Windows detected a hard disk problem. help!

[Jonathan_King]

Sounds like you have SMART checking enabled on your motherboard and Windows is reading an SMART error. Happened to me too.

I downloaded DiskCheckup from PassMark Software - PC Benchmark and Test Software and it showed the SMART error. Rather than take a chance, I backed up the drive, reformatted it and shipped it to the MFG for a replacement.

I have a new 2TB Hitachi Deskstar and it's producing the same error as others are getting - i.e. the "Windows detected a hard disk problem" dialog.

PassMark's DiskCheckup shows a fail for the SPIN RETRY COUNT**. Does anybody know what this means - i.e. is the drive actually faulty?

** HDDscan from HDDGURU: Laptop and Desktop Hard Disk Drives, Tests, Software, Firmware, Tools, Data Recovery, HDD Repair also shows the same fail.

That means your drive is on its way out!

Immediately backup all data you care about and replace the drive.

Count of retry of spin start attempts. This attribute stores a total count of the spin start attempts to reach the fully operational speed (under the condition that the first attempt was unsuccessful). A decrease of this attribute value is a sign of problems in the hard disk mechanical subsystem.

Taken from here: Spin Retry Count S.M.A.R.T. attribute

 

[terreaultguy]

Hi Guys I was planning to come back and report how I fixed my HD problems.
And I would like to thank every one that made suggestions. That helped me eliminate somme possibles problems. My HD are working fine now.

I know what was wrong.

The last thing I did went this way.

1-After installing my 1TB HD as my C: drive
2-I reformated it and installed W7 again - but I decided to wait a while before installing all my usual apps

Guess what after 3 day I still could copy a folder as big as 1.5 GB with out any problems to that drive C:
That is when I decided how to determine the problem. Some thing I install could be the colprite.
So
3-I installed Office and waited 2 days and tested still ok.
4 - I did that with all my favorites Applications.
Now I have every thing I need - and still no problems.

I am sorry to say I have not installed all the apps I had then so cant say witch App caused my problem.
Since that all was ok I installed a second HD one that was reported faulty it works fine to.

So I suggest that It's fun to try Apps but be carefull. and when we have a problem throwing money at it is not the way to go.

Problem solved: A bad app got from a P2P.

bye, Guy

 

[SWLD]

That means your drive is on its way out!

Immediately backup all data you care about and replace the drive.

Definitely? Is there anything else it could mean - e.g. a faulty or incompatible SATA controller?? I don't want to send it back to the shop and have them say there's nothing wrong with it, then charge me for the privilege.

I emailed the drive test reports to the shop yesterday and they said this:

"It would appear that the drive is faulty; however I would advise to try this hard drive on a different computer to verify the problem is not due to the SATA controller on the motherboard being either incompatible with the drive or faulty."


PS. Jonathan - data is backed up and I've downloaded Speccy.

By the way - Speccy is saying Status: Good for the 2TB Deskstar. Presumably this doesn't mean anything since DiskCheckup, HDTune, HDDScan and SeaTools are all saying Spin Retry Count: Fail.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Speccy is a hardware specs program, that happens to also check temps and SMART data.

However, I wouldn't necessarily trust that it's the most accurate. I use Speedfan for temps and the manufacturers' programs for drive health.

The advice they gave you is good; try testing the drive in another machine.

 

[SWLD]

Speccy is a hardware specs program, that happens to also check temps and SMART data.

However, I wouldn't necessarily trust that it's the most accurate. I use Speedfan for temps and the manufacturers' programs for drive health.

The advice they gave you is good; try testing the drive in another machine.

Yes, I think Speccy may be less accurate than dedicated drive testers such as SeaTools.

I will try the drive in another machine - assuming I can find one!!

 

[SWLD]

Jonathan - I've now tried the drive in another Windows 7 machine. Here is the comparison between that machine and mine.


