Hard Disk question

[XabbaRus]

Funny thing happened today.
I deceided to defrag my disk using Windows defrage, after 1% got blue screen information that something happened and stopped to avoid damage and a memory dump address. So I restarted my PC and ran defrag again. Same thing happened.

So I used a 3rd party program O&O Defrag and defragged my drive without problems, I then got it to run a disk check and report says file system damaged but didn't sya whether it was physical or if files corrupted.

any ideas? It only crashed when I tried Xp's defrag.

[SUBMAN1]

I'm guessing you have a look at the SMART data. I bet your drive is heading for the garbage bin. Hope you got all your stuff backed up. You have speedfan if I remember correctly, right? It will show you what SMART is reporting for the drive.

SMART won't always catch a problem when there is one though. Check out Seatools. It will run a diagnostic (takes a long time). That will tell you if a problem really exists if SMART says otherwise.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

I think they have an online version, but it is not as thorough as the offline bootable version. ALso, make sure you don't need your computer for a while - it takes a long time since it checks every last sector.

Hope this helps

-S

PS. Could also be a flaky driver, but since most systems use WIndows generic drivers for HD's, this is unlikely. Another thought is a badly designed or faulting hard drive controller. Last idea is bad system memory. All these ideas are further down the list of prevalence though since the most likely culprit is a dying hard drive.

PPS. Last idea - faulting WIndows defrag tool? :) Doubt it though since I've never seen this simple program screw up before.

[Blacklight]

Sounds to me like your hard drive is going ka-putt. I'd start backing stuff up now.
Maybe try a nice fresh destructive system restore and see if that changes things. It definitely sounds like your hard drive is on it's way out though so start getting prepared now just in case.

[XabbaRus]

It is 2 1/2 years old and has been used a lot. That is my first thought I have it partitioned into 4 drives. I wonder if I replace the hard drive soon if I can still set it as the slave and move the stuff I really need from the partitioned drives to the new one.
At least a decent HDD isn't too expensive.

[XabbaRus]

Would this be a decent drive?
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0270664455.119974283 2@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdladdmmdkddedcflgceggdhhmdgmh.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=567376&category_oid=-31455

It is within my budget and 250GB seems enough or should I go for two smaller drives, though I might not have the space.

[SUBMAN1]

Would this be a decent drive?
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0270664455.119974283 2@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdladdmmdkddedcflgceggdhhmdgmh.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=567376&category_oid=-31455

It is within my budget and 250GB seems enough or should I go for two smaller drives, though I might not have the space.Seagate has a special on 300 GB drives right now - $69.

Let me look and see if any other deals exist.

-S

PS. Samsung always makes a good product by the way. I only buy Samsung or Seagate anymore. Those are the only 2 drive manufacturers in my house. Seagate comes with a 5 year warranty too.

[XabbaRus]

OK I'll look at the samsung one. I'll see if I can get it cheaper on Amazon.

If I get this drive before my current one fails what would be the best way to get data off or shall I just burn to disc all my important stuff?

[SUBMAN1]

I'm not a big fan of Hitachi - they run hot and are a bit nosier than a Seagate or Samsung, but they are extremely fast. Here is an Ultrastore 750 GB for $200 -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145184&Tpk=N82E16822145184

Here is the Seagate 16 MB Cache, 300 GB, 7200 RPM for $69:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148290&Tpk=N82E16822148290

Those are the only two deals for internal 3.5" HD's I see other than Western Digital, and if you aren't buying a WD Raptor, don't buy Western Digital.

-S

[SUBMAN1]

OK I'll look at the samsung one. I'll see if I can get it cheaper on Amazon.

If I get this drive before my current one fails what would be the best way to get data off or shall I just burn to disc all my important stuff?Burn it. If you really look at what you need, you won't find that much. ALl your other stuff is simply software that can be re-loaded.

I'd save your email to a .pst file (password protected - I've lost .pst email files before for 'not' including a password - weird, huh?)

Save your My Documents, and yoru desktop, and your favorite files. Look for savegame files and back those up as well. The rest can be re-loaded.

-S

[XabbaRus]

ONe thing which is better SATA or PATA, I have 4 SATA/150 connections and 1 PATA

Also would that Samsung drive being SATA II be compatible with my Mobo? D915GAG

[SUBMAN1]

ONe thing which is better SATA or PATA, I have 4 SATA/150 connections and 1 PATA

Also would that Samsung drive being SATA II be compatible with my Mobo? D915GAGSATA all the way. Its faster and less overhead. Besides, 80 pin cables have a downside that can build up and damage a hard drive over time (electrical signals don't.... well, I won't get into it) so SATA fixes that. The drive says SATA II, but this is a backwards compatible spec. SATA II goes to 300 MB/sec and supports Native Command Cueing, but installing it on a SATA 150 port works just fine.

-S

[XabbaRus]

Oh one more thing, why was it that XP's defrag led to the crash of my PC and not O&O defrag when it did a defrag and then a chkdsk which is what reported file system damaged?

[Peto]

XP's defrag didn't lead to the crash--it just brought it rudely to your attention. chkdsk and defrag are more "on the same page" when reporting problems.

I've been seeing many more HD crashed in the last year. More than I've ever seen before. As companies create larger capacity drives, they seem to be more on the edge of failure. I personally think 250GB drives to be the sweet spot of the market right now (size/cost/reliability).

Back up your data immediately. Your drive could go completely boots-up in a heart-beat, especially on system start-up. Your system already warned you so consider each additional rpm from the drive as "borrowed time".

