jmorlan
Crescit Eundo
join:2001-02-05
Pacifica, CA
 ·Pacific Bell - SBC
| [hard drive] Should I replace this hard drive?
Original scan before repair |
I then ran HD Tune which still showed three damaged blocks as above. HD recommends replacing any drive with damaged blocks.
»www.hdtune.com/faq_1.html#errorscan
I then ran the WD Data LifeGuard Diagnostics. A Quick Scan failed with a SMART read error, but the full scan offered to fix some bad sectors. After that I ran HD Tune again and had only one damaged block which the WD utility failed to repair. Then I tried it in safe mode and the WD utility was able to repair the last bad block. Then I ran HD Tune again and all is now green. Also the WD Quick SMART test now passes.
Is this drive now fixed and good to go or is it going to fail soon? Should I replace it now or just monitor it? SMART status was OK through all this.
--
If America has an official philosophy, it surely includes the belief in individualism, competition, private property, democracy, freedom, and a deep faith in education. This social philosophy is called "liberalism." GKM (1936) |
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captokita
Premium
join:2005-02-22
Calabash, NC
| How vital is this drive to you? I would replace it if I were you, unless it's a drive you don't care about, then I would say continue to run it as-is. I've seen drives continue to work for years after showing bad spots, and I've seen others die quickly in the same situation. |
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salzan
Experienced Optimist
Premium
join:2004-01-08
WA State
| reply to jmorlan
Considering that it's a 20GB drive and given the cost of replacement, I'd get another.
Unless, as captokita  said, you just don't care about the data on it. |
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PeteC2
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-20
Bristol, CT
clubs:
·AT&T Yahoo
| I would be guessing that this is a pretty old drive already, based on capacity, right?
That being the case, I see no reason not to suspect that this is just the beginning of the "end". Why wait until it completely fails, or corrupts important data?
--
...something is happening here but you don't know what it is...do you, Mr. Jones? |
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Tursiops_G
Technoid
Premium,MVM
join:2002-02-06
Norwalk, CT
clubs:
 ·Optimum Online
| reply to jmorlan
When a HD starts to develop Bad blocks, it's sort of like a Cancer... The number of Bad blocks will almost always increase over time, putting your Data at progressively Higher and Higher risk... 
That 20GB HD has served you well, but the time has come to retire it BEFORE the problem can result in potential Loss of your Data. 
-Tursiops_G.
--
If You're Unsure, "RTFM"... If You're SURE, "RTFM" Anyway.  |
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Telly Boot
Premium
join:2002-05-15
Vancouver, BC
·TELUS
| reply to jmorlan
Yes, replace it right away. As it's a 20GB drive I would guess that it's around five or six years old (?). My experience is that five years is about the most life span you can expect from a hard drive, and you will probably find that a new 100GB HDD runs quicker.
You can still buy those WD200EB drives for $45, but for $95 you could, for example, get a 500GB WD IDE HDD:
»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···22136111
--
Dawn,n,The time when men of reason go to bed. (Ambrose Bierce.) |
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jmorlan
Crescit Eundo
join:2001-02-05
Pacifica, CA
·Pacific Bell - SBC
edit:
May 15th, @05:18PM
| Thanks everybody. A good consensus for replacing the drive, which actually does have mission critical data on it. However, it's all backed up and I have an Acronis image of it on an external drive.
Instead of replacing the HD, I ordered a new desktop computer to replace the old, painfully slow one with the failing drive. It's amazing what you can get for $400 from Dell.
What's the best way to transfer all my programs from the old computer to the new one? I have Acronis TI, but I understand that the OEM XP operating system may not like being imaged onto a different computer.
Thanks again.
--
If America has an official philosophy, it surely includes the belief in individualism, competition, private property, democracy, freedom, and a deep faith in education. This social philosophy is called "liberalism." GKM (1936) |
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Doubledee32
join:2002-06-20
Charlotte, NC | I was in the same boat and wnet out and bought a 250GB Segate USB external drive and just copied my important data over then once I recieved my new pc, I hooked up the drive and viola-there was my data. |
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Jeffrey
Bye George, 1937-2008
Premium
join:2002-12-24
Long Island
clubs:
edit:
May 15th, @04:46PM
| reply to jmorlan
I agree with the suggestions already mentioned. I'd just replace the drive now considering the current prices of replacement drives, especially those with minimum capacity. |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to jmorlan
Given the relatively small expense for a new drive (yours appears to be a 20GB) »www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi···+-+%2450
I'd sh!t can it. Sure it may be fine now that you've performed those repairs and it may continue to be so for another few years but for $40 is the data on it worth that risk? If the data isn't worth $40 I'd hold on to it.
In your position though I'd replace it and take the offending hardware to the garage for conversion to "fun shiny parts".
The first entries in your chkdsk regarding cleanup are not a big deal but my experience has been that once a drive starts developing bad clusters it usually doesn't just stop and play nice.
--
Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com |
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ultracooldave
@verizon.net
| reply to jmorlan
You need to be imaging to the same computer unless its very similar. Sounds like your new computer is completely different. Some older programs will run if you simply restore the old program file to the new computer program file, then create a shortcut to the desktop of the exe. file, its worth a try, otherwise you have to re-install all the programs again, you cannot do anything with the old OS files. |
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dancy70
Premium
join:2005-01-29
Hudson, FL
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to jmorlan
For what it is worth: There's another good piece of software out there - it is called SpinRite and is available from www.grc.com (Gibson Research). This utility works below system bios level - truly right at the hardware level. The bootable disk you create has a tiny program that scans disks and tries to recover data, even to the point of if the sector is totally shot, it looks all around it and interpolates the data that is missing/corrupt. Originally, it did low level formats on the fly. But now it reads and rewrites all the data on the disk. |
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raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| reply to jmorlan
Try Spinrite if you really want to keep the drive. It will mark the sectors as bad so no data will be placed on those areas.
My personal opinion is that anytime a drive starts giving errors it is replaced. The risk is too great and the time to recover too long vs the cost of a new drive.
Especially a 20 gig drive. |
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jmorlan
Crescit Eundo
join:2001-02-05
Pacifica, CA
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to dancy70
Thank you. Yes I know about SpinRite and have an older version around here somewhere. I even followed the feud between Gibson and Navas for a while. Navas called SpinRite "Snake Oil." But my first computer instructor swore by it and said she had recovered several bad drives with it.
Years ago I tried to recover a failing ESDI drive using SpinRite. By the end of the "recovery" process the drive was a doorstop.
I think SpinRite is a good program, but it does exercise the drive a lot and I think that overworking a failing drive like mine can cause it to fail before it would otherwise.
Anyway, I already ordered a completely new system to replace the old one. There was more wrong with the old system than just the drive and it was time to move on.
--
If America has an official philosophy, it surely includes the belief in individualism, competition, private property, democracy, freedom, and a deep faith in education. This social philosophy is called "liberalism." GKM (1936) |
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