Specifications

whatdevicesareavailablefortest,whattestsareavailableforthedevice,deviceproperties,andsoon.To
changetestingparameters,youmodifytheFDAT.INIleinPCDoctorforDOS.
FDATconsistsofthefollowingsubtestsandfeatures.
Fixed-DiskTests:
•SeekTests:-checksthephysicaloperationofthedrivehead.
–LinearSeek
–RandomSeek
–Min-MaxSeek
–ButterySeek
•VerifyTests:-checkstheintegrityofthedatapresentonthemedia.
–LinearVerify
–RandomVerify
•SurfaceScanTests:-checksthedrivemediafordefects.
–SurfaceScan(Linear)
–SurfaceScan(Aggressive)-thisisdisabledfornormalcustomeruse.
–SurfaceScan(Random)
•Self-monitoring,AnalysisandReportingTechnology(SMART)-checkstheSMARTfunctionalityfor
drivesthatsupportSMART.
–StartSMARTSelf-Test
OtherTestFeatures:
•Write-SpliceRepair-detectsandcorrectsErrorCorrectionCodeerrorsduringVerifytests.
•AutoSpinDown-agradualspindownofthedriveplatterstoavoiddamagingthemedia.
•ManufacturerLog-anin-depthmanufacturersupportedlogoferrorsonthedrive.
Multitasking:
Toallowsimultaneoustestingofmultipleharddriveswheneverpossible,theFDATmoduleiswrittenasa
setofmultitaskingfunctions.Eachdriveundertestcanrunthesametestorrunadifferenttestatthe
sametime.Eachsubtestiswrittentohandleasingletestpassandalltestvariablesarekepttrackofina
structureuniqueforeachdrive.
However,whentestingIDEdrives,FDATwillnotperformsimultaneoustestingofIDEdrivesthatareattached
tothesameIDEcable.Forexample,ifFDATistestingfourIDEdrivesonaPC,itwillperformsimultaneous
testingondrives1and3rst(masterdrives),thenperformtestson2and4(slavedrives).FDATwillalso
performsimultaneoustestingonamasterandslavethatareonseparateIDEcables,butwillnotperform
simultaneoustestsonamasterandslaveonthesameIDEcable.Thisgenerallyincreasestheamountof
timeneededtotestmultipleIDEdrives.
AnotherlimitationofFDAT’SmultitaskingcapabilityistheuseofUltraDMA(UDMA).Onlyonedriveata
timecanaccesstheUDMAchannelandtheUDMAchannelbuffermustbekepthighinordertomaintaina
speedadvantageoverotherdatatransfermodes.InordertousetheUDMAchannelduringtesting,users
mustdisablethemultitaskingfeature.
Destructiveversusnon-destructivetesting:
Chapter5.Diagnostics45