How to test if a hard drive is knackered?

MikeTyson · Dec 30, 2009

My boot times are insanely long and the hard drive activity is crazy

Think my Western Digital has given up the ghost..

Is there a way to test this?

Thanks

sneekypeet · Dec 30, 2009

I think western digital provides diagnostic software at their site.

Something along the lines of HDtune or HDtack may show or lead you to whats wrong.

mlee49 · Dec 30, 2009

You could scan the drive and see if a sector went bad. HDtune is what I use.

Damn it Sneeky!

link for HDTune:
http://www.hdtune.com/

Charper2013 · Dec 30, 2009

sneekypeet said:
I think western digital provides diagnostic software at their site.

Something along the lines of HDtune or HDtack may show or lead you to whats wrong.

Beat me to it.

MikeTyson · Dec 30, 2009

Right so what am I doing here then?

Phxprovost · Dec 30, 2009

MikeTyson said:
http://img.techpowerup.org/091230/safe.png

Right so what am I doing here then?

checking the health section for SMART error returns :toast:

Charper2013 · Dec 30, 2009

MikeTyson said:
http://img.techpowerup.org/091230/safe.png

Right so what am I doing here then?

Error Scan.

MikeTyson · Dec 30, 2009

Well the tests say it's Okay but I don't believe that at all

This hard drive takes an extremely long time to do anything... a lot more than it used to

sneekypeet · Dec 30, 2009

has it been defragged lately?

Charper2013 · Dec 30, 2009

MikeTyson said:
Well the tests say it's Okay but I don't believe that at all

This hard drive takes an extremely long time to do anything... a lot more than it used to

Defragg?

......Sneeky

MikeTyson · Dec 30, 2009

It's been formatted cleanly several times and just keeps degrading

sneekypeet · Dec 30, 2009

Charper2013 said:
Defragg?

Twice in one thread

Phxprovost · Dec 30, 2009

what leads you to believe its the hdd? are your access times really high? sure its not something else?

MikeTyson · Dec 30, 2009

Phxprovost said:
what leads you to believe its the hdd? are your access times really high? sure its not something else?

It's the same in my other system too..

It just has so much activity and it's so loud, especially when you boot up

It takes like twice as long now just to get to XP Desktop as it used to when it wasn't as old

And i used to be able to interact with the computer straight away

Now I have to wait ages..

And I don't have anything hogging my startup or extra programmes I never had before

It's just sucky

I hav a really cheap ExcelStor Jupiter 160GB SATA-II, but cos it's cheap I dunno if it'll be any better

Whats the best way to compare?

I'll finish this thread later, it's 5:40am

RejZoR · Dec 30, 2009

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/activediskmon.html

Use this. It'll tell you the condition of the HDD.

MikeTyson · Dec 30, 2009

This doesn't look too great

Beertintedgoggles · Dec 30, 2009

Hopefully this is obvious and redundant, but you have scanned for spyware and the like right? Also, have you recently installed an antivirus program or changed your antivirus to a different and more invasive program? I use CA antivirus since it's free with our ISP and I have not had any virus issues since using it (not that I had them before either). However, that program on a single core processor will being the system to its knees. Disable it though, and the PC instantly springs back to life speed wise.

MikeTyson · Dec 30, 2009

Yea, but even after a fresh clean install of XP with nothing installed it's still reallyyyyyyyyy slow

Chryonn · Jan 4, 2010

really long load times, random clicking, and crazy activity all point to a knackered drive. save your stuff NOW before it's too late.

[H]@RD5TUFF · Jan 4, 2010

MikeTyson said:
It's the same in my other system too..

It just has so much activity and it's so loud, especially when you boot up

It takes like twice as long now just to get to XP Desktop as it used to when it wasn't as old

And i used to be able to interact with the computer straight away

Now I have to wait ages..

And I don't have anything hogging my startup or extra programmes I never had before

It's just sucky

I hav a really cheap ExcelStor Jupiter 160GB SATA-II, but cos it's cheap I dunno if it'll be any better

Whats the best way to compare?

I'll finish this thread later, it's 5:40am

Is it making any kind of noises? If it's spinning loudly, that's not really a sign of immanent failure, it's fairly normal for hard drives to grow louder as they get older, as the bearings get older and the lubricant in them begins to break down. What you should be on the alert for is mechanical scratching or crunching, or clangy squeeky noises. If this is the case, and there is a tangible difference in preformance, I suggest you back up your instilation on a spare hard drive, and begin to look for a replacement. Also as stated before, if you don't defrag on a regular basis you could just have a problem of the data being fragmented all over the hard drive, and thus increasing access times, and slowing down your computer.

MilkyWay · Jan 4, 2010

i dont know if you can test but i get a feeling when mine are going to die, the noise is one major way of telling

clicks and not loading is another one

corrupt data is another one

apart from general stuff there is only like disk checking for corrupt data

francis511 · Jan 5, 2010

Tried chkdsk yet ?

MikeTyson · Jan 5, 2010

Hmm nah, I really can't afford another one

But yea, it does make some horrid noises when it spins up and winds down when you shut down, and a lot of crunching when it searches

When you hav no money, what can ya do...

[H]@RD5TUFF · Jan 5, 2010

MikeTyson said:
Hmm nah, I really can't afford another one

But yea, it does make some horrid noises when it spins up and winds down when you shut down, and a lot of crunching when it searches

When you hav no money, what can ya do...

Grab your "ExcelStor Jupiter 160GB SATA-II" drive and get it ready, if the drive is under 3 years old WD should still honor the warranty, and use the cheap one while you wait for the drive to come back from RMA, sadly if you can't buy a new one, that is pretty much your only option.

MikeTyson · Jan 5, 2010

[H]@RD5TUFF said:
Grab your "ExcelStor Jupiter 160GB SATA-II" drive and get it ready, if the drive is under 3 years old WD should still honor the warranty, and use the cheap one while you wait for the drive to come back from RMA, sadly if you can't buy a new one, that is pretty much your only option.

It was from an OEM PC ^_^

System Name	Swag
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System Name	Swag
Processor	Intel Xeon E3110 4GHz
Motherboard	GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L
Cooling	Scythe Infinity I Push-Pull w/ AS5
Memory	2x2GB Transcend 800MHz DDR2 @ 890MHz 1.9v
Video Card(s)	Palit nVIDIA GTX460 1GB 800/1600/2000
Storage	Crucial M4 64GB
Display(s)	LG Flatron M1917TM 1280x1024 @ 60Hz
Audio Device(s)	Realtek HD Audio
Power Supply	OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W
Software	Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

How to test if a hard drive is knackered?

MikeTyson

sneekypeet

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mlee49

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MikeTyson

Phxprovost

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Charper2013

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MikeTyson

sneekypeet

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Charper2013

New Member

MikeTyson

sneekypeet

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Phxprovost

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MikeTyson

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MikeTyson

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MikeTyson

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[H]@RD5TUFF

MikeTyson

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