Is my hard drive failing? Random freezes and disk read errors

Emma_Stone · Feb 7, 2016

Hi,

Recently I've started to have random freezes where everything becomes unresponsive for about a minute, it doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing (playing games/browsing web). It started out only doing 1 a day, but now sometimes I get a 'Disk read error' message on start up and have to press ctrl+alt+delete to restart and then it starts up fine but I still get the freezing?

I'm wondering if this is a sign that my HDD is failing and I'd need to look at getting a new one?

I have windows 8.1 installed on my SSD and a 1TB Seagate Baracuda HDD which I've had for about 2 years.

Neither SSD nor HDD are mounted in the case, could that affect the internal mechanics of the HDD?

I'm happy to provide more information if needed

Thanks

iceblitzed · Feb 7, 2016

download a program called crystaldisk info and post screenshot of hard drive status report.

Emma_Stone · Feb 7, 2016

iceblitzed :

Hi, it's progressed to the point now where it rarely gets past the press ctrl+alt+delete to restart stage, and if I manage to boot without any issues then it's more or less unresponsive on start up.

After removing the hard drive I thought was causing the issue everything seems to be fine now

I'm willing to write off the faulty drive off and buy an ssd instead, but if you have any ideas of how to save it? I'd be glad to hear them.

I already backed up everything important off the old drive when the problem began so there are no worries there

thanks for your reply

D_Know_WD · Feb 8, 2016

Hi there Emma_Stone,

It seems that the drive is failing. Most probably, it has some bad sectors on it.
I guess you can test the drive with some of these: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/282651-32-best-diagnostic-testing-utility
In case your system is unresponsive, you can use some HDD testing tool for DOS mode.

What do you mean by not mounted in the case?

D_Know_WD

Emma_Stone · Feb 8, 2016

Thanks for the reply, I will look into those tests later.

By not mounted I mean it wasn't secured in a rack or anything it was sort of just slotted into the bottom of the case and tended to sit at an angle

D_Know_WD · Feb 10, 2016

Well, I think that the HDD should be tightly fastened. In case it is not, the spinning platters could create more vibrations(compared to the ones if properly attached), which may result in faster health deterioration.
You shouldn't worry about your SSD as there are no moving components inside.

D_Know_WD

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Is my hard drive failing? Random freezes and disk read errors

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