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How to Tell A HD is Going To Fail?

Forum Storage : Hard Disks - How to Tell A HD is Going To Fail?

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Cooj   07-16-2002 at 03:39:33 PM

Hi Everyone

I have an IBM 25GB 7200rpm drive. It's roughly around 2 years old now and lately it's been giving me problems. Over the past couple of weeks I've been seeing it crash due to instability as well as giving me a blue screen (in xp? weird no?) once in awhile from a fatal error. I decided to move my OS to a new HD but I haven't switched over completely yet. So I'm still running my old HD.

Last night I was running a few things.. icq.. aim etc then all of a sudden the hd made a click/power down type noise and evreything stalled for about 20 seconds. I thought my computer had crashed but after 20 seonds it continued working... but about 5 minutes later everything just started closing on it's own and my computer crashed.

It seems that everytime something bad is about to happen it makes a click noise/power down noise. SO, my question basically is.... how long can you expect a drive to last for? and what kind of signs should I be lookig for in terms of determining if the drive will fail soon or not?

Thanks,
Cooj

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btvillarin   07-16-2002 at 07:58:14 PM
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The clicking sounds is the warning that it is about to die. What you should do is get all your important stuff all that drive, and wave "bye bye" to that HD. And, if you're reading this now: don't wait until it's too late! Go go go!!! (Just so you know, I'm serious.)

Bryan
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<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> isn't going to go down. I will stay alive. :smile: To keep updated about the future move my host will undertake, keep your eye on my <A HREF="http://btvillarin.fateback.com" target="_new">official btvillarin.com status site</A> and sign up for my mailing list.

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Bardic   07-18-2002 at 10:12:50 PM
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IBM has a very good Harddrive fitness test that you can put on a floppy and boot with. And btvillarin is right, get your stuff off as soon as possible.

Harddrives can last for years or go out in a matter of days. But as soon as they start having problems and espeacially making noises then they are close to dying completely.

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ejsmith2   07-19-2002 at 01:11:06 AM
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Spinrite also hammers your hard disk. It takes about 6 hours, but it cranks through the entire drive, about 30 times, and checks the differentials between scans.

Spinrite is a good one, but the Ibm'er is probably free.

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