HD problem

by Spirea • 6 Dec 2008, 12:16 • Journals
Yesterday my HD(the one where I got XP) was acting weird. Windows almost started, but then it always gave a bluescreen and restarted. Also Safe mode didn't help a thing. A bit later my PC couldn't even see the OS anymore. Then I tried formatting. I managed to start emptying the disk but soon after my PC couldn't even see the HD anymore and the operation got aborted.

Now I attached the HD to another PC. It's in 2 partitions and the one that had XP, seems empty now (expected and fine for me) and I managed to save some important stuff (like my ET cfg lal!) from the other partition. So this other PC is still seeing the HD, but it works extremely slowly. Also I made error checking operation and atm I'm doing defragmenting..

But what do u guys think, is there any way to save the disk? Can I run some programs to help it or just try formatting the whole HD? Or should I just throw it in a trash can and buy another one?
And if I'm to buy another one, should I consider SSD (solid state disk) or just a normal one?
This is a 10k RPM WD disk so I wouldn't be too happy to toss it away anyway :(

image: 260_saddestpanda
Comments
49
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spiROZE 6 Dec 2008, 12:17
go to a pc shop!!
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INSTi 6 Dec 2008, 12:22
sounds like it's dying :-(
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schNee 6 Dec 2008, 12:24
at least it worked for me
http://www.recoverdatatools.com/
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 12:31
oki thx for the tip :)
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OfficerCohen 6 Dec 2008, 12:37
you are not gonna use it but you just play nice :XD
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 12:39
I'll try it if bulldog's tip doesn't work :p
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Bulld0g 6 Dec 2008, 12:26
sounds like the allocation tables been lost or corrupted, the manufacturer should have it's own software free to check the disk for errors and see if its dying.

Try HDD Health from here its a decent program. http://www.panterasoft.com/download.html

There are plenty recovery programs around like "Recover my Files" and "Ontrak Data recovery"
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OfficerCohen 6 Dec 2008, 12:32
from where you learn all those stuff D:
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 12:32
sounds good, I'll try this if it ever finishes the sluggish defragmentation :/
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Bulld0g 6 Dec 2008, 12:35
yeah its a tiny program and has red amber green to notify just how i like it simple :) and Cohen i am 6 years as an IT engineer but still can be wrong :D
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OfficerCohen 6 Dec 2008, 12:36
:XD
i wanted to do a course at microsoft as A+ if you know what it is D:
problem is that it cost 2500euro xd

well who am i kidding, its pocket money :XD
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Bulld0g 6 Dec 2008, 12:43
Its a good course, work paid for it for me. I have some crappy ITIL course to do in January then Cisco CCNA in Feb it is worse than school :D:D:D not that i can remember that far back.
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OfficerCohen 6 Dec 2008, 12:44
can you teach me how to build a new pc? :D
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 13:31
I started the HDD Health, and it's loading a long time, and finally it crashed my PC I guess... now I rebooted, and HDD Health opened again (I didn't do anything) and now it seems to crash it again :D

Maybe the HD is such badly damaged that the HDD health can't do anything (although it's trying), or what do u think ?

Edit*
Now it started the program. My mouse is stuck, so it's working very slowly :p. It got the "broken" HD open and it claims that it's 100% healthy (Drive health: Excellent). But I can't do a lot since the mouse is stuck..
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Bulld0g 6 Dec 2008, 13:41
woah, that doesn't sound to good, see if the manufacturer has a disk that can be run from boot rather than windows.
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 13:43
okay, gonna try that next :)
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 19:13
I ran it, and it failed all the tests, so guess I'll go for the warranty (appeared to be 5 years) then :p

thx for the help :)
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Bulld0g 7 Dec 2008, 05:13
hey thats good :) gl
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fred 6 Dec 2008, 12:53
for god sakes check if you still have warranty left. you can do it on WDs homepage. it is at least 2 year warranty on WD disks. nowadays its 5 years. I just sent in one of my 250GB disks too them and will get a new one as replacement.
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 13:27
this is relatively old HD (about 3yrs I guess) I took this from my old PC, when I reconfigured my systems, so prolly no more under warranty :(
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fred 6 Dec 2008, 14:02
well it takes about 3 sec too check. I didnt think I had warranty either but better to be safe than sorry
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Trevize 6 Dec 2008, 13:07
if slow - its damaged
if just cant see it after formating, its coz u deleted also the SATA driver...
thats why the other PC see it and urs not.

