Failing Hard Drive? Help!

PETC · 11-24-2008, 06:50 PM

System Specs:

Intel 3.2 Ghz P4 HT
1.5 GB DDR running in dual channel
HIS ATI Radeon 1650Pro 512MB AGP video card
A Drive: Generic Floppy
C Drive: 80gb Seagate Barracuda (IDE Primary 1)
F Drive: 80gb Seagate Barracuda storing the Program Files (SATA 1)
G Drive: 30gb WD storing My Documents (IDE Primary 2)
D Drive: DVD-ROM + CDRW (IDE Secondary 1)
E Drive: CDRW (IDE Secondary 2)

All three of my drives are defraged weekly with PerfectDisk 2008 and they have all passed chkdsk scans, but after logging in to my account upon startup, the system hangs for a very long time. You can usually still do things, but it doesn't stop thinking/opening programs for about 5 minutes.

I have hardly anything starting up with Windows, I have the IR Remote program for my remote control, Catalyst Control Center for my video card, and that is literally it. Services, I've disabled anything that doesn't have to do with PerfectDisc running weekly and have weeded out un-necessary Microsoft Services. At idle I'm using around 130 mb of RAM.

Frame Rates in Live For Speed have dropped recently from around 70-90 to around 19-20 and the game is basically unplayable. Login times are getting longer, and I have no idea what's going on.

My only guess is a failing hard drive so I've put the computer in stasis until I get a new one, won't be too long, but I was wondering what you guys thought, and also where you think the "sweet spot" between speed and storage capacity is these days. I'd like a Terabyte drive, but I imagine the seek times are horrendous.

Ku-sama · 11-24-2008, 06:53 PM

not really, we sell a 1tb Seagate at my work with perpendicular recording and 32MB cache for like $130... let me know. also we have a 640 western digital for $74

Luni · 11-24-2008, 07:18 PM

Run a test for bad sectors on the hdd you think is bad.

Hellstorm · 11-24-2008, 08:12 PM

my hard drive is failing too. Everything is going super slow on the computer. I can sometimes hear the hard drive powering on and off and kinda clicking. I already backed it up and am just waiting for it to die.

Timon · 11-30-2008, 04:50 AM

I wouldn't point the finger at the HD just yet. It could be other things. As Luni said check for bad sectors. I personally do 'chkdsk /x' because it forces the disc to dismount and fixes any bad sectors.

Start > Run > "CMD" > "chkdsk /x" > Restart

Also, just for the fun of it, try either creating a new user, or opening up the Guest account - log on to that and see how things run. If it runs smoothly, then this may imply a corrupt user account.

Your RAM could also be bad. Run a memtest on it.

My opinion on 1 TB hard drives is no-go. Nothing good comes from them yet. They are still a bit unstable overall. It's more like a coin toss, some work flawlessly, others fail miserably. Get 2x 500's and a RAID controller - run them in RAID 0. If you're looking for performance pick up a some Raptors, they're pricey but everything I've heard says it's worth it.

Ku-sama · 11-30-2008, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timon

I wouldn't point the finger at the HD just yet. It could be other things. As Luni said check for bad sectors. I personally do 'chkdsk /x' because it forces the disc to dismount and fixes any bad sectors.

Start > Run > "CMD" > "chkdsk /x" > Restart

Also, just for the fun of it, try either creating a new user, or opening up the Guest account - log on to that and see how things run. If it runs smoothly, then this may imply a corrupt user account.

Your RAM could also be bad. Run a memtest on it.

My opinion on 1 TB hard drives is no-go. Nothing good comes from them yet. They are still a bit unstable overall. It's more like a coin toss, some work flawlessly, others fail miserably. Get 2x 500's and a RAID controller - run them in RAID 0. If you're looking for performance pick up a some Raptors, they're pricey but everything I've heard says it's worth it.

the price of the velociraptors are not worth it, and the fault tolerance of the RAID-0 isn't very helpful.

