I think my harddrive broke!!!

[Computer]

Omg. So, It all started the other week. I installed my new mouse, and soon after my computer froze and restarted, there was some sort of windows error, that resolved itself with the harddrive scan at startup. But, once in windows my profile was corrupt, and I had to create a new one. I used this new profile for a couple days fine. I don't know if it has any significance, but, when I created my new account name. my "mydocuments" folder that it creates, was named USERNAME.computername, instead of just the username.
Ok, so 2 days ago, what i think my hard drive started making slow clicking noises, (just like old hard drives used to make back in the day, only slower clicking than that) my computer then made the "restart" clicking sound... was ok for about 10 seconds, then froze. I had to restart. when it restarted it told me there was some corrupt or non existstant /WINDOWS file and that it couldn't load windows, i just kept restarting, and eventually it worked fine, went into disk scanner, and then onto windows. But now, when ever I turn on my computer, it takes ove 1.5 minutes to start up, I dont know what to do. I ran scan disk on my C and defragged my C and D (partitions) thats seemed to make it marginally better, but it's still not even close to the same.
Oh ya, it also made that restart noise and froze up again a few days ago, so it's not an isolated incident.

any advice? I'd prefer formatting as a last resort.

[Mickwish]

I'd advise you to back up what you have on that drive ASAP. Sounds like it's dying, mate.

Could be the windows prefetch file has corrupted, but that should correct itself at boot up. Maybe somewhere on the drive where critical files are stored it is gong bad. A full complete format and reinstall may get it working for a while longer, but all drives die one day. So backup everything you wanna keep!

Cheers
Mick

[Martoch]

This is certainly not a free program, but it has saved me more $$ than I paid for it.
SpinRite

How SpinRite PREVENTS Disk Crashes

Running SpinRite periodically prevents disk crashes by containing any problems that are discovered. SpinRite examines the data storage surface of a drive one region at a time. It first reads the data out of a region, then exercises that region with patterns of data that SpinRite has determined are the most difficult for the drive to read and write. In this way, any weak and failing areas within the region are located and removed from use while none of the drive's original data is being stored there. Only after the region has been made absolutely safe, will the drive's original data be restored to that area.

This crucial process of testing the surface of a drive WHILE IT CONTAINS DATA is COMPLETELY UNIQUE to SpinRite. No other disk utility has ever done this.

Scandisk doesn't do this, nor does ANY OTHER UTILITY. Thus, no other disk utility is capable of working to PREVENT disk crashes as SpinRite can.

How SpinRite PREDICTS Disk Failure

Drives begin to fail when they have increasing difficulty reading and writing data that they once read and wrote without trouble. SpinRite reads and re-writes the entire surface of the drive, reporting everything it finds. Thus, it is able to provide early warning of increasing numbers of regions that are becoming troublesome for the drive. The drive can then be backed up and removed from service before a complete catastrophe results in loss of any data.

Since NO OTHER UTILITY analyzes the surface of a drive WHILE IT CONTAINS DATA, NO OTHER UTILITY can warn its user of imminent drive failure.

For example, Scandisk's "surface analysis test" is read-only and provides no exercise for the drive or the data surfaces. Just before a drive fails, Scandisk indicates that everything is completely fine, whereas SpinRite goes nuts showing the user that the drive is near death.

Which utility would you rather be using?

How SpinRite RECOVERS After a Crash

Post-Disaster Data Recovery is perhaps SpinRite's strongest and most unique capability since so much more can be done than any other disk utility has ever bothered to do.

Speaking of which, Scandisk is probably guilty of more data loss than any other utility ever created. Since everyone has Scandisk, everyone uses it. But few people realize that Scandisk does NOTHING other than discard any data that it can't read.

[Computer]

alright, this is going back to the store i got it from then, they can damn well replace it, it's only 5 months old

[Computer]

so would my windows profile corrupting be a good sign that my hard drive is failing?

[Mickwish]

Not necessarily a good sign. Any place on the drive that stores data that suddenly becomes inaccessible is a sign. Your place just happened to be a critical bit of the profile.

Cheers
Mick

[Computer]

ok, i also had problem during last semester with my computer constantly restarting itself, I though it was a windows problem, but could it be hard drive related? I reformatted, and the restarting stopped so i figured it was windows, but maybe not...

[Computer]

haha! i though it was going to be a beeatch to backup all this, then i remebered i'm on a LAN. hehee, gotta love file sharing. :P

[Mickwish]

Possibly, but also could have a been a windows driver issue, which are very common indeed.

You can do a full scan of your drive with something like Ontrack Data Advsior and see what it comes up with. Maxtor also hae a utility I believe.. check their website.

Cheers
Mick

[elroy]

Open the case and see what brand of hard drive you have. Then go to the drive manfacturers website and download a utility to test the drive for problems.

[Computer]

it's a WD

[drjekel_mrhyde]

it's a WD

they might make you send it back to wd it might take a week depending on how fast you can get it to them I ust sent back a maxtor yesterday it was my cousins I think it messed up cause his damn house is super hot this is his secong hd in 2 months getting a hd cooler for it now

[elroy]

Western Digital

Data Life Guard Diagnostic Tools [corrected link]
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=2

Codes
http://supp
ort.wdc.com/techinfo/general/errorcodes.asp

[Computer]

hey, sorry bout the delay, I took my comp in and they said it was bad ram and that it worked fine now, but it doesnt, I dled the program elroy, but how do i get it to scan/check my drive, i dont see any option for that Just installation, setup, copy and info

thanks

[elroy]

I dled the program elroy, but how do i get it to scan/check my drive, i dont see any option for that Just installation, setup, copy and info

OH, DUH, my bad, wrong file.
Get the correct one here. Data Lifeguard Diagnostic
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=2

Just double click on the file and it will tell you to insert a blank floppy. It will then install the program on the floppy. Boot the pc to the floppy and run it. When you boot the pc if it doesn't start the program automatically you'll need to type in the name of the .exe file and hit enter.

[Computer]

doh... no floppy drive


edit, there seems to be a (CD) version there? same thing?

[kenboyles72]

doh... no floppy drive


edit, there seems to be a (CD) version there? same thing?

yeah, thats an .iso file. burn it to cd and it works just like floppy. the cd version is what im using.

[Computer]

hmm, doesn't seem to be a harddrive problem. and the store replaced a stick of ram so i'm assuming they did some sort of ram test, so that's not the problem, is there some sort of MOBO test I can do? My mobo is a foxxcon, i know it's terrible, but it's what came with my system.

[wera]

blehb b lladv fdaaaaaaaaaaaae fedfgggggggggggggggggdse by the way my im isps wera's friend *he should password his computer LOOLEZ*

[Computer]

... I see...