Hard Drive Urgent Problem

[coolkishan]

I have a serious problem with my hard drive which i need fixed asap as i have alot of gcse coursework to do. My problem is as follows: (please read all)

I defragmented my hard drive (my cousin was copying files on my pc to his on his pc over a network)

then i turned off my pc. Later on i turned it on and when the windows screen came with the scrolling bar it just kept doing that.

Also the green light on my case was solid green, so i thought there was a problem.

Then i turned off my pc and turned it back on.

The same thing happend.

So i inserted the windows xp restore cd and pressed recovery console.

It came up with a cmd screen. So i rewrote the boot sector and tried restarting again.

It still didnt work. So i tried reformatting my hard drive as a last resort. I left it on for an

hour and it was still at 0% and the green hdd busy light was solid. So now i am out of

ideas.

Is my hard drive totally broken?? Do i need a new one??


It is a sata drive and is a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 200gb SATA 8mb Cache

So anyone got any ideas??

Thanks in advance,

Kishan

 

[Lord Blackdrgaon]

I never ran into this problem before but do this opden you case and see if there is a down spin or small clicking noises of the HDD.

 

[coolkishan]

Nope. It sounds perfectly normal. Doesnt even sound as though its spinning fast. Any other ideas?

 

[Lord Blackdrgaon]

do a chkdsk /r /p

 

[Frank DC]

Check your drive cables. Hopefully the problem is something minor like a loose connection.

 

[coolkishan]

THanks for your quick replys!!

i tried chkdsk and it just freezes. and checked all connections twice.

Any other ideas?? or is that hd dead so i need a new 1??

 

[OldMX]

Since you already formatted the disk, why dont you run a zero fill with DBAN and nuke all the disk garbage, then repartition and reformat and i bet the disk will work again as usual

oldmx

 

[coolkishan]

i have not reformatted. I deleted all from the drive via windows restore. Then i 'tried' to formatt the drive but it never went over 0%. So wat should i do??!?! New hardrive?!?!?

 

[darknite]

were you defragging while copying files? or you just put that there for more info.
how long did you let checkdisk run. Sometimes it will sit at a spot for a while and then move on.

If nothing is important on tehre, run a diag, and reformat. Best and easiest fix IMO

Just saw your other post, "Run a diag first thing." Then do zero fill like stated above, then try to do clean install of xp. New HDD is last resort.

 

[coolkishan]

Yes he was copying files at the same time as i was defragging. Checkdisc ran for at least half hour with it still on 0%. I cannot reformat. It doesnt work. just stays at 0%. Any ideas?? New hd??

 

[darknite]

shouldnt have been copying while defraggin.

Dont get a hdd yet.....First thing is run a diag. If it passes, Then do a zero fill, then reinstall windows (clean install)

 

[coolkishan]

a diag?? explain more please

 

[darknite]

Since you already formatted the disk, why dont you run a zero fill with DBAN and nuke all the disk garbage, then repartition and reformat and i bet the disk will work again as usual

oldmx

I have never used this program, but if the diag passes give it a try. Its not the same as formatting, It basically writes zeros to every spot on the drive. That way windows will see a completly blank drive and hopefully format past teh 0% your stuck at. If you have a big drive and dont want to wait just do the first 5-10% of the drive and you should be good.

 

[darknite]

a diag?? explain more please

Diagnostic.

Go to the manufacturuer website and get there diagnostic. Western Digital is pretty good. and seagate is alright. I use a program called ontrack. But you cant just download that.

I have seen ontrack pick up bad drives that have passed other diags.

 

[coolkishan]

Well ive just visited maxtor.com and found there diagnostic utility thanks to all of you now im going to try it out and i will put results on asap.. SO be prepared

Kishan

 

[darknite]

well now that you mention its a maxtor...it a bad hdd....

good luck hopefully it passes and you get all fixed up

 

[coolkishan]

Well i have ran there diagnostic and it says its failed and given me this diagnostic code

"deafac79"

They told me to tell them on there site. BUt anyone know wat it mean??? wat i should do??

 

[coolkishan]

..... More news.... i need to RMA it but im not under warranty anymore.

So that means a new hard drive for me. Any ideas???
I want a good performance one. Not bothered bout noise but one that doesnt need extra cooling. Also 200gb
So anyone know of any good ones??

 

[Lord Blackdrgaon]

RMA your hard drive if it's still under warrenty

 

[darknite]

Personally im a Western Digital guy and always will be, i own8 of there drives and love em.
Ive sold numerous Wd's with only 4 being bad within the past 18 months. and 2 fo those were doa. So off to dinner, good luck.

 

[coolkishan]

Thanks for all your help.

I have to ask if i should get 16mb cache or 8mb cache.. is there a big difference??

 

[unhappy_mage]

Not a huge difference, but not a huge price difference, either. If you're trying to make this last as long as possible, and keep it playable for that time, 16mb is probably for you, but if you're just going to be upgrading in a year anyways it's just as well to go with 8mb.

 

[darknite]

Not a huge difference, but not a huge price difference, either. If you're trying to make this last as long as possible, and keep it playable for that time, 16mb is probably for you, but if you're just going to be upgrading in a year anyways it's just as well to go with 8mb.

Pretty much what he said, its better for gaming, but if your tight on money, 8 meg is fine.

I dont have any 16meg ones so i cant really say how much better they are besides reviews ive read. Just make sure you get a 3 or 5 year warranty drive

I would do 16 meg, just because its there. And a little better performance.