Major scare today (HDD Failure)

2009-01-16 06:56:43

#1

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6914

I started up my computer this morning (well actually afternoon, but I'd just woken up, so it was morning in my eyes ) and started up the shitty old computer that I have at my house since my computer is at uni, bummed around on the net for 20 minutes and went to have a shower. When I came back, I woke the screen up and the desktop came into view, then suddenly the screen went black. The computer restarted and when it tried to boot up the drive, it said something about boot disk failure. Needless to say I 'd some more, because I had lots of important uni shit on there. So I took everything apart, and put all the cables back and fortunately it started up again. So now I'm copying all my shit off there.

Which brings me round to my question. The drive in there (WD) isn't very old, maybe 3 years at most, it shouldn't really be dying so soon, should it? That, and the fact that it worked when I re-plugged all the cables suggests to me it might be the cables, but I'm scared it was a fluke that it started up when it did and in fact the drive may die at any point. Is there any way of testing whether the drive is on the way out?

2009-01-16 06:59:46

#2

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6418|what

What is the drives capacity and how much have you used?

Do you defrag regularly, keep good disc maintenance etc?

2009-01-16 07:00:46

#3

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6914

Drive is 80 gigs, I haven't defragged it in a month or so, but other than that I do it quite a bit, just because the computer's so fucking slow.

2009-01-16 07:04:17

#4

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6418|what

Well this might sound silly but had a cable been loose, something as simple as cold temps might have made the metal contract just enough to unplug something.

Make sure once you've moved everything off, either to another disc or through online storage run all your scan discs and defrag and if any errors are picked up or bad sectors that you don't like the look of, a reformat might be a good idea.

2009-01-16 07:25:32

#5

Benzin: Member; +576|6263

Western Digital SHOULD have a diagnostic program on their website that you can download. I know Seagate has one (I just used it a few weeks ago), so you should be able to get that and that should tell you if there are failures anywhere on the disc itself.

2009-01-16 08:24:51

#6

JoshP: Banned; +176|5954|Notts, UK

CapnNismo wrote:
Western Digital SHOULD have a diagnostic program on their website that you can download. I know Seagate has one (I just used it a few weeks ago), so you should be able to get that and that should tell you if there are failures anywhere on the disc itself.

seconded

2009-01-16 09:00:46

#7

signa: ~~~~~; +50|6993|Michigan, USA

also try HDTune. It can give you some info on health status. they have a free version.

http://www.hdtune.com/

2009-01-16 13:06:57

#8

Aries_37: arrivederci frog; +368|6840|London

Buy a new HD anyway..they're cheap and 80gb is not that much by today's standards. You can then use the 80gb drive as extra storage (games installs, easily replaceable stuff etc.) and if it has a fault it can die in peace.

2009-01-16 13:14:48

#9

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|6053|Catherine Black

Aries_37 wrote:
Buy a new HD anyway..they're cheap and 80gb is not that much by today's standards. You can then use the 80gb drive as extra storage (games installs, easily replaceable stuff etc.) and if it has a fault it can die in peace.

500GB for £40. It's crazy.

Just wish I had £40. I'm running outta space on my 80GB IDE.

2009-01-16 13:15:14

#10

kylef: Gone; +1,352|6758|N. Ireland

After about 2 months when I bought my *brand new* WD 250GB it failed on me, SMART detected it thankfully. Their returns are good - send it in and they'll send you a few one / fix it for free assuming it is in warranty.

2009-01-16 13:19:01

#11

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6718|The Twilight Zone

Finray wrote:
Aries_37 wrote:
Buy a new HD anyway..they're cheap and 80gb is not that much by today's standards. You can then use the 80gb drive as extra storage (games installs, easily replaceable stuff etc.) and if it has a fault it can die in peace.
500GB for £40. It's crazy.

Just wish I had £40. I'm running outta space on my 80GB IDE.

I'm running out of space on my 500GB. But yeah HDDs are so cheap nowadays

https://www.shrani.si/f/3H/7h/45GTw71U/untitled-1.png

2009-01-16 13:21:56

#12

JoshP: Banned; +176|5954|Notts, UK

Finray wrote:
Aries_37 wrote:
Buy a new HD anyway..they're cheap and 80gb is not that much by today's standards. You can then use the 80gb drive as extra storage (games installs, easily replaceable stuff etc.) and if it has a fault it can die in peace.
500GB for £40. It's crazy.

Just wish I had £40. I'm running outta space on my 80GB IDE.

DON'T GET A MAXTOR

if it's that price, i'm guessing it's a maxtor

DON'T GET ONE

they die lots

WD/Samsung all the way

2009-01-16 13:29:28

#13

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6718|The Twilight Zone

JoshP wrote:
Finray wrote:
Aries_37 wrote:
Buy a new HD anyway..they're cheap and 80gb is not that much by today's standards. You can then use the 80gb drive as extra storage (games installs, easily replaceable stuff etc.) and if it has a fault it can die in peace.
500GB for £40. It's crazy.

Just wish I had £40. I'm running outta space on my 80GB IDE.
DON'T GET A MAXTOR

if it's that price, i'm guessing it's a maxtor

DON'T GET ONE

they die lots

WD/Samsung all the way

Yeah, listen to Josh. mine died too

2009-01-16 14:02:01

#14

FatherTed: xD; +3,936|6765|so randum

JoshP wrote:
Finray wrote:
Aries_37 wrote:
Buy a new HD anyway..they're cheap and 80gb is not that much by today's standards. You can then use the 80gb drive as extra storage (games installs, easily replaceable stuff etc.) and if it has a fault it can die in peace.
500GB for £40. It's crazy.

Just wish I had £40. I'm running outta space on my 80GB IDE.
DON'T GET A MAXTOR

if it's that price, i'm guessing it's a maxtor

DON'T GET ONE

they die lots

WD/Samsung all the way

I've had a maxtor for about 5 years

Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella

2009-01-16 14:34:38

#15

JoshP: Banned; +176|5954|Notts, UK

FatherTed wrote:
I've had a maxtor for about 5 years

then you're luckier than me

2009-01-17 05:40:19

#16

JoshP: Banned; +176|5954|Notts, UK

jamiet757 wrote:
jamiet757 wrote:
When it says boot device failure or whatever, that does not mean your hard drive is failing, just the BIOS failed to see it correctly, (possibly caused by the cable coming loose, and more evidence to support this claim is that when you hooked it back up it worked) So don't be convinced your hard drive is failing. Back up your important data, and if it does it again, get a new one via WD warranty.

If you don't read anything else in this post READ THIS:
Boot device failure does not mean your hard drive is failing. Don't waste your money buying a new one for no reason.
I will say what I said again since everyone in this thread is still saying buy a new drive.

/agree

buying a new HDD is stupid, just make sure the contents are backed up regularly

2009-01-17 07:12:28

#17

Slarty: Member; +37|6229|Ingerland

3 years? We had a h/d fail in 4 days at work

2009-01-17 07:15:04

#18

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|6053|Catherine Black

JoshP wrote:
FatherTed wrote:
I've had a maxtor for about 5 years
then you're luckier than me

The only HDDs I've ever had are Maxtors. Their IDE ones are pretty solid anyway. Can take impacts of up to 300G and still be in warrenty. xD

2009-01-17 07:57:09

#19

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|6846|SE London

Finray wrote:
JoshP wrote:
FatherTed wrote:
I've had a maxtor for about 5 years
then you're luckier than me
The only HDDs I've ever had are Maxtors. Their IDE ones are pretty solid anyway. Can take impacts of up to 300G and still be in warrenty. xD

Maxtor make the worst drives around. There was a period a while back when they were good for performance - but they haven't had decent reliability - ever.

jamiet757 wrote:
When it says boot device failure or whatever, that does not mean your hard drive is failing, just the BIOS failed to see it correctly, (possibly caused by the cable coming loose, and more evidence to support this claim is that when you hooked it back up it worked) So don't be convinced your hard drive is failing. Back up your important data, and if it does it again, get a new one via WD warranty.

If you don't read anything else in this post READ THIS:
Boot device failure does not mean your hard drive is failing. Don't waste your money buying a new one for no reason.

That is not how to run a system. At all. Completely the wrong attitude. If anything bad happens to your hard drive, at all, ever - buy a new one. Never rely on a drive that has had any sort of issue in the past. Continue to use the drive for non-critical storage, so it isn't getting raped for VM usage the whole time - then it'll last ages more even if it's on its last legs. If it is just a case of the cable being loose, then it might well be fine - but it might not. I had the exact same thing happen on one of my drives last week (wasn't recognised for a week, then I fiddled with the SATA leads a bit and it was recognised and worked fine) and I'm not using the drive for anything critical or demanding now, just for films and episodes of stuff I already have on DVD or don't really care about.

If many sysadmins followed silly advice like that then things like the Internet wouldn't work (if you took that sort of approach working for an insurance company (who seem the most touchy about their data) they'd probably quietly take you outside and shoot you).

Aries_37 wrote:
Buy a new HD anyway..they're cheap and 80gb is not that much by today's standards. You can then use the 80gb drive as extra storage (games installs, easily replaceable stuff etc.) and if it has a fault it can die in peace.

That is the right attitude. They're cheap. The aggrievation it would cause if it failed would be worse than the financial outlay - and you would get loads of extra capacity and therefore loads of extra speed.

Having oversized hard drives is one of the best ways of cheaply speeding a system up.

Last edited by Bertster7 (2009-01-17 08:00:25)

2009-01-17 08:07:17

#20

FatherTed: xD; +3,936|6765|so randum

are seagate barracudas any good?

Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella

2009-01-17 08:17:21

#21

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|6846|SE London

FatherTed wrote:
are seagate barracudas any good?

They're ok.

Samsung or WD for reliability in my experience though. Seagate tend to fall sort of in the middle. With Hitachi and Maxtor being less reliable.

2009-01-17 08:19:19

#22

FatherTed: xD; +3,936|6765|so randum

Bertster7 wrote:
FatherTed wrote:
are seagate barracudas any good?
They're ok.

Samsung or WD for reliability in my experience though. Seagate tend to fall sort of in the middle. With Hitachi and Maxtor being less reliable.

Oh ok. Ive got a maxtor something or other and this barracuda, smart shows em being ok (90%) so im happy

Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella

BF2S Forums Major scare today (HDD Failure)

CapnNismo wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

Finray wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

Finray wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

JoshP wrote:

Finray wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

JoshP wrote:

Finray wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

FatherTed wrote:

jamiet757 wrote:

jamiet757 wrote:

JoshP wrote:

FatherTed wrote:

Finray wrote:

JoshP wrote:

FatherTed wrote:

jamiet757 wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

FatherTed wrote:

Bertster7 wrote:

FatherTed wrote:

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