Error Codes 0142 & 0146 & HDD Question

Question

Hi all, I am a long time Dell owner and new to the forum. I recently had a series of 0142 and 0146 hard drive error codes that eventually lead to a hard drive replacement on my Studio XPS 8100. I want to thank all of you who contribute to this forum as your advice in the various threads over the past few days while working through this issue has been invaluable. After removing the old hard drive, I was able to access and save all of my data using an Apricorn Universal Hard Drive Adapter (a tip that I picked-up from one of the threads). Windows 7 Home Premium along with all other drivers and programs (and my data), is loaded onto the new drive and properly backed-up now. Other than a small glitch with my blu-ray player (which also was resovled by reviewing another post), everything is up and running smoothly. I ended up replacing my Dell-installed 750GB hard drive, (a 7200, 32MB cache which turned out to be a Seagate Baracuda), with a 1TB Western Digital 'Caviar Blue' 7200, 32MB Cache. So far I am very pleased with the install. The minimal amount of noise made by the new hard drive is about the same as the Seagate, but I believe the WD runs quite a bit cooler. I do have one question for all of you experts:  When accessing the Baracuda through USB with the Apricorn, all of the data seems fine - - Would this drive be useable for data storage if I format and clean it up? I hate to see that much space and a relatively new hard drive go to waste (it was shipped with my 8100 back in March 2010). Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this...

DELL-Madhur B · Answer

Hi xxcpmanxx,

The Hard Drive can be used as a back-up drive by using a Hard Drive adapter. However, the error code 0142 indicates that there is an imminent hard drive failure which might occur anytime soon. Any data that you would like to store in it, ensure to have a copy of it on a different device too.

For any clarifications feel free to contact me.

xxcpmanxx · Answer

Thank you Madhur, I was hoping for a brighter answer, but I suppose reality stinks some times. Since I have the new drive installed and seemingly working well, it's not a big issue at this point.

Out of curiosity I might format the old disk and load some data occasionaly just to see how long it lasts.

Thanks again for your reply.

xxcpmanxx · Answer

As mentioned above I decided to format the old Seagate Baracuda. When I opened up the Disk Management tool, I noticed the drive has three partitions:

1st Partition:

Volume: None (No drive letter, not named);

Status: Healthy (OEM Partition)

Capacity: 39 MB

2nd Partition:

Volume: RECOVERY (J:)

Status: Healthy (Active, Primary Partition)

Capacity: 14.65 GB

3rd Partition:

Volume: OS (L:)

Status: Currently states: "Formatting (74%)," but before I believe it also indicated "Healthy (Active, Primary Partition), as well.

As you can see from Partition 3, I'm currently about 3/4 of the way through the formatting process.

So far, this has taken nearly 7 1/2 hours and I calculate another 1 1/2 - 2 hours to go. Does this sound right? Does it normally take this long?

Also, regarding the 1st and 2nd partitions, do those also need to be formatted separately?

DELL-Madhur B · Answer

Hi xxcpmanxx,

Delete all the available Partitions which would result in a huge amount of unallocated space. Create a new partition from it and format it which should take less time.

Please refer to the following link to delete the partition: http://bit.ly/etP9Lj

For any clarifications feel free to contact me .

DELL-Madhur B · Answer

Hi xxcpmanxx,

That is correct; please delete partition # 3 along with partition # 1 and 2. After the 3 partitions are deleted, just the unallocated space will be left. Create a new partition out of the unallocated space to utilize the entire disk space.

For any clarifications feel free to contact me.

xxcpmanxx · Answer

Okay, I just hit 99%, so I'll be able to delete the partitions in a few minutes. To clarify, will I be deleting Partitions 1 & 2 as listed above only - - or should Partition #3 also be included (that's the partiition that's just finishing the format)?

Then, when I perform the new format will it include the entire disk, or just the unallocated space leftover from the 2 previous partitions?

xxcpmanxx · Answer

Madhur, I completed all of the steps, except I cannot remove the 39 MB OEM Partition.

Excluding that partition, the new capacity for the remainder of the drive after format completion, totals 698.60 GB, with 698.49 GB of Free Space.

Thanks for all of your help.

xxcpmanxx · Answer

It's not about the space. I wanted to ensure that the drive was completely clean with nothing on it for the purpose of monitoring performance and the return of any error codes, if any.

I have it installed as an extra drive right now, and starting tomorrow I'm going to turn it in to a mock back-up drive to see if I can get any errors to return.

DELL-Madhur B · Answer

Hi xxcpmanxx,39MB is a system reserved partition and can be ignore. But if you are concerned and want to utilize that space, please click here, which might help us in deleting the OEM partition.Kindly let me know if it helped.

xxcpmanxx · Answer

I ended up using FDISK on a MS-DOS bootable USB to delete the OEM Partition. I am now reformatting again. This time it's going much faster than yesterday since I installed it inside the computer. Big, big difference.

Storage, Drives & Media

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