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Repeated drive corruption

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cranioscopical:
In my current system I have 4 x WD 500 GB SATA 7200 drives.

Here's my problem:


* File corruption on 2nd drive. 
* System freeze
* Chkdsk fixes on restart
*
* Repeat above
*
* WD tools say 2nd drive is A-OK
*
* MFT went bad on 2nd drive
* Chkdsk bails out
*
* Reformat drive
* Repopulate with fresh files
* WD tools say drive is A-OK
*
* File corruption on 2nd drive. 
* Gently whisper naughty words.
So, since data is far more important to me than even the hint of a dodgy drive, I'll replace the 2nd drive.

Can anyone suggest what the heck might be happening, though?
(In the past I've had WD drives fail immediately after WD tools say they're fine, so I haven't much faith in the A-OK reports.)

Thanks in advance!



Any useful experiences to share?
Advice, other than the obvious step of junking the drive?
I really wouldn't like to see this happen again when I put in the new drive.

40hz:
Most likely the drive is screwed up. WD is not IMHO as reliable as they used to be.

If you want to eliminate other possibilities, you could also try the following:

Start simple. Try doing a partition boot sector repair on the drive followed by a reformat. Here's instructions if you don't already know how to do it:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/newbootsector.htm

Other possibilities:

- Firmware issues. Check to see if your BIOS or chipset firmware needs updating? I've found a lot of problems (80%) get fixed by installing the most recent BIOS and chipset drivers.

- Bad/marginal data cable. Swap with known good.

- Power. Try switching wire from PS to drive.

- Bad SATA port/controller on mobo. Try switching drive to an alternate port and retry.
  (Also check SATA settings in BIOS.)

Good luck, and let us know how you make out. :Thmbsup:

cranioscopical:
Thanks for the feedback, I'll follow up on your ideas.

cmpm:
You could try these two options after saving your data to a safe place.

http://www.dban.org/

http://www.lehigh.edu/security/gwscan/gwscan.htm

gwscan will make your drive raw, and need formated
but if it's something software related it will kill it

40hz:
Oh yeah, one other thought. Check the connector "pins" on the drive. Give the two connectors a little wiggle and see if it feels loose, or there are any cracks in the board they're part of. I did slightly crack a connector one time when I was plugging in the cable too forcefully (probably because I wasn't pushing it on straight) and the drive would format for a while before it failed.

(The manufacturer denied a warranty claim on that drive BTW. And sad to say - rightly so! ;D)

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