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Hard drive corruption?

M

morningreis

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
1,574
Hi, lately my boot hard drive has been causing lockups and crashes etc... when I boot into Windows 7 and try to do anything - open a program, folder, start menu, whatever - it will lock up. I was able to fix it with the check disk utility for about a day or two, but it keeps going back to this unstable state. Safe mode is considerably more stable, but far from perfect also. I backed up my data and pictures and stuff already, and im preparing for a reformat/clean install of windows. My question is though if this will fix it or if this is a sign of a hardware failure. The only hardware changes i have had recently is the installation of a 1TB drive. I have not heard any abnormal sounds from my drive. I have had the drive for about a year and a half, so it is still under warranty im just curious if there is a way to know for sure if the drive is bad or not so i can RMA it.

Thanks.
 
Install CrystalDiskInfo and check the SMART data to see if the drive thinks it is bad. If not we can look at other options. Post the picture for us to look at the result.

This could be a bad drive. This could be a virus/malware. This could be a bad overclock. This could be a windows or driver bug.. Some other hardware like your motherboard or power supply may be bad.
 
You might try checking the drive with the manufactures utility as it will mark bad blocks. Simply format/install will not, so these same problems would reoccur if there is a physical problem with the drive and some of it's sectors.
 
Here is what CrystalDiskInfo told me, with the cautioned areas in red. Is this something that can be fixed or do I need to RMA the drive eventually? I'm just preparing to reformat now.

Code: 
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)
Date : 2010/11/09 18:47:19

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
 + Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller [ATA]
   - ATA Channel 0 (0)
   - ATA Channel 1 (1)
 + Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller [ATA]
   + ATA Channel 0 (0)
     - HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22LS30 ATA Device
     - ST3500320AS ATA Device
   + ATA Channel 1 (1)
     - ST31000528AS ATA Device
 + Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller [ATA]
   - ATA Channel 0 (0)
   - ATA Channel 1 (1)

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
 (1) ST3500320AS : 500.1 GB [0-2-0, pd1]
 (2) ST31000528AS : 1000.2 GB [1-3-0, pd1]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (1) ST3500320AS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : ST3500320AS
        Firmware : SD15
   Serial Number : 5QM24RDZ
       Disk Size : 500.1 GB (8.4/137.4/500.1)
     Buffer Size : Unknown
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 976773168
   Rotation Rate : 7200 RPM
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ATA8-ACS
   Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 4
   Transfer Mode : SATA/150
  Power On Hours : 6156 hours
  Power On Count : 882 count
     Temparature : 33 C (91 F)
   Health Status : Caution
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., 48bit LBA, NCQ
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : ----

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 103 _81 __6 000008236819 Read Error Rate
03 _94 _94 __0 000000000000 Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 _20 000000000376 Start/Stop Count
[COLOR="red"][B]05 100 100 _36 00000000007E Reallocated Sectors Count[/B][/COLOR]
07 _66 _60 _30 002607C2CF89 Seek Error Rate
09 _93 _93 __0 00000000180C Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 _97 000000000002 Spin Retry Count
0C 100 _37 _20 000000000372 Power Cycle Count
B8 100 100 _99 000000000000 End-to-End Error
BB __1 __1 __0 000000000BBA Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 _42 __0 00DD00DD00DE Command Timeout
BD 100 100 __0 000000000000 High Fly Writes
BE _67 _53 _45 000021140021 Airflow Temperature
C2 _33 _47 __0 000D00000021 Temperature
C3 _38 _23 __0 000008236819 Hardware ECC recovered
[B][COLOR="Red"]C5 100 100 __0 000000000011 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 __0 000000000011 Uncorrectable Sector Count[/COLOR][/B]
 
I believe your disk has bad sectors on it, usually not a good sign. However Disks always come with additional blocks/ sectors that are not used, so in a fresh format the unusable areas will be marked bad, and the drive will use some of these additional sectors for the new partition. The question to ask is, why did the sectors go bad to begin with?

Since it is a segate drive, I'd probably try to RMA it.
 
Based on those stats, clone it, RMA it, and move on. Don't even waste any more time on it. And that includes the word "But..."

That assumes of course you're not just shamelessly lying about the whole thing.
 
@OP

Before you clone it, try running SpinRite 6.0 over it. It's pretty good at stabilising a dying disk drive. I can personally attest to it.
 
It's not dying, it just has bad sectors. A zero-write should fix all damage. But if you keep getting new pending sectors your drive should be RMA'ed.
 
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