SeaTools doesn't recognize Seagate NAS drives

[BonzaiDuck]

I may have several question in more than one forum that begins with this paragraph:

I'm building a server to eventually replace my WHS-2011 configuration. For the OS --- Win Server 2012 R2 Essentials. It may sound sort of hinky -- not buying a "server motherboard" or a Xeon processor -- but I'm using an i5-3470 processor and a spare Z68/Gen3 motherboard fitted with 16GB of (non-ECC!!) XMS RAM. Today, I fired up the system for the first time after fretting over fan connections, airflow, cable-management, etc.

I purchased two new Seagate NAS 2TB drives for the build, anticipating that I'd move the existing four drives of the WHS system to the new server eventually. And whatever opinion respondents have of the Seagate drives, I've had no problem at all with these NAS drives in the WHS server.

I wanted to test each of the new NAS drives before installing the OS. So I downloaded Seatools for DOS. I'm testing each drive by connecting only one of them at a time to the motherboard.

The BIOS and system POST recognizes the Seagate drive. Acronis Disk Director 11 update 2 recognizes the drive, allow me to initialize and format it, and shows that it is "healthy" as a basic, primary volume.

Seatools, booting from CD, does its system scan and doesn't recognize the drive. There are various reasons this could occur other than something wrong with the drive.

Perhaps I forgot something. Perhaps there is something I "need to do" with the drive before Seatools recognizes it, but if Acronis shows it, so should Seatools.

Is there some other utility that will allow me to thoroughly test these drives before installing my 2012 R2 Essentials OS? A utility that boots from CD?

I'm puzzled by this, but I can imagine various reasons why the Seatools for DOS isn't recognizing the drive.

 

[zir_blazer]

Did you set the SATA Controller in IDE Mode? SeaTools for DOS doesn't detect anything if its in AHCI.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Did you set the SATA Controller in IDE Mode? SeaTools for DOS doesn't detect anything if its in AHCI.

No -- I didn't do that. Now that you've enlightened me, it doesn't make too much sense that they would do that.

Are there any "drive size limitations" for 2TB NAS drives operating in IDE mode?

I could always move the drives from their cage, put them into an external eSATA box and hook them up to a workstation to run SeaTools for Windows. More fiddling with screws, latches and minor troubles.

It's only a priority so I can beat the 30-day RMA return to reseller if I find a bad one.

Of course, if your answer -- or that of anyone -- to the question I posed seems promising, I could just tweak the BIOS, restart and retest.

I suppose I could even do it without waiting for any additional thoughts or caveats. Still -- since we're talking about it, let me know . . . what you know . . . I can put this off for at least another day.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well, I just wanted to get zir_blazer's attention for a moment to say "Thanks."

IDE. Who would imagine? Simplest thing. The "Long" test is going forward as I speak. Also, there's a rundown on the utility that says the same thing at "Seven Forums:"

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/313457-seatools-dos-windows-how-use.html

You'd just think they'd put that information in the Seagate guide PDF for the utility. I don't think they did. Maybe part of my brain was out to lunch, but I didn't see it there.

 

[tweakboy]

Seagate blows goat. Their with maxtor , horrible stuff...