Possible Hard Drive Failure?

WindowsLaptopGuy

Honorable
Oct 7, 2012
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10,510
Hi Guys,

I am writing to you guys today because I think that my hard drive is dying, but I am not exactly sure what is happening. I am not sure if I can still use this laptop or not, it would be a real shame to lose it because I have only had it for one year and it has already been repaired once.

A few days ago my laptop had a message saying 'dumping physical memory to disk' and then had the Blue Screen of Death.
After that, it refused to boot up and only gave the message 'A disk read error has occured. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to restart.'
I read about on some forums and found some advice telling me to perform a SMART test.
So I booted up from a USB into the Linux environment and used GSmartControl which has a nice GUI but just performs SMART tests etc.

This was the output of the SMART test.

smartctl 5.41 2011-06-09 r3365 [i686-linux-3.2.0-29-generic-pae] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-11 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: HITACHI HTS547575A9E384
Serial Number: J2540059G0NB5E
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 6e0c04c6e
Firmware Version: JE4ZD60D
User Capacity: 750,156,374,016 bytes [750 GB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 6
Local Time is: Sun Oct 7 14:56:00 2012 UTC
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 121) The previous self-test completed having
the read element of the test failed.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 45) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 210) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x003d) SCT Status supported.
SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 078 078 062 Pre-fail Always - 53674136
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 194 194 033 Pre-fail Always - 1
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 457
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 097 097 005 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 067 Pre-fail Always - 0
8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 809
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 457
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x000a 095 095 000 Old_age Always - 15
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 17
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 7338
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0002 193 193 000 Old_age Always - 31 (Min/Max 14/43)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 34515
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0022 056 056 000 Old_age Always - 1216
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
223 Load_Retry_Count 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 2915 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 2915 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 807 hours (33 days + 15 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 08 00 b4 30 02 Error: UNC 8 sectors at LBA = 0x0230b400 = 36746240

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 08 00 b4 30 e0 00 00:22:30.912 READ DMA EXT
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:30.912 SET FEATURES [Reserved for Serial ATA]
27 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:22:30.912 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:30.911 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:30.911 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

Error 2914 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 807 hours (33 days + 15 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 08 00 b4 30 02 Error: UNC 8 sectors at LBA = 0x0230b400 = 36746240

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 08 00 b4 30 e0 00 00:22:27.620 READ DMA EXT
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:27.620 SET FEATURES [Reserved for Serial ATA]
27 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:22:27.619 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:27.618 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:27.618 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

Error 2913 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 807 hours (33 days + 15 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 08 00 b4 30 02 Error: UNC 8 sectors at LBA = 0x0230b400 = 36746240

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 08 00 b4 30 e0 00 00:22:24.294 READ DMA EXT
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:24.294 SET FEATURES [Reserved for Serial ATA]
27 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:22:24.294 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:24.293 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:24.293 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

Error 2912 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 807 hours (33 days + 15 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 08 00 b4 30 02 Error: UNC 8 sectors at LBA = 0x0230b400 = 36746240

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 08 00 b4 30 e0 00 00:22:21.002 READ DMA EXT
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:21.002 SET FEATURES [Reserved for Serial ATA]
27 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:22:21.002 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:21.001 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:21.001 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

Error 2911 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 807 hours (33 days + 15 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 08 00 b4 30 02 Error: UNC 8 sectors at LBA = 0x0230b400 = 36746240

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 08 00 b4 30 e0 00 00:22:17.666 READ DMA EXT
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:17.666 SET FEATURES [Reserved for Serial ATA]
27 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:22:17.665 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:17.664 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:22:17.664 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 809 1314005395

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

I would really appreciate any help that you guys could give me.

Thanks :)
 
Your drive does appear to be very ill.

Although there are no reallocated sectors, the following attributes are indicative of internal problems:

1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 078 078 062 Pre-fail Always - 53674136
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 34515
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0022 056 056 000 Old_age Always - 1216

I would backup your data and replace the drive, if possible.

BTW, Hitachi's raw attribute values are often multibyte values.

For example ...

53 674 136 = 0x03330098 (hexadecimal)

Therefore the raw error rate might in fact be 0x0098 or 0x0333. In any case the normalised value (78) is low.