My favorite drives are Seagate but Samsung also makes a good product.

[XabbaRus]

Yea now my DVD burner is playing up.
I have burned DVDs on it before with no problems but when I put in a blank DVD-R or +R both Windows and Nero give me a 0 bytes, or disc full message.

It is an NEC-3500AG. It could be crap media and I'll get some branded stuff becase I backed up some stuff not too long ago.

Argghhh. The basic PC is fine, I can't afford a new PC but a new HD I could easily manage.

[Stealth Hunter]

Use the force, Xabba...:smug:

[XabbaRus]

Frikkin sledge hammer more like it, then at least I now why...

[Peto]

That is beginning to sound a little more evil (both drives at the same time is seldom coincidence). Hope it isn't a chipset problem on the motherboard...

Anyway--I seriously recommend a Flash Drive (USB memory stick). Those things are great. I even ram my 1GB memorex one through the wash and it still works. And they're cheap now.

Good Luck! Computer problems are never fun :nope:...

[XabbaRus]

No it is to do with crap discs with my DVD drive. It knows it is a DVD RW capable drive, I have had this before and looking on the internet I'm not the only person with the NEC drive who has problems burning to it. I'll have to wait till the end of the week before I get new hard drive.

What about this.
I get my new hard drive, install it and set it as the C: and install windows onto it. then I copy all my important stuff off the old drive and then bin it? Oh with SATA drives is it still a case of flipping jumpers to tell the PC which is the C: and which is the rest?

[SUBMAN1]

SATA won't have any jumpers on it for master slave, etc. It doesn't matter what port you plug it into. If you have multiple SATA drives too, you can tell your BIOS which one to treat as the first in the chain - the boot drive, regardless what port it is plugged into.

Basically, SATA was made to not only be fast, but to be idiot proof too.

-S

PS. Make sure of the power connectors when buying the new drive. Some use the older power connectors, but most newer SATA drives use the SATA power connector too. If your PSU doesn't support this connector, you may need to buy a $2 adapter to go along with it.

[Peto]

If you remove your current drive check to see it isn't jumpered to Master. Then put in your new drive and install like you said. When you put your old drive in it should show up as D: as long as it isn't jumpered to be Master. Your idea of transferring files directly from your old drive is good. As long as it continues to work. Chances are--it will. But the more you use it, the greater risk you run of a catostrophic failure.

:up:

[XabbaRus]

ok and the fact I have m y current drive partitioned won't be an issue?

[Peto]

Partition might change your drive letter designations but the new drive will remain C as long as it's the master. It'll just be a matter of checking partitions to find your data.

[SUBMAN1]

You're keeping your old bad drive in there?

-S

[XabbaRus]

Hey my DVD writer won't recognize any blank disc at all but it seems peole have had the same issues with NEC-3500.
It will find blank CD-Rs and write to them no problem.

I'm banging my head against a brick wall.

[XabbaRus]

OK I think what half the problem is I remember flashing the DVD drive to make it region free. It reads DVD's no problem but won't write.

[SUBMAN1]

Oh no....!!!! You didn't flash the wrong firmware did you? Oh well, you may have just turned your once writer into nothing more than a reader! :-?

No biggie. Just flash it back, if it will take it.

Get a Plextor. They come region free until you set them - or just leave it Region Free.

-S

[XabbaRus]

Nah it won't let me flash it back...

Ah well I can get a decent one at a reasonable price. At least I can write to CD and that is big enough for most my stuff. Need to get new HD first.

In fact NOd confirms it. When I do a quick scan it comes up 2 sectors unreadable which is what CHKDSK comes up with too.

Saying that my SMART data comes up OK though...hmmmm still think I'll listen to you lot.

[XabbaRus]

I'm also assuming that any new DVD rewriter I get would best be SATA instead of IDE.

[XabbaRus]

Guys SpeedFan is reporting my drive as 97% fit.

When I hit in depth analysis it links to a report page which is telling me to watch my start/stop count and my power cycle count, everything else is good or very good.

You still think my drive is possibly going to go soon?

[XabbaRus]

Downloaded SeatTols and a short DST has given me a pass.

I wonder if Xp has become corrupted or something. I don't want to get a new drive if I don't have to. What else could be the problem and is there any other software to check?

the fact that both BNOd and O&O defrage came up with 2 dectors not being able to be read, and file system damaged respectively leads me to think the drive could be the issue but I really don't want it to be anything mobo related as I can't afford to replace that at the moment.

[SUBMAN1]

Downloaded SeatTols and a short DST has given me a pass.

I wonder if Xp has become corrupted or something. I don't want to get a new drive if I don't have to. What else could be the problem and is there any other software to check?

the fact that both BNOd and O&O defrage came up with 2 dectors not being able to be read, and file system damaged respectively leads me to think the drive could be the issue but I really don't want it to be anything mobo related as I can't afford to replace that at the moment.If Smart passes as you say at 97%, the short test from Seatools is almost guaranteed to pass.

Do the long long long test where it tests sector by sector. That will give you the real answer. Let it run over night.

-S

[XabbaRus]

ok will do

[Peto]

I'd still buy a new drive ;). You can always use the original as a slave or keep it tucked away as a backup. In any case, if you tap out you Doctorate Thesis, be sure to back it up. Twice :lol:!

[Stealth Hunter]

Frikkin sledge hammer more like it, then at least I now why...

Use THE force, not FORCE.:rotfl:


Aw, what the hell. You know what? Bash away!:up: