Advice on a new hard drive. (old one possibly failing)

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grah

grah

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Jun 17, 2011
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Hi all.


I am currently running XP on a 7 year old PC and have noticed it slowing over the last few weeks despite the fact that I have looked after it very well. Yesterday I noticed that it (XP) took longer to boot up and today, upon boot, XP automatically initiated a CHKDSK. It found the following:-

'File Record Segment " " Is Unreadable' (around 50 or so files)

Followed by:-

'Deleting An Index Entry From Index $0 at file' (et cetera)


I'm not an expert but I think my HD could be on the way out and was wondering if someone would kindly give me advice on purchasing a new HD. taking into consideration that I do not have the funds to upgrade to a new OS or upgrade any other part of my PC (Christmas expenses! :p).

My specs are as follows and yes the PC is getting on a bit. :p


Operating System
MS Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
Windsor 90nm Technology

RAM
2.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 244MHz (4-5-4-12)

Motherboard
MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-7253 (Socket M2 )

Graphics
HN198D (1280x960@75Hz)
1024MB ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (XFX Pine Group)

Hard Drives
161GB ExcelStor Technology J8160S (SATA)

Optical Drives
TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D

Audio
AMD High Definition Audio Device


Budget-wise? Around £40-50 would be fine, but depends on what you peeps think. I use the comp mainly for gaming but nothing hardcore as you can see. I wouldn't want anything less than what I have already got though, nothing cheapo :p. Then again, my current hard disk came with the PC so I have no idea how good it actually is/was; seems to have served me well though.

Anyways, thanks for reading and I look forward to your thoughts and suggestions!
 
Solution
lonewolf7
First check the health of the drive with this : http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

I think you did a format long time ago, so a format and clean install of OS would help, provided the HDD is in good condition.

If you want to buy a HDD then I would suggest you this, you wont regret :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $59.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-30 15:22 EST-0500)
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lonewolf7

lonewolf7

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May 6, 2013
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First check the health of the drive with this : http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

I think you did a format long time ago, so a format and clean install of OS would help, provided the HDD is in good condition.

If you want to buy a HDD then I would suggest you this, you wont regret :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $59.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-30 15:22 EST-0500)
 
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Solution
grah

grah

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Jun 17, 2011
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Many thanks for the reply Lonewolf, much appreciated.


I have only now managed to successfully reboot the PC due to the following BSOD error:-

'Unmountable Boot Volume' (eek!)


I also noticed an Error in the Event Viewer under Application:-

'Windows cannot log you on because your profile cannot be loaded. Check that you are connected to the network, or that your network is functioning correctly. If this problem persists, contact your network administrator.

DETAIL - The configuration registry database is corrupt.'



Anyways I installed and started up CrystalDiskInfo and it immediately informed me of a 'Caution' and attributed this to:-

(05) Rellocated Sectors Count & (C5) Current Pending Sector Count


I have no idea what this means or indeed how serious the caution is. I have been thinking about a clean install of XP but if the HD is failing I see little point.


As for your kind suggestion I have found the same HD on a UK site (which makes it a little easier for me to purchase, sorry should have mentioned where I am :p).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-ST1000DM003-Barracuda-inch-Drive/dp/B006BRBSE8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385850456&sr=8-1&keywords=ST1000DM003

It has the same model number so I assume it's the same one.


Not sure what to do next but I think I will order the new HD that you suggested. Any more thoughts would be great and thanks again.
 
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lonewolf7

lonewolf7

Splendid
May 6, 2013
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24,965
Ok, after 7 years of operation this is a minor error. Do a format and then do a clean install of OS with a bootable media(DVD/USB).

Then run CrystalDiskInfo again. Keep an eye if the numbers are increasing fast or not. If the numbers are not increasing than you can carry on with the drive for some time, but don't over trust the drive, its on retire age.

Yes you have found the exact HDD, you can get it if you want to. Good luck.
 
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grah

grah

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Jun 17, 2011
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Sorry for the late reply Lonewolf; the HDD gave up completely over the weekend and so I ordered and installed the new HHD as recommended by yourself. All is good, apart from an annoying problem I had with the BITS service, but I managed to sort that out as well and the PC is running well again.

Many thanks for your help and suggestions, much appreciated! :)
 
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