Is my 2nd HDD dead/dying?

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Jason H.

Jason H.

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Oct 20, 2013
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My computer was fine last nite. I have 500gb of files on my secondary drive inside my pc (the E:/ drive). I go to open a program today and it says I cannot open it on Windows. Which was odd so I end up rebooting, didnt solve anything. I go to the E drive and try opening it, but it kept saying I/O error. Did some troubleshooting that didnt work but I ended up disconnecthing the drive, then reconnecting it. Reboot pc and Im able to open the program I wasnt able to before. This program ends up freezing. I go to the harddrive and Im able to open it now, so I try playing a mp3 file, doesnt work, try moving files from the drive to the main drive, doesnt work. Also tried CHKDSK but everytime I do it says cannot CHKDSK on a RAW drive. So right now im running M3 Recovery tool to rebuild partition on the HDD.

Basically, is my HDD dead? or could it be something else that randomly happened while I was sleeping?

Windows 10
AMD A8 5600k APU
GTX 750 1gb GPU
6gb Ram
 
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mazboy

mazboy

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It does sound like that puppy is dying. My only thought on this (besides trying to backup everything on it really, really fast!!) would be to try a different SATA data port on the motherboard. It's not likely, but the port you're connect to could be going away.
 
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Jason H.

Jason H.

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I have 4 sata ports, It was plugged into the 4th when the issue happened, I plugged it into 2 which allowed it to be opened and the program was able to open from it, but then the program froze and I cant play mp3 files or really anything playable or openable from the drive.
 
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Jason H.

Jason H.

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bigger issue is, i nly have 30gb available on my main drive and no money for another 750gb drive ATM, not for like 5 days.
 
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mazboy

mazboy

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In the hopes of saving enough live on the dying hdd to get a good backup from it, I would remove it from the case completely and let it stay at room temperature until I could back it up. When you can, get an external HDD (like this: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Passport-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B01LQQHI8I/ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1515620972&sr=1-7&keywords=1tb+external+hard+drive) and backup your data files weekly.
 
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Jason H.

Jason H.

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my pc only has usb 2.0 ports
 
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Jason H.

Jason H.

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** UPDATE ** I switched the cables from my main HDD to the 2nd HDD, vice versa. I also flipped the HDD upside down. I dont know if the "pc reboot" did it, or the chord switch, or the flip (which the main drive is showing no bad symtoms connected to the 2nd chord) but Im now able to access the E drive along with playing mp3 files and using any programs from the drive. Since it randomly started working again, would this confirm a dying HDD? I dont have enough room on my main drive for the 1 42gb folder Im actually worried about losing out of all 500gb of data.. so Im scared it will fail again before Im able to get the external drive to do a backup.

side question... Would adding to registry cause this? I got a program lastnite from pirate bay and had to add a registry key to use it.
 
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mazboy

mazboy

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What you describe is consistent with a dying HDD. And basically, the more you use it/keep it plugged in (this gets it hot) etc, the more likely you are shortening its life, and your ability to back anything up off of it.
 
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Jason H.

Jason H.

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* Update * I was able to backup the most important files from the HDD to my main drive (even though its only 30gb of 500gb of data) I was able to save the most important files. At least until I can get a external to try getting the rest. Thanks again for the help. As of right now the HDD is working. But as I already have the important files Im just leaving it plugged in to run its course ( my own stupid choice ). However Im not really worried about the rest of the files I would lose as I can get them back easily.
 
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Jason H.

Jason H.

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I did a malwarebytes scan and it found all kind of issues, 219 in fact, with 2 malware. I ran that, quarentined them and the HDD has been working since then. Before then everytime I would try to access it, wouldnt work. So strange but Im still not trusting the HDD and still getting a external.
 
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