ssd is still fucking expensive...

and u just go to any PC shop and ask for datasaving, they will do it for high prizes...
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 13:30
It's very slow. I managed to save all the important stuff (id est my ET cfg and pb folder to keep my guid!) and copying those took like 10mins, so tells something about the speed..
And therefore need no datasaving either (I just need a working HD now :p)

When it comes to PC stuff, I don't usually care that much about prices, actually I meant to ask if SSD's are better than normal disks regardless the price :) ?
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Trevize 6 Dec 2008, 13:33
yeah, its much better, i would instantly buy those if i have money... i m always worried about losing my 140 gb music, with an SSD i would not have to.
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 13:36
is it just more reliable or also faster?
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eVo 6 Dec 2008, 13:38
faster and more reliable but extremely expensive still, i know cause i just lost all my data on an external hard drive, family photos for the last 6 years :(
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 13:41
ok, well I don't need that big a drive anyway. Let's say 20Gb would satisfy my needs. Do they work on sata2 or do I need a sata3 mobo?
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eVo 6 Dec 2008, 15:05
they work fine
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Trevize 6 Dec 2008, 13:38
i m not sure about speed, havent checked the new ones, but yeah, surely reliable.
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 14:51
btw, I just realized the 2.5" ones are a lot cheaper than the 3.5"ers, so does it matter anything if I buy a 2.5"er? Are they slower or is it only a matter of attaching it to the case?
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Trevize 6 Dec 2008, 14:57
euhm in my opinion 2,5" should be more expensive than 3,5" ones... where did you find it?
2,5" HDDs are usually for notebooks or outside HDDs... I m unsure of speed, but its must be there at their description. (i think 2,5" are a lot slower, but its just a guess)
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eVo 6 Dec 2008, 15:06
they aren't slower just smaller
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 15:13
so I could as well buy a 2,5" then?

btw, for what I checked, the prices vary a lot. Are there some other specs than just the actual size and capacity to look for?
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eVo 6 Dec 2008, 15:17
well typically 2.5" is for laptops so you need to check what connections the drive has, it may not have a typical pc sized sata connector but a laptop sized connector
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Spirea 6 Dec 2008, 15:32
OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5'' SSD 32GB

I can get this for 129e, so I'll try it. At least it says Sata II connector and in the picture it shows 15 pins in power and 7 in data cable, so let's hope it'll work :)
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Trevize 6 Dec 2008, 15:21
yeah, rpm - data tranfer speed
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Ney 9 Dec 2008, 16:46
Did you copy "the" demo :-)?
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Spirea 9 Dec 2008, 17:56
nah, just my cfg and pb folder... it was working so slowly that didn't really think of getting else :p
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eVo 6 Dec 2008, 13:37
it sounds terminal to me however WD should give a 2-3 year warranty on the disk and they have a very simple returns policy, send the disk back and they replace with equal or better standard
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spiROZE 6 Dec 2008, 13:48
and all his data on it?
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fred 6 Dec 2008, 14:03
no but he also asked if he should throw it away....
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spiROZE 6 Dec 2008, 14:04
ow yeah then it's quite good that he'll get a new one :)
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M T M 6 Dec 2008, 13:49
I got a problem too. It's not about HDDs, though.

What may cause that it takes 4minutes to boot Windows :l

In safe mode it takes only 30s to go to the desktop.
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eVo 6 Dec 2008, 15:07
too much crap installed on your machine, uniinstall all the non required software, backup your registry then use a registry checking tool to see where there might be broken links.
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M T M 6 Dec 2008, 15:08
I just formatted. I'm wondering if my mobo is shitty or damaged somehow.
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dempA 7 Jan 2009, 06:14
Make sure the cables are in properly. Are you using the same cables to connect the hard drive in both computers?
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