WD Caviar Blue on it's way out? + Device Error (1117)

First off, hope this is in an appropriate forum.

Today, I turned on my PC to be met with a Windows startup repair window. After trying to find a solution (and failing), the pc turned off (I think it was meant to restart?). Well, I booted it up again, and it successfully made it into windows. I ran checkdisk, which appeared to fix a few things, but restarted into a startup repair window once more. Again, a fresh boot got the machine into windows. Basically, I can get into windows, on the second time, if not always the first.

Generally, it feels slightly sluggish when loading programs/the desktop since yesterday, and I've noticed that transferring files from my WD10EALX-009BAO to my WD20EARX-00PASBO seems slower than usual as well. The other thing I noticed, is that when Running a virus scan in Avast, it can't test all the files, and the reason Avast gives me is "Request could not be performed because of an I/O Device Error (1117)".

So basically, what I'm asking, is whether it is possible to accurately ascertain the 'health' of my drive, and weather whatever ails it is possibly curable. And, for future reference/drives, is there any kind of maintenance I should do to keep my drives healthy - like monthly checking for errors and bad sectors?

Some last things - I can hear a noise coming from my pc, by that I mean, a very faint rattle (but regular, like an engine ticking over), there's been no sign of screeching or grinding or scratching or space lasers, and aside from this rhythmic rattle, the HDD continues to make the same searching/buffering noises its always made.

My PC is a homebuilt one, so I'm not afraid to go tinkering.

I have crystaldiscinfo installed, and it rates my WD10EALX with a "caution", pertaining to "C5 - Current Pending Sector count".

I believe that is everything, any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Dan.

Yeoman said:

......So basically, what I'm asking, is whether it is possible to accurately ascertain the 'health' of my drive, and weather whatever ails it is possibly curable. And, for future reference/drives, is there any kind of maintenance I should do to keep my drives healthy - like monthly checking for errors and bad sectors?......

1. Yes, it is possible to accurately ascertain the health of your WD drives running the manufacturer's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS or Windows as appropriate.

2. Whether it is curable or not time only can tell. You may have to run the tests periodically on a schedule to ascertain any repair done earlier holds or the HDD continues to deteriorate. However it will be prudent to take away any HDD that has given rise to I/O errors from service and replace it.

3. If you are so paranoid :), to ascertain the health of your HDDs you may periodically run the manufacturer's diagnostic/repair tool on a schedule as aforesaid.

In the present case, my advice will be to backup all data on the system drive and then replace it.

To test the drive as it is, first backup all data to another drive and then run WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS. WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD VelociRaptor

Prepare an MSDOS bootable pen Drive with Rufus Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way (All data on the pen drive will be lost during the formatting process, So back it up beforehand.) Extract the contents of dlgdiag_5_20.zip into the root of the pen drive. Boot your computer with the pen drive, against the command prompt type dlgdiag5.exe and press enter to run the program.

Keep us posted.

Thank you for your reply Jumanji.

I'll get on that test as soon as I'm able. To just double check, I imagine I'd be using the extended test on the drive?

Speak soon,
Dan

Perform the short test first. If it fails then the extended Test. Please go through the user Guide/tutorial or whatever that you can find in WD website.

You have probably picked up one or more bad sectors on the hdd. The files located on these sectors are not readable and can cause all kinds of grief. A disk repair utility should be able to relocate these bad sectors and even recover some of the files. The hdd may recover and continue service but you say it's making a noise, that's not a good sign, possible mechanical damage. Backup the drive before attempting any repairs, good luck.

A little update.

I created a bootable usb, with the dlgdiag5.exe file in the root. I was able to boot up the program in DOS, however, I was unable to run any tests (quick or extended) on either drive, because when I started the tests, I got the following error "Missing Test Tracks - Error/Status Code 0229". - This error was on both of my drives (maybe I did something wrong?). I tried with DlgDiag 5.20, and a newer 5.21 version, but both failed to perform the quick/or extended tests.

Yesterday, I ran the quick test of Data lifeguard for windows (I had this installed from a previous issue, ultimately non-HDD related). But yesterday, the WD10EALX (my boot drive) failed the quick test. Whilst my WD20EARX (storage drive) passed. Today, after the DOS failed to run the tests, I tried them both once more in the windows version of DlgDiag, and they both passed the quick test. I imagine that rather anecdotal evidence isn't helpful, but just in case, I figured I'd mention it.

Any thoughts on what my next actions should be? Should I try the extended dlgdiag test in windows, see if it provides any useful information?

All the best,
Dan

OK, you can run the extended test and check what it tells.

Regarding the error code in the DOS run, many people have experienced this problem and WD hasn't till date made known what that error code means except saying that this matter has been escalated to the software team.May be you can try with an older version. ( Personally I had no problem running the DOS version - may be v5.1 or 5.20 - on a friend's computer who had a similar problem like yours. After repeated repairs with the DOS version and reinstallation of Windows 7, his system has been, I presume, running without a hitch for he hasn't called me since then. :))

I ran the extended test, and ultimately my drive got a fail grade (the WD10EALX). There was a message window popped up citing "too many bad sectors found".
I'm going to run the extended test on my storage drive, just to check that one over (as I may as well). Any suggestions for next steps? I could perhaps try something like Seatools? I understand their software works with all drives, if the DOS version of that works okay, it might be able to do what Data lifeguard could not?

Many thanks,
Dan

I haven't used SeaTools any time on other brands but what I have read while it may diagnose, it may not do a repair. Maybe TVeblen knows better since he has practical experience.

For experiment's sake you can do anything on the failing drive - and that is one way to learn - but sure you have to replace it with a new one.

Thanks for your reply. I'll explore Seatools some more and see if it is worthwhile looking into that. I'll let you know if it is able to work, or throws up any interesting complaints/messages.

Regarding the HDD, I'll be ordering a replacement shortly. My current HDD has one year left on its warranty, given the state it is in (with it's I/O errors and WD data lifeguard unable to give it a pass), a return & replacement drive would be on the cards wouldn't it?

All the best,
Dan