Help! Having weird HDD trouble!

[FulciLives]

Bare in mind I am running WinXP (Pro) on a system with multiple hard drives ...

Starting just a couple or so days ago I've been running into some oddness on my main HDD (my C: drive). It seems to be restricted to this HDD and none of my other drives.

What is happening is that files are getting seemingly corrupt. Sort of. Examples of what is happening:

1.) I download two RAR files that are linked (extract the first and it does the second one automatically). They were downloaded to my C: drive. I try to extract and get errors. I then copy the two RAR files to a another HDD on my system. I can now extract error free.

2.) I downloaded a huge torrent. Was about 3.71GB in file size. This was on my C: drive. So I copy it to another spot on the C: drive so I can "play" with the files and still seed (copy and paste not cut and paste). The copy seemed to go fine but in MY COMPUTER (WinXP) the new folder is only like 3.61GB in size (I forget the exact size but it was 3.6xGB for sure not 3.71GB). As a "test" I then copied this "copy" to another HDD on my system and magically it became 3.71GB again. The files seem A-OK and everything is there. However when I looked at the smaller set of files on the C: drive (the first original COPY of the original download) it still says 3.6XGB yet all the files are there?

3.) I'll sometimes try to copy a file from one spot on my C: drive to another spot and get all sorts of "errors" ... one which I keep getting is that the file length is too large yet that isn't the problem!?!? At least I can't see how it is since the original is fine and already on the same drive.

Now I'm no computer expert and have never seen such behavior so I am confused. However I have heard that before a hard drive "dies" i.e., physically "go bad" that data corruption will start to happen first and can be a warning sign that said HDD is dying. I'm thinking maybe that is the case here but I really don't know. I do know that the HDD in question is not super old but old enough that it wouldn't surprise me if it did die. I mean it is old enough that that is a possibility.

I guess the other possibility is a virus of some sort. Not sure. I try to be careful but who knows these days? However it does seem to be restricted to the C: drive. I have another HDD inside the computer and two external USB HDD's and they seem fine and exhibit none of this oddness. This leads to be believe maybe not a virus. But again I don't know (shrugs).

The HDD giving me trouble is a Seagate and I think it is around 4 - 5 years old (in that range). I know Seagate has some diagnostic tools that can be downloaded for free and used to "check" the HDD. I'm thinking maybe I should do this?

Anyone have any suggestions on any diagnostic tools I should try or what I can do to check the drive for it's health or bad sectors etc.?

Again this just started like 2 or 3 days ago and so far seems really hit-or-miss (isn't happening too too often but has happened on several things now). The HDD is a 320GB and I'm down to about 34GB free. So I'm not cutting it all that close to full capacity.

Any ideas? I am at a loss here.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
The computer in question is getting old ... could it be a bad SATA cord? I only have room on my mother board for two HDD's but maybe I should buy a new SATA cord for the C: drive or switch the C: and D: drive's cords? I dunno man. This is a real drag.

[non-linear]

Have you run chkdsk (Check Disk) yet? You should start with that.

If you're willing to spend $89, you can purchase Spinrite at www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

Spinrite will be able to scan the entire drive and will attempt to recover any data in bad sectors. If you don't get any more bad sectors then you should be fine, but if it keeps up then that's a sure sign of a dying hard drive. It does sound like you have some bad sectors on the drive. With your drive being 4-5 years old, it's probably reaching the end of its life. I don't know of any other program that will do what Spinrite will (I've been using it lately with a problem I've had with a bad 500GB drive). Of course for $89, you could just buy a new drive.

Google did a study about hard drive failures back in 2007: http://labs.google.com/papers/disk_failures.pdf

Steve Gibson, creator of Spinrite does a podcast with Leo Laporte called Security Now. They covered the Google study on one of their podcasts: http://www.twit.tv/sn81 (you can skip to 20:50 into the podcast)

[Nelson37]

It is certainly worth trying a different SATA cable, also change the power connector while you're at it.

However, with a drive of that age, with those symptoms, I would immediately copy off all needed files and prepare to replace it.

Run a chkdsk and a defrag, usually this will identify problems. I certainly would not pay more than the replacement cost of the drive for software which will only, possibly, tell you that the drive is dying. You can get that for free. The Seagate diagnostic tools are decent, but the best tests are destructive, meaning that they overwrite data.

[fritzi93]

I'd say replace it.

Not too long ago, I had the same thing on my "C" drive, an 8-year old 40G WD. It seemed to fragment fast, and files, including program files, were getting corrupted. I'd run checkdisk and defrag and it would be fine for awhile. Diagnostics and SMART readings indicated it was okay. Various anti-malware scans came up empty. Finally, I replaced it and all troubles went away.

So you can run all available diagnostics and still not be certain. Definitely back up any important files.

[deadrats]

i wouldn't even bother messing around trying to diagnose the problem, to me it sounds like the drive controller may be going bad which leads to bad sectors and file corruption.

considering i just saw a 1 terabyte hdd for $75 and a 1.5 terabyte hdd for $100, i would just pick up one (or 2) of these and not have to worry about a hdd failure.

[Constant Gardener]

I had a drive with similar symptoms. CHKDSK would fix it, for a while, but it got steadily worse, so I replaced it. Didn't seem worth the effort to play with it any more.

It did yield a nice pair of refrigerator magnets.

[ocgw]

It's worth a shot to "off load" everything off the C:\ drive (make a backup), reformat the C:\ drive, and then reload, it has worked for me with corrupted drives that were not physically damaged in the past

ocgw

peace

[FulciLives]

Thanks for the information.

So far I went ahead and ran CHKDSK and then (being a Seagate HDD) I went ahead and ran every test in SEATOOLS and it passed all the tests. Also since doing that I have yet to see the same behavior. So very odd!

I have in the meantime copied off just about all the important files and may replace it soon (of course as always money is an issue i.e., buying a new HDD).

One thing I didn't mention before that I realize now might be relative or pertinent to the problem ... my computer is old. I think it is having "over-heating" issues. Sometimes (thankfully not too often) when doing "too many" things at once or doing a very CPU intensive task (like video encoding) it will just POOF re-boot itself. I suppose these hard re-boots are bad for the C: drive. Perhaps CHKDSK fixed whatever needed fixed *shrugs*

Sigh ... I need a new computer LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[johns0]

Encoding and multitasking causing crashes sounds like either bad memory or cpu getting hot,get a quadcore and you will be able to encode and multitask without breaking into a sweat.

[vhelp]

I don't know.. chkdsk (aka, scandisk) never does anything for me under XP home edition. Whever I experience an issue it usually scans real quickly, in about 10 or so seconds and its done. This is just after a hard boot where I have to flick the back switch from the actual power supply itself. I only gets this hard crashes under certain analog capture--happend to be twice just yesterday, trying to capture from my laserdisc player and the system froze.

If you're justing temporarily figuring these things out ...

In the interim, just get youself a couple of 8gig sticks. Walmart has them for $19 bucks again--they were reselling them to $24.95, but if they are that price, just go to sales clerk and remind them they are now back to $19 bucks. Course, if these are *big* (avi) files, then I don't know what else to tell you, $$$-ially that is.

-vhelp 5199

[Nelson37]

There is a very good reason I recommend running Chkdsk and Defrag. Everybody has them, they Always work, they are free, and very often solve or at least help to identify an issue. Also, it is extremely rare that they make the problem worse.

So the box has been crashing on a semi-regular basis and you did not think to mention this? Has it by any chance been struck by lightning, set on fire, connected to 240V power by accident, run over by a truck, submerged in a flood, or anything else?

For crying out loud, Fulci, you know better than that. Do I need to tell you to blow the dust out of the fans?

[FulciLives]

LOL @ Nelson37

I know I know I should have mention the rebooting thing heh

I don't know what the issue is with this silly computer. It just likes to reboot but it is real odd about it. I can encode H.264 (although damn slow) using XVID4PSP and it works. I try to do it with Handbrake and it always crashes. I think it boils down to how the two use the CPU. Hell sometimes foobar2000 will crash it if I'm converting a lot of audio files from one format to another. Then again I've had XVID4PSP do a 720p video conversion and after 2 days LOL it is done ... but I can't touch the computer. If I start surfing the 'net then eventually be it 1 minute or 1 hour it will reboot.

I just don't feel like taking off the heat sink. I mean ... I hate to say it ... but I've never done that. Not sure how to even do it. But I suppose removing the heat sink and cleaning it and redoing that silver gel stuff whatever the hell it is would be a good idea (or even getting a new heat sink). But I really just want a new computer rather than spend more money on this thing.

You know ... there is one other thing I maybe should mention LOL

I have ummm "mis-matched" memory. The computer came with 2 256MB sticks and then at some point (a long time ago) I bought 2 512MB sticks and all 4 are in there. I guess I could take out the 2 256MB sticks ... 1GB should be more than enough for WinXP Pro. However the problem is not a memory one because I never had trouble that way. I really think it is an overheating issue.

Case in point.

I have this program I use to clean up my LP recordings (my new hobby) and if the computer has been on a long time it will sometimes reboot while this program does it's thing. However if I leave the computer off for a bit (so that it cools down) then try again it will finish with out issue.

sigh I just need a new computer but as ever money is so friggin' tight at the moment.

[themaster1]

...And here we are again...the infamous Seagate hdd trouble.

To make it short:

It's highly possible it needs more power (3000 ma) than an average "well built" hdd, otherwise it's a downward spiral: over heating -> files corruptions (I/o errors of all kinds)> r.i.p dear drive

Here is some reading for you, have fun.

[Nelson37]

It probably is worthwhile to blow the dust out, no need to remove the heatsink. Just some compressed air in a can, also using a clean paintbrush and a vacuum cleaner hose in alternation should remove most of the crud.

Something else that might help, if you have any old heatsinks just set a couple on the HD. Had an old 400 gig drive that occassionally triggered reboots or lockups, a couple old heatsinks solved this problem.

[lordsmurf]

Just replace it. I know it sucks, but you're just delaying the inevitable, wasting time while doing so.

[FulciLives]

OH MY GOD

It's LordSmurf heh

I hardly ever "hang out" here anymore. I have no idea "what's new" if anything.

The days in years past where I sat here all day posting and what not LOL

sigh ... good time