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possible hdd failure?
Last edited by ionbasa; 04 Aug 2010 at 22:41.
It doesn't necessarily mean that the drive is going south on you, but it is an indication that there might be a problem. Defragment, run chkdsk to flag the bad sectors, and then keep an eye on it. If you start getting more bad sectors, it's probably a good idea to start saving up for a new drive.
Make sure you do a thorough backup BEFORE the defrag and chkdsk, just in case something goes wrong.
Check your HD.
1) Boot DVD, & Press Shift+F10 (for command prompt)
2) Boot DVD, & Command Prompt at Startup (for command prompt)
Open an command prompt.
In the command prompt, type chkdsk C: f/x/r/v and press Enter.
Disk Check
Check Disk - chkdsk - Vista Forums
Check Disk (chkdsk) - Read Event Viewer Log
Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
HD Diagnostic
thanks for the quic responce. I will follow theog's advice and will report back with my finds.
Okay, good thing I didn't! Im on a nother computer now and will post results posibly in one hour, the Chkdsk is almost done(stage 5 takes a llllooonnnggg time)Never defrag a bad disk. you only make the problem worse.
After running a repair checkdisk, then you can defrag.
Here is the link to the Win7 diagnostic program from Western Digital for your drive:
WD Support > Downloads > WD Scorpio & AV-25 > WD Scorpio Blue
A couple bad sectors aren't a major problem. With HDTune pro my old hard drive showed 5% of all sectors were bad and it had multiple error messages and that was six months before I had to replaced it. I'd say don't freak out because of minor problems and don't scan it to often. Running test after test nonstop will wear the HDD out. Check it again in a couple months, or when weird things start happening, to see if the problem has gotten worse. If more than one more bad sector has appeared, you might have a problem.
ionbassa,
Bad sectors is definitely a problem which can cause many very annoying and serious problems. If you never write/read those sectors, then there is no problem but bad sectors especially in the area of system files which are frequently used can cause pure havoc.
Fortunately, the Microsoft check disk program will mark bad sectors as bad and will not use them after marking them. That's assuming you asked Microsoft to scan your full disk for errors.
Bad sectors is sign that your hard disk is getting ready to go. How long? Could be tomorrow, likely within next 6 months, could be 2 years from now.
I seriously recommend shopping for a new drive.
Did you run the manufacturer's diagnostic program? I would put more faith in the manufacturer's program.
The granddaddy of all hard disk test programs is SpinRite but that is not a free product.
GRC | Hard drive data recovery software