OT: hard disk error :^(

[Dave Labrecque]

When I built my system in 2011 I put two WD Black 640 GB HDD's in. One of them lost it's NTFS status and was showing as "RAW." I tried chkdsk on it, and it showed errors, then said it fixed them. But another sweep showed the same errors, again.

I was able to extract almost all of the data using Testdisc, a free command-line-based disc utility, and put it on an external drive. Then, I was able to wipe and reformat the WD drive. Then I copied the data back to it. But upon comparing the source and the destination after the copy, some was missing. I ran chkdsk on the drive, again, and it showed the same thing. Errors that it said were fixed, then said weren't fixed. I downloaded a WD utility, which did a real slow analysis, but it couldn't fix it, either. My understanding is that "fixing" it probably means marking bad sectors as not usable. Whatever. No love.

Nothing's working to fix the drive. I would just go on using it, but I'm afraid it'll go RAW on me again without notice. Or some other kind of bad thing will happen.

I'm planning to replace the drive, but -- any other ideas on how I might make it usable/trustable, again? Are there any better utilities I could try? Not interested in spending much, as you may imagine. Free is good. But I know that you usually get what you pay for. :D

Thanks for any insights.

[Cary B. Cornett]

I'm pretty sure I have some hard drives in service that are older than 2011, but I'm pretty sure most drive warranties were no more than 3 years. The few times that I have experienced a drive failure, I have replaced the drive. If a drive has once proven unreliable, it is not to be trusted again beyond however long it takes you to archive off the known good data. For the amount of storage we get now, drives are cheaper than ever, and occasional replacement is just "cost of doing business".

[UpTilDawn]

I'm pretty sure I have some hard drives in service that are older than 2011, but I'm pretty sure most drive warranties were no more than 3 years. The few times that I have experienced a drive failure, I have replaced the drive. If a drive has once proven unreliable, it is not to be trusted again beyond however long it takes you to archive off the known good data. For the amount of storage we get now, drives are cheaper than ever, and occasional replacement is just "cost of doing business".

I agree with Cary... replace the drive and don't look back.
WD 1TB Black label SATA drives have been a cheap, but reliable drive for me recently, if you're looking for a recommendation.

[mr_es335]

Dave,

No drive, when it has failed or has, or is giving you "issues" of any kind is worth re-using. As mentioned, the WD Black series are my "go to" drives. 3 year warranty on these drives.

The WD "Raptor" series have a 5 year warranty, but they are more expensive and most operate at 10,000 rpm.

I do have some commercial HDD test tools - there is none free out there that I know that are trust-worthy.

As a side note, most data recovery facilities will do a test of your drive. A place out here that I know of has done it for me in the past - but I only do it to discover what actually went wrong. I would never, ever use a drive, especially for data, that had failed previously.

PS: Interestingly, a refurbished HDD is one that has been repaired by, or for the manufacturer - and which is common for warranty-replacement drives. This is usually offered near the end of the HDD's warranty period. WD will offer an upgrade for a new drive at a small cost - but will only be warrantied for the remainder of the original HDD. For me, I would never use a refurbished HDD.

Hope this helps?

[Ian Alexander]

I have to agree with the "abandon it" sentiment others have expressed. I try to replace entire computers every three years. I sometimes realize that after four years.

[mr_es335]

Dave,

For your interest, here are two articles of interest:

How drive reliability is measured and the MTBF of WD drives (https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=665)

Leaving an external hard drive powered on all the time (https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=1386)

[Dave Labrecque]

Thanks, everyone. Ya party poopers. ;)

Yeah, yer probably right. I just read this stuff about chkdsk marking bad sectors so that they're ignored, thinking "problem solved!" But, I guess that's not practical. Maybe it wasn't ever meant to be a permanent fix to a drive.

FWIW (Dell), this is an internal drive, and I power down the computer most nights.

I just bought my first SSD (6 Gb SATA) from B&H. My plan is to move the boot partition to it. Anything to watch out for in my first "mission critical" image transfer?

[mr_es335]

Dave,

I just bought my first SSD (6 Gb SATA) from B&H....6 GB's...are you sure?

Other than that...SSD's are "wonderful"l. Just great for boot drives...not too sure about data though.

They work just like a "spinner" - so no issues here at all.

[Dave Labrecque]

Dave,
...6 GB's...are you sure?

Other than that...SSD's are "wonderful"l. Just great for boot drives...not too sure about data though.

They work just like a "spinner" - so no issues here at all.

SATA III is 6 giga BITS per second max, yes? Certainly not giga BYTES! :rolleyes:

https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8142/~/difference-between-sata-i%2C-sata-ii-and-sata-iii

[Richard Rupert]

SATA III is 6 giga BITS per second max, yes? Certainly not giga BYTES! :rolleyes:

https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8142/~/difference-between-sata-i%2C-sata-ii-and-sata-iii
I believe Dell thought you were referring to drive capacity, not throughput. :)

[mr_es335]

Richard,

I believe Dell thought you were referring to drive capacity, not throughput....You are correct...unless my "mind-meld" skills are abating due to older-age?

[Dave Labrecque]

I believe Dell thought you were referring to drive capacity, not throughput. :)

Ah. It did seem odd that Dell wouldn't be hip to SATA specs. :p

[Dave Labrecque]

Richard,
...You are correct...unless my "mind-meld" skills are abating due to older-age?

For me, apparently, it's communication and comprehension skills. :rolleyes: