Dying Hard Disk

TMX · 02-21-2007, 11:33 PM

One of my drives (SATA II, 250GB, 7200RPM) sounds like it is on the verge of becoming a £75 doorstop.

For roughly six months it's been making the odd noise, where the drive sort of stalls, (clicks, spins itself down, then spins itself back up), doing this every 6-12 hours of use or so.

This week, it's stepped up it's erratic-ness a notch, by completely spazzing out twice in 2 days. Completely froze the system as it was spinning up, then down, then up, then down...
Did this until it was powered off (by the plug, was frozen so it wouldn't respond to being asked nicely).

I've already ordered a replacement drive, as I'd rather lose a month of beer money than risk losing all my stuff, but was just interested if anyone had any thoughts about cause/alternative solutions.

I don't think it's the cable, it's not twisted or showing outward signs of damage, I've also swapped it onto the other drive controller on the motherboard (got an NVida and a separate silicon image SATA chip), and it's happened while connected to both, so it can't be the drive controller.

It's a power-hungry system, but it's on a power line by itself, and other more sensitive devices aren't showing any signs of low power. The BIOS readout shows that all pin voltages on the motherboard are OK, plus or minus 0.1 volts, so I don't think it's a power issue.

Checkdisk doesn't turn up any problems with the drive, and Windows thinks that the drive is otherwise healthy, as does the SATA chip. I ran a SMART utility, and all the values it found were listed as "OK"

I also have an identical drive in the system, which is not displaying the same problem.

Finally (for when the drive comes) can anyone recommend any good disk imaging software? Has to be able to cope with files that are in use, protected system files, and not cry because the two drives are different (and obviously, support Windows Vista/NTFS V3.1).

OS is Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit.

dai · 02-22-2007, 01:59 AM

try a new cable first is the cheapest option
d/load the makers diognostic utility and run it on the h/drive
the amps on the lines the psu puts out is the most important,the volts can be okay but if there is not enough amps you have problems

**linderman** · 02-22-2007, 07:38 PM

check to see if xxclone.com has vista support

02-21-2007, 11:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
TMX Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 6 OS: XP Pro/Suse 9.2 Pro	Dying Hard Disk One of my drives (SATA II, 250GB, 7200RPM) sounds like it is on the verge of becoming a £75 doorstop. For roughly six months it's been making the odd noise, where the drive sort of stalls, (clicks, spins itself down, then spins itself back up), doing this every 6-12 hours of use or so. This week, it's stepped up it's erratic-ness a notch, by completely spazzing out twice in 2 days. Completely froze the system as it was spinning up, then down, then up, then down... Did this until it was powered off (by the plug, was frozen so it wouldn't respond to being asked nicely). I've already ordered a replacement drive, as I'd rather lose a month of beer money than risk losing all my stuff, but was just interested if anyone had any thoughts about cause/alternative solutions. I don't think it's the cable, it's not twisted or showing outward signs of damage, I've also swapped it onto the other drive controller on the motherboard (got an NVida and a separate silicon image SATA chip), and it's happened while connected to both, so it can't be the drive controller. It's a power-hungry system, but it's on a power line by itself, and other more sensitive devices aren't showing any signs of low power. The BIOS readout shows that all pin voltages on the motherboard are OK, plus or minus 0.1 volts, so I don't think it's a power issue. Checkdisk doesn't turn up any problems with the drive, and Windows thinks that the drive is otherwise healthy, as does the SATA chip. I ran a SMART utility, and all the values it found were listed as "OK" I also have an identical drive in the system, which is not displaying the same problem. Finally (for when the drive comes) can anyone recommend any good disk imaging software? Has to be able to cope with files that are in use, protected system files, and not cry because the two drives are different (and obviously, support Windows Vista/NTFS V3.1). OS is Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit.

02-22-2007, 01:59 AM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,494 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	try a new cable first is the cheapest option d/load the makers diognostic utility and run it on the h/drive the amps on the lines the psu puts out is the most important,the volts can be okay but if there is not enough amps you have problems __________________

02-22-2007, 07:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,429 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	check to see if xxclone.com has vista support __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial