Hard drive life predictor tools.....

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

I was wondering do people generally give the likes of HDD health and
such like any merrit with regards to predicting the Hard drive life end
date? I installed the above and the conking out prediction date tends to
jump around a bit between July and November this year which I of course
found concerning. The pc is 3 years old and has never had disk errors
ever, merely only the odd lost cluster which after upgrading to xp it
tends to sort out. I ran the self test on the set up screen a couple of
times and it gives a perfect zero which is fine.I could quite easily
purchase a replacement from Compaq for about £20 but it will be so much
hassle reinstalling all my junk not to mention having to install windows
again etc. What do you guys think? Is it tricky to fit a new HD? Should
I do it in advance? I have experience in fiddling around within the
system unit but haven't ever had to rip out and bung in a new hd.
Thanks


--
PSYCHOPIXIE

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

I'm not aware of any decent predictors of HD lifespan other than
statistical ratings based upon age. I would take such things with a
grain of salt. My experience is that you can't know *when* a drive is
going to go bad, but that once it starts going bad, it becomes *really*
bad in short order.

Swapping your system to a new hard drive isn't difficult at all. Most
hard drives either come with tools to do this or you download them from
the manufacturer's site, or there are several free or trial apps you can
use. Takes anywhere from an hour to several hours, depending on the tool
and the size of the original HD.

But if you wait for a drive to go bad, you are almost guaranteed to lose
personal data or require repair to the system files. *Something* will
get messed up. Getting another HD, now, is not a bad idea, in order to
use it for image-style backup. Then if your main drive goes south, and
presuming you are keeping the backup up-to-date, you just pull the bad
drive out, swap a jumper or two, swap a cable or two, and restart.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"PSYCHOPIXIE" <PSYCHOPIXIE.1ms0zz@news.win98banter.com> wrote in message
newsSYCHOPIXIE.1ms0zz@news.win98banter.com...
>
> I was wondering do people generally give the likes of HDD health and
> such like any merrit with regards to predicting the Hard drive life
end
> date? I installed the above and the conking out prediction date tends
to
> jump around a bit between July and November this year which I of
course
> found concerning. The pc is 3 years old and has never had disk errors
> ever, merely only the odd lost cluster which after upgrading to xp it
> tends to sort out. I ran the self test on the set up screen a couple
of
> times and it gives a perfect zero which is fine.I could quite easily
> purchase a replacement from Compaq for about £20 but it will be so
much
> hassle reinstalling all my junk not to mention having to install
windows
> again etc. What do you guys think? Is it tricky to fit a new HD?
Should
> I do it in advance? I have experience in fiddling around within the
> system unit but haven't ever had to rip out and bung in a new hd.
> Thanks
>
>
> --
> PSYCHOPIXIE

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

"PSYCHOPIXIE" <PSYCHOPIXIE.1ms0zz@news.win98banter.com> wrote in message
newsSYCHOPIXIE.1ms0zz@news.win98banter.com...

> I was wondering do people generally give the likes of HDD health and
> such like any merrit with regards to predicting the Hard drive life end
> date? I installed the above and the conking out prediction date tends to
> jump around a bit between July and November this year which I of course

We do not know HDD HEALTH. Most N.American
users seem to favour the HDD tools distributed by
drive manufacturers via their web sites.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

"PSYCHOPIXIE" <PSYCHOPIXIE.1ms0zz@news.win98banter.com> wrote in message
newsSYCHOPIXIE.1ms0zz@news.win98banter.com...
>
> I was wondering do people generally give the likes of HDD health and
> such like any merrit with regards to predicting the Hard drive life end
> date? I installed the above and the conking out prediction date tends to
> jump around a bit between July and November this year which I of course
> found concerning. The pc is 3 years old and has never had disk errors
> ever, merely only the odd lost cluster which after upgrading to xp it
> tends to sort out. I ran the self test on the set up screen a couple of
> times and it gives a perfect zero which is fine.I could quite easily
> purchase a replacement from Compaq for about £20 but it will be so much
> hassle reinstalling all my junk not to mention having to install windows
> again etc. What do you guys think? Is it tricky to fit a new HD? Should
> I do it in advance? I have experience in fiddling around within the
> system unit but haven't ever had to rip out and bung in a new hd.
> Thanks
>
>
> --
> PSYCHOPIXIE

Snake oil. You don't know if its going to fail without obvious signs like
loss of data, or delays and clicking sounds from the hard drive.
Some HDs fails out of the box, and some may last ten years or more. The
snake oil stuff has no idea the difference.