HDD is crashing very frequently, 5th time in 2yrs

[Ankur Kashyap]

Hi,

My HDD is crashing very frequently, now 5th time in 2yrs. I made a my system 2 yrs back with following config:

Processor: Core 2 Duo , E8400 3GHz
Mobo: Gigabyte - P45 chipset, GA-EP45-DS4P
RAM : Corsair XMS2 , 2GB x2 kit
Graphics Card: Nvidia 8400GS
SMPS: Cooler master 400W
HDD: 500GB Seagate

OS: WinXp 32 bit

What could be possible reason ? I doubt either Mobo or SMPS.

The mobo has diagnostic LED which light up during POST in case of any error/ issues.
The SATA & PATA IDE LEDs are switching on in my case during POST. This have written this to Gigabyte support three times, but they aren't ready to accept that SATA controller on mobo can damage the HDD. I've also got my SMPS checked at cooler master 's service center and they say it ok.

I've tried changing my seagate's baracuda HDD with WD's Green cavier, but result is same. WD's HDD developed bad sector after one month. My PC usage is very limited to browsing & mailing. There are no games installed.


can anyone suggest whats could be the possible cause of the problem.

-AK

 

[Rusting In Peace]

Gigabyte are right. The storage controller cannot damage the HDD.

What precisely do you mean when you say your hard drive is crashing? Do you mean that you get a blue or black screen occasionally? Or do you mean you can no longer boot into Windows?

One thing to check in your case that your hard drive is getting suitable ventilation. Use speedfan to see what the hard drive temperature is like.

Hard drives can just plain fail regardless of their age. You should pay attention to SMART data and make regular backups of your data. Perhaps consider using enterprise versions of hard drives as these as designed to be more reliable. Alternatively set up RAID 1.

 

[Ankur Kashyap]

Thanks!

by hard disk crashing I meant developing bad sectors and errors saying unable to read or write.

i use cooler masters cabinet with 3 fans and have mounted HDD cooler (fan with heat sink on HDD) . Since this is my fifth crash , i ve done this too. Temp doesnt go above 30 deg C .

After resolving temperature issues after first crash , i got the wiring checked for proper earthing, replace and got higher wattage UPS,.

If mobo is ok , then why the diagnostic led light up for 10 seconds during post , while its detecting the drives. This even happens if no hdd is connected

-AK

 

[need4speeds]

Maybe its the sata cable? I have had a bad ide ribbon cables before and replacing the cable fixed the trouble. So far i have not seen that happen with sata cables yet.
A new sata cable is so cheap, or maybe you already have one, it's worth a try who knows?

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hi there,

Might consider downloading and using HD Tune, either the free edition or Pro edition, and thoroughly evaluating you HDD now and intermittantly. It has multiple HDD tests built in, including a Health Report that looks at all the S.M.A.R.T parameters including temperatures, sector reallocation, etc., Read/Write speeds, and an Error Scan that checks all the used sectors or all sectors on the HDD.

Another very good minimal cost program is ActiveSmart, which runs in the background and graphs out all the parameters such as temp, and will alert you if you are experiencing significant sector reallocation or other changes.

That way you will know if it is a HDD problem, a temperature problem, or something else.