Its dying fast... what to do?

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siegecraft4

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 16, 2003
Messages
324
drivefail.jpg




This is the primary and only hd on my sister's computer. Since its failing SMART I don't expect it to last long. What does that particular failure mean? How long should the drive last? It seems to hesitate to spinup when I boot, and when it finally does about 5 seconds later there is a single loud click.

Is it safer to leave the computer off or leave it running for this particular failure? Should I start backing up right away or is it reasonable to wait a day or two for the replacement to arrive and then simply copy?

I suspect that my sister may be at fault, since she kicks her case and uses it as a footrest. I just can't get her to respect the hardware. .:sigh:.
 
siegecraft4 said:
This is the primary and only hd on my sister's computer. Since its failing SMART I don't expect it to last long. What does that particular failure mean? How long should the drive last? It seems to hesitate to spinup when I boot, and when it finally does about 5 seconds later there is a single loud click.

Is it safer to leave the computer off or leave it running for this particular failure? Should I start backing up right away or is it reasonable to wait a day or two for the replacement to arrive and then simply copy?

I suspect that my sister may be at fault, since she kicks her case and uses it as a footrest. I just can't get her to respect the hardware. .:sigh:.
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Dude...if she KICKS her case, then the hard drive is probably fucked up pretty bad...HD's can endure a certain amount of shock, but when being kicked (which isn't commonly said in the same sentence with "hard drive") don't expect anything to last long in there...tell her to bemore careful and have more respect, otherwise she's gonna end up spending more money on Dells in her life than [H]ardcore folks do on nice rigs.
 
I have drilled my box hard on many occasions and never lost a single harddrive yet. Shock does not screw the drive up necessarily. If the computer is powered down then the heads automatically park. The only time it screws the drive up is when you nail the case while it is running.
 
Or drop it on concrete - I've lost more disks to my basement floor than to the click of death, and that's saying something.

If you get a new hard drive and transfer the stuff over, that should cure the problem in the short term. You might consider getting a 2.5" drive and an adaptor; these are designed for laptops and won't have as much difficulty handling shocks. An external enclosure where she won't kick it might also help.
 
Good enough shock will kill a hard drive, bottom line. I've had plenty of hard drives to test this with (on purpose of course, in a class where hard drives are plentiful) Hard drives with better protection can survive certain blows, and some a lot, but enough shock (varies) will kill a hard drive.

EDIT: I don't know if anyone thought I meant shock as in electric shock, I mean shock as in force-ya know-the physical kind.
 
I don't know where you live, but kick and HD go in the same sentence a lot. Along with baseball bad, shotgun, top of building...
 
serbiaNem said:
I don't know where you live, but kick and HD go in the same sentence a lot. Along with baseball bad, shotgun, top of building...
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Stop acting like a smart ass...I'm talking logically....as in, ya know....people shouldn't be kicking their damn computer. ;)
 
lesman said:
Stop acting like a smart ass...I'm talking logically....as in, ya know....people shouldn't be kicking their damn computer. ;)
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I agree. Personally I prefer punching it. Far more gratifying.
 
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