Select option 1 from the menu to start this test. The program displays the number of each cylinder it finds. For example, with a hard disk, the first message you see is:

Current cylinder is nnn

where nnn is the largest cylinder number used on the drive. The cylinder number counts down to 0. The seek is performed by the read/write heads simultaneously, so you see the cylinder numbers only once. If no errors occur, the menu reappears.

Write, Read Check

This check tests the ability of the hard disk drive to read and write data. The test writes to and reads from each sector of the innermost cylinder of the disk, using each head.

Note

This test destroys all data on the innermost cylinder of the selected hard disk drive. This cylinder is reserved for diagnostics, and is never used for storage by MS-DOS or any other operating system. Therefore, data created by application programs is not destroyed.

Select option 2 from the menu to start this test. You see these messages:

The data on the highest physical cylinder may be destroyed by the check.

Start the check ? (Y/N)

Select Y to continue with the test. You do not see a cylinder count during the test. If no errors occur, the program returns to the menu.

C-34Performing System Diagnostics