Is my HDD about to die?

Hogzy

For the last week or so my hard drive is constantly crackling as they usually do and more annoyingly every couple of seconds the entire computer seems to just stall for about 10 seconds to return back to normal after the 10sec interval. However this usually just happens when im browsing.

theres only 20gb left on the drive (Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB SATA2)

I would think that this is a HDD problem however it only stalls when browsing, both firefox and IE. I did a virus and adware check only trhe usual stuff but no changes! Should i just get a new HDD (which i was planning on doing in the near future anywa) just to be on the safe side?

MunsterCycling

If you value any of the files you have then yes!

MC

Biggins

Yes, your drive is definitely failing.

Back up your stuff NOW! SERIOUSLY.

It stalls when browsing because your loading the web pages into memory/RAM (not to the drive itself).
Try reading data from the hard drive or saving to it, you can bet the noise will soon start.
The noise is the heads at the end of the inner arms hitting off the discs inside as they spin reading or trying to save to the discs.

Some cold morning very soon you will turn on the pc and the drive will be unresponsive.
Get your most valuable stuff off it now.
Use the pc as little as possible till you get your stuff off it.
Its very important that you access the drive as little as possible EXCEPT for getting your files copied off it.

link8r

Is the sound just the HDD being given too much work to do -v- an actual H/W failure.

In the "olden" days when 40MB (MG not GB) was enourmous, hard disks would fail like Milk goes off. We used to talk about MTBF (meantime between failure) - which was watching the rate at which problems occurred on a disk as an indicator of when it would fail.

However, it's very rare to see disk fail these days - I'd love to know how often it happens! I mean a real fail -v- OS caused.

Backup your files onto a USB HD - they are so cheap, portable and easy to use. If you want to, try to see if it's a soft issue. My top favourites would be (and this will troubleshoot a lot of "slow" windows issues)

1. Run a full diskcheck (would require a restart)
2. Remove your browsers (or suspected faulty software)
3. Run a disk clean - remove everything you can
4. (this is a good one) - delete your Paging Memory (Virtual Memor) - Windows stores RAM data on your hd. This needs to be deleted if it's corrupt, split etc. You just need to go to System icon (Control Panel or Right click "My Computer") - Adanced - Performance - Virtual Memory. Set to 0, reboot (see point 6):p
5. Do a defrag - Defrag can't defrag your swapping file (the "virtual" in virtual memory)
6. Put your VMem back on - Windows suggested or whatever it was, note this before changing :eek:
7. re-install service pack you're on or latest
8. install your browsers

(steps 1-8 could take a few hours )

Still happening?

Biggins

Sadly, yes they do still fail.
There is a number of reasons, spikes, environmental, physical knocks, etc.

I get calls to repair such situations at least once every month or two.
Most times they are non-repairable unless your willing to spend hundreds (to have the drive taken away, opened up, have the actual inner cylinders transferred to another special drive).
Once you hear that clear constant fast sharp clicking, think of it as a timer running down in regard to your ability to use the drive.

Defragging by the way will use/spin the drive constant, while adding to the wear and tear of an already possible damaged drive.
Get your stuff backed up first before you do any tests, PLEASE!

Hogzy

Ok i think im just gonna stop holding off and buy a new HDD. an you tell me if how to actually copy all the files over once i have the new HDD installed (which i will probably do myself) is as simple as dragging into the new file in my computer or what? im currently in the process of copying VIP files to my USB drive however its not large enough as its nearly at capacity and its only 320GB

PS the sound only comes from the drive under heavy usage...

Biggins

If the clicking is constant, clear and sharp, not the once normal sound you used to hear from your drive, the chance is more than not, that it is indeed starting to fail.

As for copying everything off it and putting it all onto aother drive, I'd recommend Acronis software (there are others but personally I trust theirs the most).
See here: http://www.acronis.com/

To use it, the steps are very clear to follow and understand.

Good luck.

Hogzy

Biggins wrote: »

If the clicking is constant, clear and sharp, not the once normal sound you used to hear from your drive, the chance is more than not, that it is indeed starting to fail.

As for copying everything off it and putting it all onto aother drive, I'd recommend Acronis software (there are others but personally I trust theirs the most).
See here: http://www.acronis.com/

To use it, the steps are very clear to follow and understand.

Good luck.

Cheers for the help Biggins you seem to know what your talking about. Im gonna save this thread and might be PM-ing you for help when installing it lol


THANKS ALL!!!!!

yoyo

Seagate provide utilities from their website which you can boot off and run low level diagnostics on the drive, a easy bootable solution with these included is Ultimate Boot CD. It will give you a accurate result that the drive is failing mostly, important files, try to back up asap, I do know Seagates do tend to be a little noisey, but if its only started, RMA time! (Afaik seagate give a 3 year warrenty on hard drives)

Nick

redox

Probably our HDD has reverted to the slower PIO mode instead of the default, faster, DMA mode. You can check this by right clicking on IDE channels under IDE controllers in the Device Manager section of Control Panel. If the drive is in PIO mode, it's indicative of a failing drive, and you should get your data off the drive ASAP.

Bob the Builder

Hogzy wrote: »

Cheers for the help Biggins you seem to know what your talking about. Im gonna save this thread and might be PM-ing you for help when installing it lol

biggins, and MC have provided some invaluable information/advice here.
Even if your drive wasn't failing, you should always back up your information.

and @link8r, yes they still happen often. We get them regularly coming into our shop, and the longer the crackling sound goes on for before it breaks, the more impossible it is to get the info off one, onto another.