Help - Windows Detected a Hard Disk Problem

[zube]

Hi,

thanks for any help in advance..

Today i started getting a box pop up that said "Windows Detected a Hard Disk Problem" it then gives you the problem detail and ask you to Back up the Process or Ask me again Later. It seems to be saying my hard disk is bad. I Tried rebooting the PC and before i get to the login screen for windows i get a screen that says : PRI Slave Hard disk :S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD Backup and Replace, then i have to hit F1 to get past that screen... So, how do i know if my HD is bad ? or what should i do from here ? any help at all i would be thankful ..

I have a Core i7 running windows vista 64 ...

[Boris]

If you are seeing this error it is very likely that the disk is failing even though it appears to be working OK.

The disk itself and Windows both try to detect and automatically repair errors. If Windows is seeing errors it means the disk can no longer repair them.

There are other reasons why this error may show up but you should test the disk ASAP.

Go to the web site of your Hard Disk manufacturer and use whatever diagnostic tools that they provide to confirm/negate this S.M.A R.T message.

You should also make sure that any important data on the disk is backed up.

[zube]

can i use sea tools and if so what should i run on there ?

it is a western digital 640 GB HD, i didnt see any diagnostic on there website.

i just wanna confirm it is the HD thats going because up until today i havent had 1 error message or no hint of anything wrong with it..

just to ask > could it be a virus thats doing this ??

like i said, the bios is reporting this and making me hit F1 to get to windows.

also i tried running chkdsk but it seems to freeze on step 4 of 5 around 13 percent..

again, thanks for any help

[Boris]

Use this :-

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=606&sid=3&lang=en

[zube]

ok, i ran this program and i tried the quick test.

it stopped very quickly with a error message saying : DLGDIAG for Windows

Quick Test on drive 1 did not complete

Status Code = 04 (unknown failed test element)

Failure checkpoint = 96 (unknown test)

Smart self-test didnt complete on drive 1

so does this mean it is definate no good or could there be other problems ?

please advise.

thanks

[Boris]

From the instructions on using Data Lifeguard,

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/940/p/85,8/

after point 10. it says :-

Important: If any of the tests fail, including the Quick Test, you will need to replace the drive being tested.

[zube]

ok, enough said then..i guess i gotta go threw upgrading my OS and replacing the HD..

leme ask you this.. If i alreadyhave a HD here already (in another PC), can i just hook it up (internal) as a second drive and copy my current bad HD to it, transfering the OS and all my files ?

thank you for your help Boris.

[Boris]

Yes you can clone your existing H/D to another one using software.

I suggest you do it using the free utility AOMEI Backupper as explained here :-

http://tech2.in.com/how-to/windows/how-to-upgrade-your-hard-drive-by-simply-cloning-it/872668

[zube]

much thanks Boris, you have been greatly helpfull.. i will give this a go when I get sum xtra time, very soon.. I really appreciate all you guys who take personal time to help others, cant thank you enough..

if i have anymore questions ill post back to this thread..

[zube]

sorry, another question. Once i format the new HD that will be replacing the bad one,,, Do i have to partion it the same way my bad one is before i start to clone ?? This other HD is a seagate 500GB and it has a OS and files etc.. on it, so im guessing its better to just wipe it completly but im not sure if i have to partition it..

thanks so much

[Boris]

You should not have to format or partition the new H/D in advance, the cloning process will do all the necessary work automatically including making the partitions for you..

Good luck !

[zube]

hey boris,

i installed the other HD. walked threw the steps of cloning my bad HD. i got aomei backupper and it sarted to run, when it got to 4% of Moving Data it just sat there not doing anything, i waited 20 minutes and re-tried it a few times but still its just sitting at 4% and at 3.69GB, not sure if the thing is freezing or just taking a long time to move even to 3.70, like i said, i waited 20 minutes and still nothing.. any idea's ? i did look under task manager and it said the program is running.. im a bit confused, any help would be appreciated.

[Boris]

It could be that it has stuck because it has come across bad sectors on the source H/D ?

Have you tried running chkdsk /f /r on it ?

[zube]

hi boris.

i did get chkdsk to run yesterday, but i had to run it from dos prompt, then i had to schedule it to run on startup, i tagged it with the /f but not the /r, what does the r tag do ? also, after that i tried backupper again, and it said that the hd was too fragmented and to defrag, i couldnt get defrag to run from tools, how can i run it from dos or do i need tags on it also ?

i will run that again tommorow and wait to see what you say about degrag, but if that doesnt work, is there another proggie i can try just to see if somethingelse would work ? id rather exhaust all efforts first before i go out and buy new windows and do a fresh install and start over, i thought this would be simple just to clone and if it would work, it would be perfect. again, many thanks for all your help, ill try to get back tommorow to check into this post, but having a busy week, so ill be hit and miss til the weekend..

hoping my HD holds out for a while, it hasnt shown any signs of problems other than the warning messeages im getting in bios and windows.

[Boris]

The /r locates bad sectors and recovers readable information - if you have bad sectors, then this could have caused the cloning to stop ?

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

i couldnt get defrag to run from tools, how can i run it from dos or do i need tags on it also ?

What exactly means "couldnt"?

[zube]

Hi,

sorry for the delay, been busy.

Defrag from Tools wouldnt run, it would goto analyzing disc 1 of 3 then i would click the defrag button and it would go back to analyzing disc everytime. So i downloaded Degragler and ran it, and it seemed to work, now when i goto the tools and it analyzes disc it says system perfromance is good and it doesnt need to defrag. But i noticed a huge jump in data on that partion (c:) I have 3 partions (C: E: and F:) the other partion sizes havent been effected for some reason.

anyway, i tried again to run aomei backupper and again it seems to sit at almost the same place during data transfer, now maybe im not leaving it long enough but i dont think thats the problem, hence i tried a different program to clone with and it failed also. Also today, i tried to do a backup from windows, and it got a little ways then failed with a error message. Im guessing that the drive is just no good at all and there wont be much i can do for it.

any ideas would be much appreciated.

thanks for your time