got company wide McAffee VirusScan running 24/7 on all machines reporting to a central console and auto-updating the .dat files weekly.

Also, what virus would cause damage that would cause an I/O timeout in DR-DOS (Maxblast II's OS) while doing an image copy?

It just didn't seem viral.

Some other tidbits: the drive was only 1/2 full (4.5 of 10 GB) and had been defragged with no effect.

The drive speed change was gradual. It just got slower & slower until the machine really became unusable.

-Zeke

Since you did check for that and used a new drive it must be some physical damage to the original drive. Or to make sure, when the people are done copying files over reload the O/S on the old drive and try running it to see what happens. Maybe Windows had some damaged files or other software problems. If it still runs slow then you know it's a bad drive. Did you use the same cables?

I would suspect you have a heat related fault developing on the disk.
Which causes the drive to re-try reading the data all the time.
It also explains why the copy process slows down as the drive warms up, it will get more and more "read errors" requiring retries and/or head re-calibration.

Listen to the drive does it sound "normal" for a disk drive [you may have to get your ears close to the drive as it may be quiet].

If its developing a fault then replacing the drive is a good option.
If you really need to copy data off the drive then try cooling the drive [or the whole PC] down by placing it in a really cold place e.g. a room with the air conditioning turned up - you may find this lets you ghet stuff off you might not be able to.

Worst case, you may even have to put the drive in the fridge/freezer - just make sure it can't get any water/ice on it or you'll have a shorted out drive.

I did that once - copied data off a drive by putting it (running) in a freezer in the lunch room at my then place of employment - I made sure the drive was not sitting on the ice nor that any ice would melt on to it.
And it worked!

Laura,
I did move the drive into another (identical) machine and it was just as slow. When it was attached to the freshly installed system it slowed that one massively, but it did eventually copy the files I needed.

It was just so weird, I've usually just had drives go belly up all at once.

number 6 - interesting! I'll give the cooling trick a try as the user is writing up a list of files he needs back so I can get them all at once instead of piecemeal. I'll be sure the drive's chilly first. Right now I've left it in the case but unconnected and there it will probably stay for eternity (I'll put a note on it in marker).

Thanks guys!

-Zeke