My HDD day's are numberd ?

[emil_t]

my hard drive makes some mechanical noise, not like scratching something, not metalic, somekind of a motor, i tend to see it as something retracting and in about 1/2 seconds later my computer blocks and i cannot do anything else and sometimes restrats without warning especially when i'm loggin in on a user and every time that's that noise something like an electric motor lasts probably 1 sec or 2.

Anyone can help ?

the hdd is about 300 GB so formatting (i will format sometime have to say i probably didn't format for probably a year, or more for other partitions) is a bit hard to do, sorting everything i need and don't need ... eats a hole lot of time.

and i read on the net that defragging, if while defraging there is a power blackout or windows error or whatever, it can make the certain partition unreadble (unformatted).

[Cobol74]

Hardware - probably the centre of the spindle where it meets the actual drive motor (Bearing is probably shot at a guess). Total hardware failure imminent IMHO. Back up (if you can get it to work at all) and un-install.

/EDIT if you have two drives disconnect the one without the OS on and start; if it still clicks, bangs and pops its that one, so rebuild and OS is needed. If not the swap out the other - much easier. Take the opportunity to get an upgrade to the HDD too.

[argatoga]

Backup your data. I don't know the sound it is making so there is a possibility it is a software thing with Windows allocating space, but I wouldn't risk it. Backup and run some hard drive diagnostics utility on it (check your harddrive manufacturer's website). If you keep having the problem after a completely format and install get a new drive. I would also start maintaing a regular backup (something which is a good idea to do anyway).

[Zorlac]

Yes, if its whining or clicking its probly going to die. Any errors in XP or Vista? What OS do you use? I'd get a new HD asap and trash this one.

[emil_t]

i have win XP, and the hardrive that i thinks give the errors is the one with the windows partition, because when i log on it restrat or makes that unusual sound and freezes. Oh yeah one more thing some time not that long ago i kept hearing clicks from the hdd every once in a while.
thanks for the replies

[Zorlac]

If you're hearing clicks, thats bad. The drive is on its way out. If you goto Administrative Tools>Event Viewer>System and see a bunch of errors relating to the HD that will only confirm things. New HDs are cheap. Get 2 if you can. One for your system, and buy an external enclosure for the other one. Use that for backups when in need. Saved my ass on more than a few times.

[emil_t]

where is Administrative Tools?

[emil_t]

i found it, but no hdd erors the most recent was

TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

and it was 2 days ago, but my comp today in about 15 minutes restrated 3 times and made that annoying sound
, only problem is i don't now wich of the 2 hdds is at fault

another error wich i do not understand

The Terminal Services service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s).

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

and other frequent messages (like the first one)

and this one

Error code 1000000a, parameter1 c5805a9b, parameter2 00000002, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 804f739f.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

and in the aplication part of event viewer i get a frequent error "application hang"






and what is disk caching?

[WillDAQ]

Time to back up all that data somewhere safe.

As a rule of thumb, when a HDD does anything out of the ordinary it's going to die in some way.

[argatoga]

Windows won't pick up a lot of messages from a dying hard drive. Back up your data now. Harddrives are cheap buy a new one.

[biasasaja]

Back your data (which you need to later on eventually as keeping a data on your computer isnt too good, something might happen), install a good ANTIVIRUS software like shield deluxe or karpesky. Do a whole computer scan. If it still making those noises. format it. If the noise is still there. Bin it . Get a new 1.

[NooDle]

don't read this reply, backup now. SRSLY

[emil_t]

hey thanks very much for the replies

went and bought a brand spanking new hdd segate 320GB utra ata with perpendicular recording (the guy said it's someking of new technology, don't think it's necessarily good, still though cachy name )

i think i found out wich of the 2 hdd is faulty now my new hdd and my maxtor are running and i don't hear any clicks and my computer doesn't crash so it must be the other hdd.

now, the big problem how do you back up 320 GB of data ? searching and sorting isn't an option because i think i need every minute and scecond the hdd is alive, but copying that much data will take probably hours, is there a way for fast backup ?

i made the new partitions on the new hdd with partition magic with create a new partition program, there was something called backup partition but i haven't quiet understand what it was so i thought i should go with the old fashion.

so to summarise : is there a way to copy 90% of a almost dead hdd to a new hdd ? i think the two are exactly the same model

thanks again finalgear support

[MadCow809]

yeah


plenty of programs will let you copy data from a dead/broken hdd.

What I recommend is to delete the partition / fdisk the old hard drive, just for good measure.

[freefall]

it's effed up, backup now

how do you back up 320 GB of data

Well if the data is worth less that $63 to you, then yes, there's no way you can back it up. Otherwise buy a 320 gb hard drive, you see

[emil_t]

Originally Posted by emil_t

hey thanks very much for the replies

went and bought a brand spanking new hdd segate 320GB utra ata with perpendicular recording (the guy said it's someking of new technology, don't think it's necessarily good, still though cachy name )

i've said i bought a new hard drive.

now i have 3, 1 dieing, 1 with mid life crisis and one new, 320gb each.

problem is that somebody told me that the ?reading head? hasn't got anymore days to live and it's because of that when i hear a motor sound my computer freezes, now, on my old hdd i have about 300 gb of data, and on my new one 300gb of free space, i said i don't think i should start sorting what to copy from the broken hard drive to the new one because that would eat up probably a few hours and the probability to leave something behind is high, and with copying the hole hdd (i'm thinking copy pasteing from old hard drive to new hard drive in windows, simple as that) would not only take a lot of time but i'm fearing of damage beacuse of the probability of sudden hdd freezing (still will try and see what happens), and i was asking is there somekind of program that copies data fast and with no fear of error if the old hdd freezes, in ms-dos probably ?

my dienghdd isn't connected to my pc for now, trying to find out the best method to copy from my dieing hdd to my brand new hdd.

sorry for beeing rso epetitive but i really want this to work

[MadCow809]

There are no programs available that could copy stuff faster than the speed the HDD operate.

Either way, it will still take a few hours, so just stick to copy/paste.


If you want to play it safe, try Smart Data Recovery, Norton Ghost or other misc hard drive programs.

[emil_t]

is the hdd segate 320GB ultra ata with perpendicular recording good in terms of realiabilty ?

[argatoga]

Originally Posted by emil_t

is the hdd segate 320GB ultra ata with perpendicular recording good in terms of realiabilty ?

To my knowledge all new largish hdds use perpendicular recording. It is the best way to cram a lot of data on the platter. They should be fine.

For backup I would suggest Norton Ghost, it is easy to use. If you want to be cheap you can try some free alternatives.

I have never used it but you can try the Trinity Rescue Kit.
trinityhome.org

[Cobol74]

Seagate are a good make and should be a sound choice - good luck with the rescue of data.