WD20EARS Possibly Failing...need opinions

[skytanker2003]

Hello all,

I've been having an issue with transfer of data on my drives and I'm looking for some advice from someone more experienced than me.

I currently have my 160GB as my OS and my 2x2TB Greens in Windows Dynamic Disk mode for a total of about 3.4TB and as you can tell by my setup details below, I definitely use them. After I returned from vacation, I noticed slow transfer rates to/from the Dynamic Disk leading to freezing the computer to the point that Task Manager won't respond eventually requiring a restart. Now, anything to do with the Dynamic Disk causes slow transfer rate and eventual unrecoverable freezing (defrag, disk cleanup, Security Essentials Quick Scan, Advanced SystemCare scans, and even Windows Media Center searching for media on those drives). None of this is causing any Windows error messages or any messages whatsoever, and hitting the physical Restart button leads to a clean reboot with no hangs or issues. My OS HDD doesn't seem to have any of this issue. Right now, I can't even move the stuff off the drive to back it up (movies/DVR/etc) because the transfer freezes before completion, regardless of the file size.

I did a benchmark with HDTune 2.55 and these results are consistent over multiple reboots and are pushing me towards a possible disk issue. Other than this, I can't find anything else wrong with my comp. It's less than a year old, BIOS and all drivers/updates are up-to-date. This setup was working perfectly before I left for vacation, so either a surge rolled through, it overheated or is just broke. Let me know if there is any additional information I can provide or if you think I've chased down the wrong rabbit hole. Thanks!

HDTune Benchmark ("bad" 2TB):

HDTune Benchmark (good 2TB):

SETUP: Home Theater PC (homebuild)
-Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3-B3
-Intel i7-2600K OC to 3.4MHz
-G.Skill Ripjaws X 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR3 2133
-2x 2TB Caviar Green (Media Drive, music, DVR, DVD backup, etc)
-1x 160GB Caviar Blue (OS)
-ATI Radeon HD 5750
-Windows 7 64-bit running 7MC as player
-Ceton InfiniTV PCIe w/Comcast

 

[scout_03]

use data lifeguard diagnostic from wd to test drive you will get real report from drive maker on what to do

 

[skytanker2003]

UPDATE: Ran WD DLG quick scan and came up with "Pass", then ran extended scan "Fail" with error: "Too many bad sectors detected" at about 1/4 way through the "Extended Test" portion of the scan. Went back and quick scanned to get "Fail" on that too.

Anyone know if the "Too many bad sectors" is recoverable? I've pretty much given up trying to save the data off of it with all the errors/freezes preventing it. I've done searching around and most stories like this end with either an RMA or a reformat where the bad sectors get marked as unusable. It sounded like the reformat was a temporary fix, delaying the inevitable...thoughts? Any benefit to wasting time trying to reformat rather than going directly to RMA?

 

[scout_03]

save all the data you could get after make chks disk see if you get more data then rma

 

[skytanker2003]

@scout: Save the data from the DLG? I've taken all the data I can off the disk/s. The rest of the data (about 1.9TB worth) can't be taken off through drag/drop or copy/paste without encountering the unrecoverable freeze. Luckily, most of this data is just DVD backups and not personal data or family photos/videos.

Unless you know a trick besides the drag/drop to get the data duplicated to another drive...

 

[scout_03]

if the drive is freezing well look like you gone have to forget the rest of the data

 

[skytanker2003]

Good stuff. Used the Microsoft Support system online to separate my Dynamic Disks into two separate drives again only to find on reboot that I now have a BSOD as soon as the Windows load bar (right after "Loading Operating System..." message) appears.

BIOS was set with OS as" IDE Channel ## Slave" and drives as "AHCI" for some reason and got BSOD: "0xFFFFF880009A97E8, 0xFFFFFFFFC0000034, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000".

Changed BIOS to drive "IDE" and "IDE Channel ## Master": 0x0000007B (0xFFFFF880009A97E8, 0xFFFFFFFFC0000034, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000)


Tried Win Startup Repair and received:

Problem event Name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Sig 02: Same
Sig 03: unknown
Sig 04: 21200545
Sig 05: AutoFailover
Sig 06: 3
Sig 07: BadDriver
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033


Also tried:
Safe Mode w/ & w/out Network: hung at load at file CLASSPNP.sys
Reboot with "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"
Enabling Bootlog (last thing I tried; now I'm trying to find a way to access the bootlog from my Command Prompt since CmdPrmpt is the only thing that seems to be working now. CmdPrmpt opens in X:\ titled "Boot" that I do not recognize. I'm assuming this is part of Win Startup Repair, but not sure, since my OS drive is C:\)

Current status has my OS drive, 2x2GB RAM, CPU, GPU connected, and nothing else. Both 2TB drives, Ceton PCI card are disconnected to eliminate that as a problem. My RAM has been swapped to opposite slots with no change. Moved the OS drive from SATA to SATA on the MB with no change. Messed with all sorts of settings in the BIOS with no change. I don't think it's a GPU driver because I still get display on my TV fine. I'm doubting it's a driver at all because nothing changed besides splitting the Dynamic Disk. I'm still frantically Googling from work to find an answer, but I'm hoping it's not "ciao" to my OS drive too...

I guess, suffice it to say, my WD20EARS drive is no longer an issue...

 

[scout_03]

read the next link hope it help http://www.petri.co.il/difference_between_basic_and_dynamic_disks_in_windows_xp_2000_2003.htm

 

[skytanker2003]

Best answer selected by skytanker2003.

 

[skytanker2003]

FINAL UPDATE: For this issue, scout's answer to get the WD disk utility worked to get a final answer on the bad drive and eventually solved the problem. Getting an RMA and hopefully get it in the next few weeks.

I'm just having a bad hard drive month. After removing the dynamic disk and losing data on my 2x2TBs and the ensuing Windows freak out, losing data on my OS drive and having to reformat and start from scratch...I moved my desktop and tipped my 1TB external (now THAT's broke and causing problems...looks like I'll have to shell out MORE big bucks to try and recover our personal data and family photos/videos off of it). RAID is definitely in my future, if HDD prices ever come down! I knew I should have bought like 4 more 2TBs when they were $80!!!

Anyway, thanks for the help! One issue down, two more to go!

 

[scout_03]

@ skytanker 2003
if you need help again come back on the forum