README - WDDIAG
PROGRAM SUMMARY:
This program searches for and verifies the status of specific
Western Digital drives. Also, if errors are found, it provides
an option to return the drive to defect-free status.
PROGRAM RUNNING TIME:
For most computers WDDIAG takes 4-15 minutes to test one drive.
Larger drives take longer to test. The performance of the computer
also affects the test time.
If the drive has defects that WDDIAG can repair, then the repair
and rescan of the drive takes an additional 4-16 minutes.
TO RUN THE PROGRAM:
BACK UP DATA: Before running the program, it is recommended that
users back up all data for all hard drives. The WDDIAG test
does not overwrite any data on the drives and if used properly
should not result in data loss, but the regular backing up of
data is always recommended.
STORE THE PROGRAM ON FLOPPY DRIVE: The program must be run
from a floppy drive, so copy the file WDDIAG.EXE to a formatted
bootable floppy diskette in A:. Running this program from the
target hard drive while using certain operating systems can
result in data loss and an inaccurate scan of the target drive.
START THE PROGRAM: To start the program, type WDDIAG at the
A:\ DOS prompt.
TEST EACH DRIVE:
Pick the 'Select Drive' option to see a list of all drives
installed and the current status of each drive.
For each drive that shows a status of 'TEST THE DRIVE', select
the drive by using the up/down arrows until the desired drive
is highlighted, then from the main menu pick the 'Test Drive'
option to test the drive.
The 'Test Drive' option will take several minutes to complete
depending on the size of the drive and the speed of the computer).
At the end of the test a status is displayed. Also, the status for
all drives is always available by choosing the 'Select Drive' option
from the main menu.
If errors are detected during the 'Test Drive' option, the user
will be given the option to attempt to repair the errors.
Use the 'Select Drive' and 'Test Drive' and 'Repair Drive' options
to select and test and repair each drive until the status for
each drive is one of the following:
"DRIVE HAS NO ERRORS" - The drive has passed the test and is
error-free.
"CONTACT WD TECH SUPPORT" - The drive has not passed the test
and the user should contact WD
Technical Support for additional
information.
"NON-WD DRIVE DETECTED" - The drive is not a WD drive and no
additional testing is supported.
Pick QUIT from the main menu to quit the test. At this point
a message will inform you that the system should be reset to
reinitialize the BIOS and hard drive(s). Hit CTL-ALT-DEL or
cycle power to restart the system.
When rebooting, remove the floppy diskette so the system boots
to C: instead of A:.
REPAIRING A DRIVE:
In some cases the status of a drive will be set to 'Repair The Drive'
following the Test Drive option. In this case the user should run the
Repair Drive option and rescan the drive to verify that it has been
returned to defect-free status.
When repairing a drive, user data is not lost when sectors are relocated,
but user data is lost when tracks are relocated.
When relocating a sector, the data is read from the sector if possible and
written to the new sector. However, in most cases if a sector needs to
be relocated the data is not recoverable from the damaged sector and the
new sector is filled with zeros. No additional data is lost during the
relocation since the data was already unreadable.
A warning message is displayed whenever tracks will be relocated. Tracks
should only be relocated on a drive if the data for the drive has been
backed up to another storage device since all data for the drive will
have to be restored by the user after finishing with WDDIAG.
Early-model WD drives are not repairable:
AC140, AC160, AC280, AC2120, AC2170, AC2200
TO CONTACT WD:
In some cases the user may be requested to contact Western
Digital Technical Support. You may contact Western Digital
Technical Support at (949) 932-4900 or (800) 275-4932 in the
U.S., or (31) 20.446.7651 in Europe, or consult your drive
manual for further information. Alternately, you may contact
the OEM or its warranty service provider who can support your
needs.
MAIN MENU OPTIONS:
The following menu options are available:
Select Drive select drive and view status for all drives
Test Drive test the selected drive
View Test Results display results for last drive tested
Print Test Results print results for last drive tested
Log File Open/Close store results for all drives tested - WDDIAG.LOG
Repair Drive repair errors found during the Test Drive option
Write Zeros To Drive write zeros to the drive
Enter & Print RMA Info enter and print RMA when returning a drive to WD
Quit
LOG FILE:
The test results for all drives tested during the last run of
WDDIAG are stored in the file WDDIAG.LOG.
By default, the log file is created. It can be disabled using
a command line option. It is also disabled if the test is run
from a write-protected floppy. And it is disabled if the log
file is being stored on a hard drive and the hard drive under
test required a Set Parameters command (this avoids corrupting
the data on the hard drive since the drive being tested may be
the drive containing the log file, and the test drive may no
longer be set to the parameters assigned by the BIOS).
COPY OF LOG FILE IN MEMORY (SHOWN WITH MAIN MENU 'VIEW TEST RESULTS' OPTION):
The copy of the log file that is shown on the screen only
contains results from the last test. Every time a new test
is selected from the main menu, the log file in memory is
cleared. The log file on the disk captures the results from
all the tests as they are run.
LOG FILE OF ALL TESTS:
The file HISTORY.LOG contains all of the previous WDDIAG.LOG
files. The file HISTORY.LOG should be deleted periodically if
WDDIAG is being run repeatedly to conserve disk space.
COMMA FILE:
The test results are stored in comma file WDDIAG.CS1. A new
record is appended to the file each time a test is run. The
comma file is disabled whenever the log file is disabled. A
record has the following fields:
A16 serial number
A14 model
N model id byte
A16 firmware string
A12 dcm string (will be 'UNKNOWN' if unknown)
A14 build date (format MM-DD-YYYY) (01-01-1980 if unknown)
N final error code
N test complete (0 = incomplete, 1 = complete)
A10 date (format MM/DD/YY)
A10 time (format HH:MM:SS)
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS:
The following command line options are supported:
-A Disables error code for SMART failures (ignores SMART)
This option can be used to allow scanning of drives
when SMART is failing before the scan.
-C Disables output to comma file WDDIAG.CS1.
-DX Selects drive X (used with the -V option)
X Baseport Drive
0 1F0 0
1 1F0 1
2 170 0
3 170 1
4 1E8 0
5 1E8 1
6 168 0
7 168 1
-H Disables appending of log file to the file HISTORY.LOG.
-K Keeps the log file open even after a Set Parameters
has been issued. This option should only be used if
the log file is being stored on a drive other than
the test drive.
-L Disables output to log file. This option takes priority
over the -K option.
-R Scan/repair/rescan the drive without showing the menu. The
drive to be tested is specified with the -D option.
-S Skip the rebooting of the system after a Set Parameters
has been issued. This option should only be used if
the drive being tested is not one of the system drives.
See additional info in the section titled Additional
Program Info.
-V Read Verify Entire Drive without showing the menu. The
drive to be tested is specified with the -D option.
For example, to run without menus and Read Verify
drive 0 at baseport 170, type
WDDIAG -V -D2
ADDITIONAL PROGRAM INFO:
When the program exits to DOS there is a message explaining
that the system needs to be reset. The Set Parameters
command may change the setup of the drive and cause the system
BIOS to access the drive incorrectly. So the reset is issued to
be sure the drive is re-initialized by the BIOS. There is a command
line option to disable the reset. This option can be specified if
the user is sure that the drive being tested by WDDIAG is not one
of the system drives accessed by the BIOS.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.