hard drive failure imminent??

[Kelli]

Hi there,

I noticed a couple of alarming msgs in the Windows Event Viewer this
morning while I was poking around in there and checking out these
Administrative programs for the first time.

The first event I noticed was Event ID 7, a disk error, that said:
"The device, \Device\Harddisk0\D, has a bad block."
There were several of these in a row, I'd say about 10 or 12 all
within a minute of each other.

I poked around some more and found Event ID: 52, another disk error
that said: "Driver has detected that device \Device\Harddisk0\DR0 has
predicted that it will fail. Immediately back up your data and
replace your hard drive. A failure may be imminent:

Well that woke me up. Looked for a freebie hard disk diagnostic type
software and found Passmark Disk Checkup. It reports that everything
is fine. Also, when I choose the Manage option in My Computer,
Windows reports also that everything is ok with the hard drives.

My system is only 5 months old, 2.6 GHz with a 160 GB hard drive
partitioned into 4 drives (NTFS). I'm running Win XP Pro and I
haven't noticed any problems really, other than my computer possibly
acting a little sluggish at times, maybe a little slower than when I
first brought it home. (I attributed it to the fact that I've been
installing quite a bit of software lately).

I also ran chkdsk from the cmd prompt and tho it did report errors
(all it said was "Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap. Windows
found problems with the file system.") it said there were no bad
sectors. I didn't use the /f switch on chkdsk as I'm afraid to at
this point...I need to do a bit of backing up first.

Can anyone tell me if I should be worried, or if there's something
else I can do to look into this further. Maybe some software out
there I can purchase (or free?!) to help with this? Or something
already in the system that I can check out for further information.
In the meantime I guess I'll start backing up stuff.

Thanks very much for any and all suggestions! And for reading this
rather lengthy post!
Kelli

 

[CJT]

Hi there,

I noticed a couple of alarming msgs in the Windows Event Viewer this
morning while I was poking around in there and checking out these
Administrative programs for the first time.

The first event I noticed was Event ID 7, a disk error, that said:
"The device, \Device\Harddisk0\D, has a bad block."
There were several of these in a row, I'd say about 10 or 12 all
within a minute of each other.

I poked around some more and found Event ID: 52, another disk error
that said: "Driver has detected that device \Device\Harddisk0\DR0 has
predicted that it will fail. Immediately back up your data and
replace your hard drive. A failure may be imminent:

Well that woke me up. Looked for a freebie hard disk diagnostic type
software and found Passmark Disk Checkup. It reports that everything
is fine. Also, when I choose the Manage option in My Computer,
Windows reports also that everything is ok with the hard drives.

My system is only 5 months old, 2.6 GHz with a 160 GB hard drive
partitioned into 4 drives (NTFS). I'm running Win XP Pro and I
haven't noticed any problems really, other than my computer possibly
acting a little sluggish at times, maybe a little slower than when I
first brought it home. (I attributed it to the fact that I've been
installing quite a bit of software lately).

I also ran chkdsk from the cmd prompt and tho it did report errors
(all it said was "Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap. Windows
found problems with the file system.") it said there were no bad
sectors. I didn't use the /f switch on chkdsk as I'm afraid to at
this point...I need to do a bit of backing up first.

Can anyone tell me if I should be worried, or if there's something
else I can do to look into this further. Maybe some software out
there I can purchase (or free?!) to help with this? Or something
already in the system that I can check out for further information.
In the meantime I guess I'll start backing up stuff.

Thanks very much for any and all suggestions! And for reading this
rather lengthy post!
Kelli

Disks are generally cheaper and easier to replace than data.

I'd be especially concerned if it's an IBM (or Hitachi) drive,
but maybe that's just me.

 

[Ron Reaugh]

Believe the warning(SMART) and replace the disk ASAP.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Believe the warning (SMART) and replace the disk ASAP.

Yup, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT check for powersupply problems
or overheating. Believe the clueless S.M.A.R.T. warnings that a failure surely and without a doubt, will be imminent.

 

[Kelli]

Thanks all for your input. I redid the chkdsk and fixed the errors.
Reported minor errs, no bad sectors.

Now I'm wondering, is there any way to tell if this hard drive failure
that's predicted is mechanical in nature, as in if it will be
unusable, or if maybe this could be corrected with a reformatting of
the disk.

Would purchasing a utility like System Mechanic help me solve some of
these problems, or provide me any more information as to the nature of
what's causing this. And do you foresee any harm in running a utility
like that?

Thanks again for your help!
Kelli

 

[terry_b17]

Kelli,
you didn't post the maker of your hd , but all the hdd makers sites i
have visited list diagnostic software and utilities for their drives
. seagate , western digital and maxtor all have tools to diagnose as
well as software to copy the contents of your old drive to the new
one .
hope this helps,
terry

==============
Posted through www.HowToFixComputers.com/bb - free access to hardware troubleshooting newsgroups.

 

[Eric Gisin]

No, you download the manufacturer's diagnostics. It tells you if the drive can
be returned under warranty.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Thanks all for your input.

Which obviously you didn't understand.

I redid the chkdsk and fixed the errors.

Reported minor errs, no bad sectors.

Doesn't necessarily mean that they haven't been there at some time or
other. S.M.A.R.T. did warn for something. Best to find out what it was.

Now I'm wondering, is there any way to tell if this hard drive failure
that's predicted

Right, predicted, not imminent.

is mechanical in nature, as in if it will be unusable,

Failure means unusable. Prediction means maybe, maybe not.
The prediction is based on the assumption that the errors it
was based on continue to happen until failure is a reality.
When it doesn't continue that prediction is off.

So if that message doesn't continuously reappear you may be off
the hook. Check your S.M.A.R.T. tables on the drive using one
of the many S.M.A.R.T. utilities.

or if maybe this could be corrected with a reformatting of the disk.

So, yes. Or just writing zeroes. Or plain nothing when normal daily use
already took care of them.

Would purchasing a utility like System Mechanic help me solve some of
these problems, or provide me any more information as to the nature of
what's causing this.

Unless they massively updated the version of System Mechanic that I have, no.

And do you foresee any harm in running a utility like that?

No. Completely useles.

 

[Kelli]

Ya know, I really don't know the manufacturer of the hd as I bought
the system already built. It's still under warranty tho, I'd just
really rather take care of it myself if I can (don't wanna be without
computer for the week or two that they'll likely have it!). I'll look
at the paperwork and find out what make of hd it is and go from there.

I dunno if maybe I just don't wanna believe it or what, but I keep
questioning this event. Shouldn't there be other warnings in the
event log besides just the one, if my hard drive was really failing.

Also, I ran Passmark's free utility Disk Checkup, which gives values
based on SMART, and it's reporting everything is OK. But I'll look
into the manufacturer of the disk and find a utility from them.

Thanks again for everyone's input!
Kelli

 

[Fabien LE LEZ]

Ya know, I really don't know the manufacturer of the hd

It's written on the HD.
Also, SMART also reports the name of the HD, which contains the brand
name.

 

[Eric Gisin]

It's written on the HD.
Also, SMART also reports the name of the HD, which contains the brand
name.

The obvious place to look is Device Management, or even POST.