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Hello

Recently I was having a lot of issues with the media storage dismounting randomly, forcing me to reboot.
I tried formatting via the rescue menu (hitting volume (+) during reboot), and trying to run a scandisk and chkdsk in both windows and ubuntu, looking for bad blocks, but the unit would power down before the scan could complete. I even have the battery dock. Then a few days ago, I tried reformatting via the rescue menu and from within Android the archos could not complete the format.

I decided to remove the drive and replace it with an extra 300GB drive i had and was successfully able to perform the switch. Then I connected the Archos' drive to my laptop and was able to perform a complete format and scandisk successfully.

So, after all that, my question: Has anyone been able to perform bad block scans or a non-quick format on their Archos 5?
It seemed like the Archos layer between the drive and Windows (or linux) prevents any real hard drive maintenance.


Thanks

Hello


I'm still having issues with the Archos. The media partition dismounts randomly while playing a file forcing me to restart.
Also, I have tried to reformat the media partition from within the "Settings > About Device > Repair and formatting tools > Format the partition which contain your personal data" and it doesn't seem to do anything. I see the dialog that about cache being cleared, then it reboots with no indication that a format was attempted.
Am I dealing with a software issue or a hardware issue?

Thanks

I think I solved my problems.
1) I was having an issue where the drive would dismount randomly during music or video playback.
2) I would try to run scan disk from Windows and Ubuntu with no success.
3) I would try to format from within Android and the rescue menu with no success.

I removed the hard drive and connected it directly to my laptop and performed a non-quick format and scan disk in windows.
While that was happening, I installed a 300GB 7200 RPM drive, just for the heck of it and had similar issues. This time it seemed like the problem was power. I could hear the drive power down just long enough to cause a problem.
I re-installed the original drive, all formatted and scanned and the Archos is working a lot better.

So, the moral of my story? Since I have no warranty, if my hard drive starts acting up, I'm going to pull it out and connect it directly to my pc to perform drive maintenance.

Hey,
I've been having problems with my Archos 5 as well. Basically the screen started to bulge outward for some reason even though it wasn't in a heated place.
Now when I connect it by USB I'll get the same problem as you, ie it dismounts with an instant reboot or something. No matter how much I recharge it the battery will always get emptied if I use it for 5-10 mins.
Recently I've had problems where you'd hear either the Archos screach and reboot or just make loud clicks and reboot.
So my solution was what you did, just plug it into the computer but I'm gonna see if I'll be able to transfer all my data to the computer. Hopefully the hard drive is stable out of the Archos.
Have you been able to backup everything on the computer? Would you recommend taking it out of hte Archos, I'm thinking of just harvesting the hard drive and using it on its own.

Bad lion battery swelling up and causing the bulge. Been well documented here. Need to be careful with this as faulty lion battery can cause fires etc.

_________________
Andrew
500gb a5a
G9 80 16gb 4.0.28

That sucks, regarding the battery.
Regarding the drive, I removed the drive and connected it directly to my PC, I think i used an external enclosure, I was able to easily get all the data.
I still have issues sometimes. My theory is that its a power supply issue.

Regarding the drive, I removed the drive and connected it directly to my PC

Hi there, Never posted on a forum before so don't know if I am making sense....

Saw the above quote on the last answer and I want to know how can I connect my Archos 5 500gb hard drive directly to my computer?

I have an old one that will not start up anymore, dropped it and when I turn it on it makes a very audible noise, think it's the hard drive out of place or something, but I was wondering if I could take out the hard drive and connect to my PC in order to try and recover the info on the hard drive.

Novice so please don't use overly technical terms! Do I need to buy a specific adapter to house the hard drive in to connect to PC or can I do it with a normal USB cable...?

Sorry for my dumbassedness but any help would be appriciated!

No need to apologize. After you remove your hard drive, identify which connector it has by using this image http://www.laptopparts101.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/sata-ide-laptop-hard-drive.jpg
The drive should be a SATA drive. This is just a precaution.
Once you verify that, the cheapest way to connect it to you computer is by buying an enclosure. Go to a site like newegg.com and search for 2.5 Sata enclosure or laptop sata enclosure
If you already have a portable external hard drive, you can try opening that enclosure and swaping out the drives.
Once you get the hard drive in an enclosure you can connect it to your pc.

Can i ask, how can i find out how to get into a Archos 48 IT, i assume its the same as a 5 (i've had both, they look identical)

I need to check my drive

Thx

I don't have mine anymore, so I can't supply pictures.
You have to pop off the feet on the back of the archos. They're glued in. It'll take a little force for it wont break anything.
There are screws under the feet. There are also pin sized holes along the top and bottom. You need to stick a pin in them to release some snaps.

I think that's all.