Computer Hope

Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: Tranc3r on August 05, 2009, 10:56:51 PM

Title: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: Tranc3r on August 05, 2009, 10:56:51 PM: Hey guys, some of you may know that my computer is really old (9-8 years old) and I have been using the same HDD throughout the 9-8 years. Just curious, are their any symptoms I can detect from my HDD which indicates that my HDD will soon end up --> ****OFFLINE**** forever? :-[ :-[

I have backed up all the important stuff I need like a week ago.
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: 2x3i5x on August 05, 2009, 11:37:12 PM: go to command prompt/ms dos/cmd (whatever you call that thing depending on what version of windows you got) and do the chkdsk/r command on the hard drive to see if it's still ok.

Also, check out the intformation on this link (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/397733/3_major_hard_drive_failure_symptoms.html). Though it's from 2007, it still is applicable today.
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: camerongray on August 06, 2009, 06:48:38 PM: Also listen for clicks and rattles.
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: Karnac on August 06, 2009, 07:40:36 PM: http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: 2x3i5x on August 06, 2009, 11:07:07 PM: another thing, if you're trying to copy data out of a dying hard drive, it might just attempt to make a copy of a file, which may have same file size as original file but contain absolute junk. This happened to an old drive on one of my older computers I used to have.
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: Tranc3r on August 07, 2009, 01:03:52 AM: Quote from: 2x3i5x on August 05, 2009, 11:37:12 PM
go to command prompt/ms dos/cmd (whatever you call that thing depending on what version of windows you got) and do the chkdsk/r command on the hard drive to see if it's still ok.

Also, check out the intformation on this link (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/397733/3_major_hard_drive_failure_symptoms.html). Though it's from 2007, it still is applicable today.

"the volume is clean" <--- :-]

Also, should I do a Seagate analysis [the long analysis]?
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: patio on August 07, 2009, 05:33:12 AM: Yep.

You can also enable SMART in the BIOS if the system supports it....this will warn of a pending drive failure...most times.
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: Tranc3r on August 07, 2009, 08:13:51 AM: Quote from: patio on August 07, 2009, 05:33:12 AM
You can also enable SMART in the BIOS if the system supports it....this will warn of a pending drive failure...most times.

How do I do that?
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: patio on August 07, 2009, 08:23:48 AM: It's different on all machines...have you been in the BIOS before ? ?
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: Tranc3r on August 07, 2009, 06:05:19 PM: I'll be doing a long seagate examination soon!
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: Tranc3r on August 09, 2009, 02:30:42 PM: Results:

Short DST ---> Passed
Long DST ---> Passed
Short Generic Test ---> Passed
Long Generic Test ---> Passed

Any other tests??
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: patio on August 09, 2009, 02:44:08 PM: Nope.
Your good.
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: Tranc3r on September 26, 2009, 01:02:08 PM: Quote from: patio on August 09, 2009, 02:44:08 PM
Nope.
Your good.

However, I just found out, my HDD is 65 degrees Celsius. I guess it's been that hot for over 8 years. I opened up my case while it was running to see if it was actually that hot, and man, IT WAS HOT.
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: sierobin on September 26, 2009, 02:05:34 PM: Quote from: camerongray on August 06, 2009, 06:48:38 PM
Also listen for clicks and rattles.

This is what I was going to say lol.
Title: Re: Symptoms of a Hard Drive dying
Post by: Computer_Commando on September 26, 2009, 02:27:53 PM: Quote from: Tranc3r on September 26, 2009, 01:02:08 PM
However, I just found out, my HDD is 65 degrees Celsius. I guess it's been that hot for over 8 years. I opened up my case while it was running to see if it was actually that hot, and man, IT WAS HOT.
That's normal when running the tests and some HD's just run hot all the time, especially older ones.