My Dell Mini Forum

niallmoran · **Killed my Stec SSD? -** 06-13-2010, 09:40 AM

last night i powered up my dell mini 9 with windows 7 and it wouldn't boot so rather than faff about with it i thought i'd give the new ubuntu a shot. Anyway, i installed that (went fine) but then i made the mistake of pulling out the power lead while forgetting that the battery was stoney flat. Tried to reboot and only got as far as the ubuntu busybox and then couldn't do anything.

Tried to reformat/clean the drive using both ubuntu and windows but just got I/O errors and i'm now thinking i've killed the STEC 8Gb drive.

Is this likely or has anybody got any bright ideas before i start hunting for a replacement drive?

Cheers
Niall

holmes4 · 06-13-2010, 01:36 PM

Possible. Does the drive show with the correct capacity in the BIOS? I've seen many reports of problems like yours. Replacing the drive is probably the thing to do. I assume the Mini is no longer under warranty.

niallmoran · 06-13-2010, 03:29 PM

yeah, looks fine in the bios and both ubuntu and windows installers see the current partitions but can't delete or format them.....even tried a low level formatter/deleter and it failed so it looks like the drive has died some how. Luckily, i've just checked and i've still got 23 days of warranty left so i'll see if dell will send me a new one

rrfranczak3 · 06-13-2010, 03:56 PM

boy, did someone just get lucky or what??????

PS. I know Steve will comment on this but, "another one (SSD) bites the dust......"

....he knows how I feel about SSD's....I'll take my WD Scorpio Blue anyday

niallmoran · 06-13-2010, 04:00 PM

yeah, amazing - i thought it was well over a year since i got my wee mini

It is really weird that it's still showing up as expected but giving I/O errors....a bit worrying that a drive can just fail like that, glad i don't use the mini for anything proper

grassle · 06-13-2010, 06:03 PM

I had the same problem with a Dell/STEC 16GB SSD from hardware hacking and shutting down the hard (aka dumb) way -- pulled AC power with no battery in the mini -- aaaargh! As SSDs need a little time to write the latest changes to disk, these were lost and the filesystem corrupt. I thought the SSD was dying, but after repartitioning, reformatting, and restoring a backup it has served me well since => EBKAC

Does the reformatting you did include a fresh partition table? If not, there may be still hope.

niallmoran · 06-13-2010, 07:53 PM

i can't get any of the formatting/partitioning software to even delete the partitions or think about formatting the drive....even tried a low level drive wiper and that fails as well. The weird thing isn't the drive hasn't failed completely as it still boots the ubuntu busybox

grassle · 06-13-2010, 11:54 PM

Well, if even gparted can't make a new partition table then the drive seems to be really sick.

kwantlen · 06-14-2010, 03:47 AM

Just boot and reformat from a USB stick.

I had some problems too switching from Ubuntut to Win 7. Eventually I could reformat and install. Make sure all your USB ports are fully enabled in the BIOS.

I doubt the SSD is gone if you still can see it in the BIOS with full capacity.

niallmoran · 06-14-2010, 11:52 AM

tried that - fails when trying to format or even delete partition (machine boots fine from USB). Any other suggestions for formatting software that can be booted to from USB?

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holmes4 Super Moderator Posts: 5,958 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: New Hampshire	06-13-2010, 01:36 PM Possible. Does the drive show with the correct capacity in the BIOS? I've seen many reports of problems like yours. Replacing the drive is probably the thing to do. I assume the Mini is no longer under warranty. Steve Mini 9\|2GB RAM\|64GB RunCore\|Intel 5300\|Windows 8

niallmoran Junior Member Posts: 8 Join Date: Jul 2009	06-13-2010, 03:29 PM yeah, looks fine in the bios and both ubuntu and windows installers see the current partitions but can't delete or format them.....even tried a low level formatter/deleter and it failed so it looks like the drive has died some how. Luckily, i've just checked and i've still got 23 days of warranty left so i'll see if dell will send me a new one

niallmoran Junior Member Posts: 8 Join Date: Jul 2009	06-13-2010, 04:00 PM yeah, amazing - i thought it was well over a year since i got my wee mini It is really weird that it's still showing up as expected but giving I/O errors....a bit worrying that a drive can just fail like that, glad i don't use the mini for anything proper

niallmoran Junior Member Posts: 8 Join Date: Jul 2009	06-13-2010, 07:53 PM i can't get any of the formatting/partitioning software to even delete the partitions or think about formatting the drive....even tried a low level drive wiper and that fails as well. The weird thing isn't the drive hasn't failed completely as it still boots the ubuntu busybox

grassle Senior Member Posts: 373 Join Date: May 2009	06-13-2010, 11:54 PM Well, if even gparted can't make a new partition table then the drive seems to be really sick.

kwantlen Junior Member Posts: 11 Join Date: Mar 2010	06-14-2010, 03:47 AM Just boot and reformat from a USB stick. I had some problems too switching from Ubuntut to Win 7. Eventually I could reformat and install. Make sure all your USB ports are fully enabled in the BIOS. I doubt the SSD is gone if you still can see it in the BIOS with full capacity.

niallmoran Junior Member Posts: 8 Join Date: Jul 2009	06-14-2010, 11:52 AM tried that - fails when trying to format or even delete partition (machine boots fine from USB). Any other suggestions for formatting software that can be booted to from USB?

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