Bad sectors on WD HDD

tim17

Reputable
Feb 16, 2014
4
0
4,510
Hello, friends!
It's the first time when I post here and I have a difficult problem.

A few days ago my PC began running very slowly and was freezing almost every minute, even when trying to run the browser. Because I know that after a period of time from the installation of OS (Windows 7 Professional x86), my PC is not anymore quite useful, I decided to re-install the OS, thinking this is the problem.

But the OS wasn't the problem. When completing installation of Windows 7, it prompted me a error message that was saying something like it cannot install on my hardware. I searched the forums and found a way to force the installation to go to the logon screen, so I did.

But after the welcome screen, not everything went okay. The computer was still freezing, but not that frequently, when was trying to run high-memory-consuming programs, I got BSODs, and every few minutes, memory addresses error messages. I thought that the RAM is the problem. But surprisingly, the next day, no memory addresses error messages, no BSODs and, after switching from AHCI to IDE mode in BIOS, no freezing. But another problem showed up. When trying to tun games the PC shuts down after a few minutes.

I googled a bit and found out that the hard drive could be the problem. I installed HD Tune, checked the Health tab and saw this. I ran CHKDSK several times because I found damaged blocks at Error Scan, but they are still there.

Please, tell me what I'm gonna do, to be everything okay.

My PC specs are:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+, 2.71 GHz
2GB of DDR2 800Mhz RAM
WD Caviar Blue 320GB, 16MB Buffer HDD
SAMSUNG HD 161HJ 160GB, 8MB Buffer HDD
Gainward nVidia GeForce GT440
Asrock 960GC-GS FX
420W Jewel Power Supply
 
Solution


Bad sectors generally mean physical flaws in the drive.
Windows scan disk can mark the bad sectors so they are not used, but there will be more.
No software program is going to repair physical damage to the platters of a drive.
Hey tim17. I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues with your drive. Indeed it looks like the problems you've been having lately are because of the HDD. You could try fixing any CRC errors by following the instructions from this link: http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Cyclic-Redundancy-Check-Error
But before anything else, I'd recommend that you backup any important data which you might have on that drive ASAP. Unfortunately the HDD is not in a good condition, when bad sectors start to occur, this will inevitably lead to the failing of the drive at some point. The bad thing is that it can't be predicted how long it will take - it could be days, months or even more. I'd recommend that you check if the drive is still under warranty from here: Warranty & RMA Services and if you can RMA it.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD
 

tim17

Reputable
Feb 16, 2014
4
0
4,510
Thanks for your answers. I'm so sad to hear this.

I don't know if I can RMA it. I'm from Romania and I bought the drive almost 3 years ago from a local shop and even though I'd want to return it to warranty, I can't find the receipts.

I read something on internet about zero-filling or using HDD Regenerator. Are these useful?
 
Sorry mate, I don't think there's anything that you can do to save the drive. As for the warranty, resellers sometimes give warranty of their own, but unfortunately as you've mentioned, they probably won't accept it without the receipt. Sorry you had to go through this. And again, the sooner you backup your data - the better.

Good luck.
 

tim17

Reputable
Feb 16, 2014
4
0
4,510
I just checked the warranty on Western Digital site. It has expired 2 years after purchase and I bought the drive almost 3 years ago. But is there any chance that the reseller gave me more than 2 years of warranty?
 


Generally resellers give you the manufacturers warranty.
 


Bad sectors generally mean physical flaws in the drive.
Windows scan disk can mark the bad sectors so they are not used, but there will be more.
No software program is going to repair physical damage to the platters of a drive.
 
Solution