PETC · 12-01-2008, 02:00 AM

RAM: Good
HDs: No bad sectors

I removed my 40 GB old-school IDE hard drive that had My Documents on it and put everything from it on my 80 GB SATA drive. Computer is much faster now... Possibly because the C:\ drive and the HD I removed were on the same IDE cable and it was splitting the speeds in half? No idea.

My video card is also finally working properly with the newest version of Catalyst, which is nice.

I'm wondering... I'm running 1600x1200 on my monitor and all games, ran a CS-Source video stress test and returned an average of 82 FPS. Frames in Live For Speed are back up in the 90s and things seem to be back to normal. Now my question is, when I connect my TV to an HDTV through an DVI-HDMI cable, am I drawing the picture on the TV twice as many times? So even though the resolution would only be 1360x768 would it be drawing that twice as many times a second as it would at 1600x1200 on my CRT monitor at home?

Just curious, because if it would that would explain the frame rate drops I got when I did that... other than that I'll just guess it was that HD mucking things up, or a driver conflict.

328FTW · 12-01-2008, 03:02 AM

That hard drive you removed that made the speed pick up it is a sign of death imo. My old 20gb computer (not going back there again) slowed and slowed until boot up was taking 10 minutes then one day the hdd access light on my computer kept going but nothing happened for 40 minutes then it got to the desktop blue screened and died (it was a secondary removed it and the problem went away). IDE can handle 2 hdd's no problem as long as it isn't trying to access large amounts of info on both at the same time. I switched to a SATA 250gb (speed over capacity

) when I built my computer and have had no problems at all compared to weekly issues with my old ide setup.

No idea about the resolution thing that could be anything but 1360x768 shouldn't have double rates compared to 1600x1200. HD TVs can do strange things though when hooked to a computer.

31337 · 12-07-2008, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ku-sama

the price of the velociraptors are not worth it, and the fault tolerance of the RAID-0 isn't very helpful.

Yeah but they make for 1 fast access time

Try putting 4 of them together in a raid 0 config

Ku-sama · 12-07-2008, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 31337

Yeah but they make for 1 fast access time

Try putting 4 of them together in a raid 0 config

I did, and I have them... and for the money, I'd rather have solid state in RAID-0

328FTW · 12-07-2008, 11:54 PM

Solid state FTW.

11-24-2008, 06:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
PETC √(176400) Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bellingham, WA Posts: 2,414 Thanks: 27 Thanked 53 Times in 45 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (4/100% )	Failing Hard Drive? Help! System Specs: Intel 3.2 Ghz P4 HT 1.5 GB DDR running in dual channel HIS ATI Radeon 1650Pro 512MB AGP video card A Drive: Generic Floppy C Drive: 80gb Seagate Barracuda (IDE Primary 1) F Drive: 80gb Seagate Barracuda storing the Program Files (SATA 1) G Drive: 30gb WD storing My Documents (IDE Primary 2) D Drive: DVD-ROM + CDRW (IDE Secondary 1) E Drive: CDRW (IDE Secondary 2) All three of my drives are defraged weekly with PerfectDisk 2008 and they have all passed chkdsk scans, but after logging in to my account upon startup, the system hangs for a very long time. You can usually still do things, but it doesn't stop thinking/opening programs for about 5 minutes. I have hardly anything starting up with Windows, I have the IR Remote program for my remote control, Catalyst Control Center for my video card, and that is literally it. Services, I've disabled anything that doesn't have to do with PerfectDisc running weekly and have weeded out un-necessary Microsoft Services. At idle I'm using around 130 mb of RAM. Frame Rates in Live For Speed have dropped recently from around 70-90 to around 19-20 and the game is basically unplayable. Login times are getting longer, and I have no idea what's going on. My only guess is a failing hard drive so I've put the computer in stasis until I get a new one, won't be too long, but I was wondering what you guys thought, and also where you think the "sweet spot" between speed and storage capacity is these days. I'd like a Terabyte drive, but I imagine the seek times are horrendous.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

11-24-2008, 06:53 PM	#2 (permalink)
Ku-sama Cage Fighter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Germantown, MD Posts: 1,464 Thanks: 8 Thanked 31 Times in 31 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (2/100% )	not really, we sell a 1tb Seagate at my work with perpendicular recording and 32MB cache for like $130... let me know. also we have a 640 western digital for $74

11-24-2008, 07:18 PM	#3 (permalink)
Luni ST185 Powered SW20 Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Salt Lake City Utah Posts: 2,961 Thanks: 9 Thanked 106 Times in 92 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (8/100% )	Run a test for bad sectors on the hdd you think is bad.

