Is this sign of hdd failure?

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gendome

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Sorry if it's in the wrong section but i need your opinion and views.please and thanks
okay recently my laptop is displaying the following signs:
-playing music using windows media player, it stutters every 2s
- i cannot open multiple program without lagging( most i do is open 2 browsers( Palemoon and Internet Explorer)
- in the last 2 week i had 2 BSOD 1st is 5 days ago and the 2nd is last night.
- cpu spikes up from 20% to 90% for 10s then jumps back down even tho i did not open any new programs.

i used auslogic disk doctor to checked it for the 1st bsod and also windows startup repair, i defrag, clean and wipe my hdd. i realise wiping the hdd took 4 hours longer than average disk wiping( twice a month i disk wipe). there is no weird sound coming from my hdd so im guessing it's not physical problem. however i been using my laptop for 2 years with no BSOD until last week where i downloaded gimp 2.0 program. i uninstalled it the same day after finding it wasnt the type of program i wanted to use lol. so any thoughts what is happening to my laptop? if it helps here are the specs:

Asus A52jr, i3-350m, 4gb ram, ati 5470, seagate 5400rpm 500gb.

and once a week i virus scan using security essentials and no virueses found.

thanks a lot for your time :D
 
Solution
nukemaster
Each cell in an SSD has a limited number of write cycles.

Now it is important to know that an SSD will automatically perform what is called wear leveling, this allows the drive to use all the memory evenly. This greatly extends the like of the flash memory because it all has to wear down at once.

To make matters more interesting each cell does not just hold 1 bit of data(unless you get the REAL expensive ones). As such, when you write a small file a full cell has to be refreshed(even if the file does not fill the cell it self). Think of if a file just kept overwriting one section of the memory, it would run out of write cycles faster then spreading that wear over the full drive.

This is part of the reason why an SSD that is not taken...
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Saga Lout

Saga Lout

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Hello and welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums.

It certainly sounds like a suspect disk. Open a command prompt by pressing the Windows key and R together then typing cmd into th eopen box and hitting Enter.

At hte prompt type chkdsk c: /r (including aall the spaces) and hit Enter. If the test takes a long time over Stage 1 and finds unreadable files, don't even bother to go further. Try to get your files off before it dies completely and replace it.

Most laptop disks are easy to get at and remove but Google for and download the service manual if yo uhave a problem.


 
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gendome

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hi i did what you suggested and it says chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. it will check it on next time the system restarts. so im guessing this is normal? well will i did diskcheck it twice using auslogic disk doctor but im gonna do it again anyways. the first two diskcheck went well tho.
 
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gendome

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oh yea another thing is when is when i just run the auslogic speedboost system scan, there is registry errors, junk files, disk error and fragmented disk, the scan will always be stuck at disk error 2%. and during the scan everything lags and almost freezes( last time i could open multiple programs during the scan and it run smooth)
 
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Saga Lout

Saga Lout

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A restart will cause that Checkdisk to run outside the GUI - sorry, I should have mentioned that.

If it starts properly after that check, download CCleaner form http://www.piriform.com and run the Cleaner to get rid of all the clutter then scan the Registry and let it delete everything it finds. It only skims over the top removing things you don't need but accept the offer of a Registry backup just in case.


 
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gendome

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aha its ok, well the diskcheck is done, no bad sectors or anything. now im using ccleaner to wipe my hdd. but the strange thing is i have a friend who also downloads the gimp software and he also experiences the roughly the same symptom except now his hdd is dead o.o . just a info. well thanks a lot for your help. after disk wipe im gonna defrag my hdd and registry also. will keep you updated . :D
 
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gendome

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i done everything and all seems fine but whenever i run multiple programs it will lag very slow and the disk error checking by auslogic speedboost always stuck at 2%. so maybe that part of my hdd is bad?
 
