Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Main hard drive in my PC died today suddenly

<< < (3/8) > >>

barney:
It's HDS PRO (Hard Disk Sentinel PRO) - i.e., not the freeware version
-IainB (February 02, 2012, 06:02 PM)
--- End quote ---

Using the same.  Also unable to run real-time checks.  

However.

Yesterday, 2012-02-02, ~0200 hrs, It suddenly popped up warning me that the drive in my laptop had ~nine (9) hours to live, and I should shut down immediately and replace the drive.  It also mentioned a number of sectors that had been moved, indicating surface damage.

I shut it down, switched to another box.

I rebooted the box ~six (6) hours later:  no problems reported, every thing OK, remaining HD lifetime predicted to be ~1,000 days.  The box I was on is a Dell Vostro with an Intel i7 CPU.  It runs very hot both the CPU and the HD.  And, it seems, the temperature confuses HDS Pro.  I am expecting the box to die because of the heat signature, but prolly not that soon  :P.  

Upshot of all this is that you might want to be aware that the software reports on the [purported] condition of the disk at the time it's being checked, and temperature obviously affected that report.  I'm more inclined to trust trends indicated on daily reports than any single catastrophe warning.  Of course, that could turn around an bite me, but it feels more comfortable and realistic, overall.

Just a bit of nosh for yer noggin.

[Edited for typos]

mouser:
with the relatively low cost of hard drives i have always taken a one-strike-and-your-out replacement approach.  any hint that the drive might be trouble and i backup and replace as soon as possible.

barney:
Y'know, I kinda lean that way.  Problem for me is the [supposed] accuracy of the reporting software.  There is a drive on order, although I'll hate going through the replacement process, particularly since this'll be the first real, make-or-break test of my current backup procedure  :-\.  On the other hand, as soon as that drive arrives, it's switch time.  Then I can rehouse the suspect drive, see how it does in a standalone enclosure.  But the physical aspect of replacing that drive with arthritic hands could be a major challenge  :mad:.  Who knows, might even end up with spare storage  :-*.  Prolly not  :tellme:.

Ath:
It runs very hot both the CPU and the HD.  And, it seems, the temperature confuses HDS Pro.  I am expecting the box to die because of the heat signature, but prolly not that soon  :P.-barney (February 03, 2012, 04:49 PM)
--- End quote ---
You might wanna clean the cooling on that laptop, just to keep it alive a bit longer. Should also end the false-reporting issues with HDS.

yksyks:
Regarding recovery: I had a very good experience with the DRevitalize utility, even in the demo mode (it just takes more time). Also, searching and refreshing the "slow sectors" helped me to recover several failing HDs, keeping the data intact, and they are still in a good shape. The HD must be of course recognized by the system as a disk unit, despite it might not be accessible. It worked even on some cases when the HD just made the clicking sound and nothing could be read.

Regarding full system backup: I ceased to make any more since on my two PCs the motherboard died. The full system was of obviously of no use. Backing up just the data is much easier (using Dropbox at the moment).

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page