11-24-2008, 08:12 PM	#4 (permalink)
Hellstorm I Bet I Can Break It. Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: The Woodlands, Texas Posts: 734 Thanks: 12 Thanked 9 Times in 3 Posts iTrader Rating: (7/100% )	my hard drive is failing too. Everything is going super slow on the computer. I can sometimes hear the hard drive powering on and off and kinda clicking. I already backed it up and am just waiting for it to die.

11-30-2008, 04:50 AM	#5 (permalink)
Timon MR2 MKI AW11 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Utah Posts: 628 Thanks: 13 Thanked 37 Times in 33 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	I wouldn't point the finger at the HD just yet. It could be other things. As Luni said check for bad sectors. I personally do 'chkdsk /x' because it forces the disc to dismount and fixes any bad sectors. Start > Run > "CMD" > "chkdsk /x" > Restart Also, just for the fun of it, try either creating a new user, or opening up the Guest account - log on to that and see how things run. If it runs smoothly, then this may imply a corrupt user account. Your RAM could also be bad. Run a memtest on it. My opinion on 1 TB hard drives is no-go. Nothing good comes from them yet. They are still a bit unstable overall. It's more like a coin toss, some work flawlessly, others fail miserably. Get 2x 500's and a RAID controller - run them in RAID 0. If you're looking for performance pick up a some Raptors, they're pricey but everything I've heard says it's worth it.

12-01-2008, 02:00 AM	#7 (permalink)
PETC √(176400) Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bellingham, WA Posts: 2,414 Thanks: 27 Thanked 53 Times in 45 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (4/100% )	RAM: Good HDs: No bad sectors I removed my 40 GB old-school IDE hard drive that had My Documents on it and put everything from it on my 80 GB SATA drive. Computer is much faster now... Possibly because the C:\ drive and the HD I removed were on the same IDE cable and it was splitting the speeds in half? No idea. My video card is also finally working properly with the newest version of Catalyst, which is nice. I'm wondering... I'm running 1600x1200 on my monitor and all games, ran a CS-Source video stress test and returned an average of 82 FPS. Frames in Live For Speed are back up in the 90s and things seem to be back to normal. Now my question is, when I connect my TV to an HDTV through an DVI-HDMI cable, am I drawing the picture on the TV twice as many times? So even though the resolution would only be 1360x768 would it be drawing that twice as many times a second as it would at 1600x1200 on my CRT monitor at home? Just curious, because if it would that would explain the frame rate drops I got when I did that... other than that I'll just guess it was that HD mucking things up, or a driver conflict.

12-01-2008, 03:02 AM	#8 (permalink)
328FTW 3vzfe tinkering Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: New Zealand Posts: 1,531 Thanks: 12 Thanked 99 Times in 83 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	That hard drive you removed that made the speed pick up it is a sign of death imo. My old 20gb computer (not going back there again) slowed and slowed until boot up was taking 10 minutes then one day the hdd access light on my computer kept going but nothing happened for 40 minutes then it got to the desktop blue screened and died (it was a secondary removed it and the problem went away). IDE can handle 2 hdd's no problem as long as it isn't trying to access large amounts of info on both at the same time. I switched to a SATA 250gb (speed over capacity ) when I built my computer and have had no problems at all compared to weekly issues with my old ide setup. No idea about the resolution thing that could be anything but 1360x768 shouldn't have double rates compared to 1600x1200. HD TVs can do strange things though when hooked to a computer.

12-07-2008, 11:54 PM	#11 (permalink)
328FTW 3vzfe tinkering Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: New Zealand Posts: 1,531 Thanks: 12 Thanked 99 Times in 83 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	Solid state FTW.