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smorizio

smorizio

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i would power off the laptop and pull the battery and flip the laptop over and reseat both dimms. one of them may have worked lose. also have you run a hard drive vendor tool and smart tools??? seatools will be for seagate drives. there read the smart inf o of the drive and run some tests to see if the drive is bad. I would also run memtest to see if your ram is fine. you could have a bad stick of ram.
 
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gendome

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ok i ran all the test seatools provided except the advanced test since it warned i might lose all data if i continue and here are the results( ram is working fine):
S.M.A.R.T test= passed
short generic=passed
short DST( drive self test)=failed both times.
long generic= still testing.
 
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nukemaster

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Seatools is very bad with its short DST's now days(may be due to the drives being in SATA mode.). they seem to fail even on working drives.

That said, i would still back up data just in case.

HDtune has a VERY good drive test you can run. Easy to under stand. RED=BAD Green =Good :)

You can use the Free Trial or the FREE, they both have a similar test.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Also grab Bluescreen View to give us your BSOD errors.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

EDIT

smorizio,s suggestion for memory is a GREAT one. Loose memory causes many a blue screen error.

EDIT EDIT

Point in case :) This drive is fine and I have others that fail too.
seatools.jpg
 
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gendome

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well i sent it to shop guy say that it is indeed dying. so now there is a high chance im switching to WD scorpio blue 1tb drive cause it was the only one avalaible and best value. but is this drive ok?? i cant order hdd onlines as it doesnt ship to my country sadly
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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WD Scorpio Blue is Western Digital's main steam notebook drive and should be just fine.

They also have a line of drives labeled as Scorpio Black that are the high end drives(More Cache faster spindle speed, but lower capacity 750 gigs max), but it may or may not be overkill in many cases(how much speed do you want :) ). The black does come with a longer warranty as well.

I have an old Blue 320 IDE(2.5 inch) still kicking.
 
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gendome

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well i don't mind about speed of hdd, but it would be nice if the WD wont be slower than the seagate in my laptop. and wow freezing a HDD, first i heard of that. well i told the guy at shop im quite sure my HDD is dying but he wanted to run some more diagnostic to make sure then if it is, i will upgrade to the WD Scorpio Blue. i want the laptop to last 5 years then i consider changing it haha.
 
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Saga Lout

Saga Lout

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Slightly off-topic but it's as well to point out at this stage that the main cause of laptop hard disk failure is the way people pick up the laptop - lid open, thumbs pressing down on the panel around the touchpad and fingers digging into the bottom of the case. Doing that can actually put enough pressure on the disk as to physically stop it and sometimes you can hear the grinding noise of its death throes.

I hope this little tip stops one person messing up one hard disk in the future.




 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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Damn I am glad my old Compaq is built like a tank(and as heavy as one too). I sure can not do that to it.


Do you have the model number of the failing(maybe) seagate?
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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The new drive should be faster then the old one and also have slightly better access times(still behind desktop drives, but that is to be expected. Still laptop drives have become so much better in recent years).

If you use such a small portion of the drive and are on windows Vista/7/8. you can actually shrink the drive partition so that ALL data is on the fastest part of the drive. This improves access times and keeps you at in the fastest zone on the drive.

You can always extend the partition if you need the space in the future too.

A well DE-fragmented drive will also keep data in the fastest section of the drive too, this just ensures it has no place to go.

I guess you just have to wait for the diagnosis to be done now.
 
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gendome

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well its gonna take a week according to the guy in shop and for me i always defrag hdd once a week, twice a month wipe it, clear out all temp files but i heard defragging hdd will somehow shorten it lifespan( not a lot just a teeny tiny bit) because it has to spin more or something?
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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Defrag does not hurt a hard drive at all. The drive spins the same even at idle.

That said, don't defrag a SSD. that can hurt it.

Defrag every week or 2 may be too much, but it depends on your use.

All that defrag does is pull all the little bits of file together. When the drive writes, sometimes it breaks the file into many parts(either because is is doing other things or does not have a section with room for the full life and countless other reasons).

By wipe it you just mean clear extra files or actually reinstall windows? If reinstall windows, that must be a pain.
 
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