MY MACHINE:

• Post screen - SMART 'status bad' error
• Windows 7 dialog - hard drive failure warning
• Drive fails Spin Retry Count with HDScan, HDTune, DiskCheckup and SeaTools

OTHER MACHINE:

• Post screen - SMART 'status bad' error
• Drive fails Spin Retry Count with HDScan, HDTune, DiskCheckup and SeaTools

So - the only difference is there's no Windows 7 warning on the other machine - probably because that machine has a Zalman GS1000 case which has hot swap drive bays.

If I put the drive back in my machine using an Antec hot swap drive bay (instead of an ordinary internal bay), again no Windows 7 warning appears. Hence, I suspect the AHCI controller used for hot swap bays prevents the Windows 7 warning from appearing.

So I'm now wiser now!


NB. Both machines have Asus motherboards (different models) - but Asus use AMI bios and the SMART controller is probably the same for both machines.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Thanks for posting SWLD.

That doesn't sound good to me. I'd be careful about storing important data on that drive, if I were you.

 

[SWLD]

Thanks for posting SWLD.

That doesn't sound good to me. I'd be careful about storing important data on that drive, if I were you.

Something weird has happened. The drive has now stopped showing any errors in any of the hard drive test programs (HDDScan, SeaTools, DiskCheckup & HDTune). All four programs now say SPIN RETRY COUNT = OK

I'm not sure if it's got anything to do with the hard drive but earlier on, I started getting a Windows dialog box showing error sretoa.exe not working. I can't find any info at all about sretoa.exe - there is not a single entry in Google.

'sret' could mean 'Spin Retry' - then again it might not.

I give up.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Well that's the nature of hard disk drives. One moment they won't let you boot, or fail the SMART test, and the next, they're fine.

As soon as you put something you care about on the drive, is goes completely again. :devil2:

 

[soldierofthelam]

This post is old but for new people reading needing a easy answer,
sometimes windows 7 likes to say its a hard drive error when theirs nothing wrong with it.

first and for most always keep an up to date back up of your os.
second
a solution to turning off that annoying hard drive failure message if you know its not your hdd.
Please open gpedit.msc. Navigate to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Troubleshooting and Diagnostics\Disk Diagnostic\

Double Click on “Disk diagnostic: configure execution level”, set it to “disabled”. “Not configured” is enabled by default.

 

[silvermist]

My experience with Windows is that it typically uses WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) to read the SMART (self-monitoring and reporting technology) attributes of hard drives and solid state disks (SSDs). So unless one of those SMART attributes signals a failure condition, Windows can be somewhat oblivious to a problem. And by the SMART specification, once an attribute signals failure, the disk can fail completely in 24 hours. So by the time Windows reports a failure condition, it may be too late to do anything.

Good backups are essential! I don't think this can be stressed enough. Back up, back up, back up.

While there is no good excuse for not backing up, there are some good tools out there that do a better job than Windows when it comes to monitoring your disks. My favorite tool is called WindowSMART 2012. WindowSMART works with every desktop and laptop I have (10 total computers), running Windows XP right up through Windows 8, and it supports all of my external USB disks too. Hard drives and solid state disks alike are continuously monitored and reported, and it's got a nice UI for viewing and exporting results. The best feature is its remote notification capability--WindowSMART will send you an alert by email if a problem shows up, but it gets better than that. If you have an iPhone or Android phone, WindowSMART will send you an alert to that! WindowSMART's developer, Dojo North Software, is responsive to emails and bug reports. A friend of mine has a Windows Phone and emailed them asking about Windows Phone, and he got a response back the next day that Windows Phone integration was planned in the next release. There is a fee for WindowSMART but you can run it for a full 30 days before you have to decide, and upgrades after that are free. Check out WindowSMART 2012 if you want to have a peek at how your drives are doing.

If you have a hardware RAID array, and some of you high-end gamers might, then WindowSMART won't help you. It doesn't do hardware RAID, which is a bummer. There's another tool, HD Sentinel, which works with some RAIDs, but I think that one's a bit more expensive.