Hard drive failing, I think... What's the cause?

G

GenBanks

Gawd
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
634
I've started having problems with my Samsung Spinpoint F1 1tb hard drive. I haven't had it for long, and it's replacing a different hard drive that also started having problems (another Samsung, 500gb). I'm worried that there is something else causing my hard drive problems.

When I start up Windows and reach desktop, the computer is unresponsive for longer than usual. Desktop icons are blank and it takes ages for all of the icons to load up (and I hear the 'seek' grinding noise as they load up. Once they have, the computer becomes responsive again and I can carry on.

Another problem is that when I'm in a browser, or when I do anything in Windows, I get momentary freezes fairly regularly which get very annoying. So for example I might be typing something and suddenly everything stops moving on the screen for a second, and when it resumes the text I was typing appears all at once. This happens with youtube clips and such as well.

In games, I don't have many problems but in TF2 I will get a looping sound freeze for a few seconds after a new map has loaded. Also, at the beginning of Brothers in Arms Hells Highway level I sometimes get brief freezes. If I pause the game and resume a few minutes later the freezes stop and I can play the rest of the level.


I've just checked event viewer and I have hundreds of entries which say:
A parity error was detected on \Device\RaidPort1. Source nvstor64
(Maybe I've done something stupid and plugged my drive into a Raid port without intending to setup raid?)

However, I've also done an HD Tune Error Scan and although it's only 140GB into the scan as I type, it's already found 2 red (damaged) blocks.

http://i323.photobucket.com/albums/nn472/GenBanks/prntscrnHDDerrors.jpg



Other than troubleshooting what's wrong with that drive, I was wondering whether there is something inherent in my system that is causing the lifespan of my hard drives to deteriorate. I've got a coolermaster Cosmos case with its little hard drive compartment and I can't imagine why I would burn through two hard drives in less than a year :(

So what's the final verdict on the 1tb samsung?

*EDIT*

I should add that I'm using nforce driver version 15.17
 
Ok all those tests completed... Can anyone tell me what I can conclude based on these results?

HDTune_Benchmark_SAMSUNG_HD103UJ.png


HDTune_Error_Scan_SAMSUNG_HD103UJ.png


HDTune_Info_SAMSUNG_HD103UJ.png
 
I am thinking since you have two drives that it's most likley a driver issue with the controller that you are using.

The bad sectors IMO i think is just a coincidence.
 
I've installed SpeedFan but when I go to the S.M.A.R.T. tab no hard disks appear in the drop down list, even after I click refresh...
 
Ok, good news... I uninstalled all nforce drivers, ran DriverSweeper in safe mode, then installed newer nforce drivers.

My computer is now deliciously responsive =D

So the problem was caused by nforce driver version 15.17 and driver version 15.23 has solved it. From what I've read on other forums it's an issue caused by Vista 64, nforce 15.17 and hard drives of 750gb+ in size. Hopefully this will save someone else from prematurely RMAing their drives :)
 
I have found that most 1 or 2 rating at the Egg for bad large hard drives involves a non-current Nvidia chip set driver, a Mac, or a Drobo brand product. I know several other people, like me, that use Intel chip sets of P35 or up and none of us have had any problems with the larger drives in the last 2 years…….yet.
 
I think I am having the same problem.

WD 150 GB Raptor
ASUS P5 (Cant remember exact model)
nVidia 8800 GTS
Windows Vista 64.
Q6600 Processor

At first I though it was my HD too, however Control Panel > System said I had new hardware, and it asked me to update it. When it finished it my Windows Experience Ratting went from 4.9 to 1.0, and the Graphics card was the offender. I am just updating the driver now. If it works I wont repost.
 
That can't be true. I mean, if you go to the video card forums, you seem to be a moron if you use driver cleaner because there is never any issues when upgrading drivers.
 
GenBanks said:
Ok, good news... I uninstalled all nforce drivers, ran DriverSweeper in safe mode, then installed newer nforce drivers.

My computer is now deliciously responsive =D

So the problem was caused by nforce driver version 15.17 and driver version 15.23 has solved it. From what I've read on other forums it's an issue caused by Vista 64, nforce 15.17 and hard drives of 750gb+ in size. Hopefully this will save someone else from prematurely RMAing their drives :)
Click to expand...
I'm having issues with my system as well. All of a sudden I've been getting intermittent lockups at the desktop, usually after I or the system has performed some operation on my 750GB WD drive or 1.5TB Seagate drive. I'm running Windows 7 and at the time was using ITB drivers. I updated the SATA drivers to the latest WHQL and it was running OK for about a day and then the lockups came back. I'm going to try new cables since I didn't have nforce drivers installed when the errors started appearing. Chkdsk didn't report any issues either.
 
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