Is there any way to test an external disk drive on an Arris gateway?

[dmj]

The extender disk on my Arris gateway was knocked off the shelf and I've has some playback issues with recordings made since.

[8PK]

We didn't drop our expander, but we knew something was wrong with it when the recording space on the Gateway suddenly jumped to 99% full, and tons of the recorded shows vanished. We didn't know how to test it ourselves, so we took it back to the computer store where we bought it. They tested it for free and found that the hard disc had fried and had to be replaced. We lost tons of recordings that we can't get back, that really sucked. Sorry I can't tell you how to test it, if you phone any computer store most of them test for free (make sure they say testing is still free if you decide not to have it fixed/replaced at their store). p.s. the computer store told us that if it gets dropped there's a good chance the hard disc can get damaged, same as if you drop a laptop etc. Hope that helps.

[grumpy27]

I concur.  I have never dropped mine but it has gotten disconnected a few times.  You will immediately notice a lot of missing recordings.  The percent full will also jump up.  One could try turning off the power to the external drive.  If nothing changes with the power off it is no longer working for you.  

[mdk]

Can you connect the Shaw Expander to an "external-SATA" port on your computer?

Be sure to power-off your computer before connecting the special "eSATA cable" to your computer's eSATA port.

Caution: not all computers have such an "external-SATA" port.  In that case, you may be able to find a SATA cable with an "internal SATA" connector at one end and an "eSATA" connector at the other end.  Then, open-up the case of your computer, and use this special cable to connect to a "spare" SATA socket on the computer's motherboard.  Again, power-off your computer before trying to connect.

When you start Microsoft Windows, it will report that the Expander is an "unformatted" device and that it "needs to be formatted". DO NOT ALLOW THIS ACTION..

Google-search for "download free SPECCY". Download & install & run this software.

Expand its "storage" report, to see something roughly like:

Look at that "S.M.A.R.T." section.  Only part of it has been shown here!

It will give you lots of details about the "health" of the recording-surfaces of the Expander, i.e., number of "bad" sectors, number of "bad" sectors that have been replaced by some "spare" sectors on the disk-drive.

Shutdown Windows, and disconnect the Expander, now that you have a "health report" for it.

Note that the recorded programs are just ordinary "files" inside the Expander, but the Expander is not using the file-system (folders, sub-folders, files) that Windows uses for its disk-drives. If the "Table of Contents" gets logically messed-up, some of the files (some of your recordings) will no longer be listed in that "Table of Contents", and thus will have "vanished" -- forever.

[dmj]

Thx for the feedback. Will have to get it tested.  Would be useful if there was a way for the gateway to test.