Strange HDD Problem

**SuperSize** · 30-07-08, 11:03 AM

Hey all,

I had a wired thing happen yesterday to my main HDD.
Now I have 3 SATA drives for verious reasons, but my 160GB WD SATAII drive is only for Windows and Apps/Games to run from. no storage or backups..Luckly.

But I found a little app to help create a bootable USB stick, after running that and creating the bootable usb stick, I went to restart my computer (Running XP Pro). The moment I hit restart. it Blue Screened.

So I reset the machine, and the Windows XP logo appeared but it never got any further than that.
So I thought I would just wipe it and reinstall. I boot from my utilities CD an tried to run Partition magic. with when seeking for the drive froze. So then I tried Acronis Disk Director Suite. It booted and allowed me to delete the partition and create a new one, but it froze during formatting. So I tried Active Disk Kill. started a fast zero all data. 2 hours it and it hadn't even started the format. Where it usually finishes in 2 hours for a 160GB Drive.

I thought that my drive was dead. So I tried one last time with my Vista install to format. Same thing..Froze.
So I installed XP on my 320GB Backup drive. But has to unplug the 160GB drive cause the XP install would freeze seeking the drive.
After the XP install finished, I hot plugged the 160GB drive back in, XP saw it fine. Went to manage and disk management, delete the partion and created an new one and did a normal windows format. Formatted fine, and I am now running XP 64 from it with out a problem.

Now I've never come across this in my many years of computers, if a drive dies, it dies (Clicks, doesn't show up in BIOS etc). All I can think it was was a Virus effected the MBR, I wasn't running any virus software and it was a new program I download right before it happened.

Anyone had anything like this happen?
Should I trust the drive, it wasn't clicking or any of the normal signs of a drive dying.

**gavpk** · 30-07-08, 12:10 PM

Hard drives are cheap these days, give it the boot and get a
new one. Or you could download Data Lifeguard Tools and run
a few tests on it

**SuperSize** · 30-07-08, 12:36 PM

Yeah. Been doing that today.

Reinstalled Different versions of Windows from 2000 to Vista including server versions.

Also have installed 2 versions of Linux. Puppy and Ubuntu 8.04, so far everything is working fine..

Active Kill disk is formatting it now to...

Might just toss it and get another one.
The drive is only 6 months old though. Might even send it away for warranty..

**mel421** · 01-08-08, 06:52 PM

I certainly wouldnt be trusting it for anything important, its not worth the risk

30-07-08, 11:03 AM	#1 (permalink)
SuperSize Senior Member iTrader: (16) Join Date: May 2008 Location: Brisbane North Posts: 160 Spent time on board: 2 Weeks, 3 Days and 1:10:00	Strange HDD Problem Hey all, I had a wired thing happen yesterday to my main HDD. Now I have 3 SATA drives for verious reasons, but my 160GB WD SATAII drive is only for Windows and Apps/Games to run from. no storage or backups..Luckly. But I found a little app to help create a bootable USB stick, after running that and creating the bootable usb stick, I went to restart my computer (Running XP Pro). The moment I hit restart. it Blue Screened. So I reset the machine, and the Windows XP logo appeared but it never got any further than that. So I thought I would just wipe it and reinstall. I boot from my utilities CD an tried to run Partition magic. with when seeking for the drive froze. So then I tried Acronis Disk Director Suite. It booted and allowed me to delete the partition and create a new one, but it froze during formatting. So I tried Active Disk Kill. started a fast zero all data. 2 hours it and it hadn't even started the format. Where it usually finishes in 2 hours for a 160GB Drive. I thought that my drive was dead. So I tried one last time with my Vista install to format. Same thing..Froze. So I installed XP on my 320GB Backup drive. But has to unplug the 160GB drive cause the XP install would freeze seeking the drive. After the XP install finished, I hot plugged the 160GB drive back in, XP saw it fine. Went to manage and disk management, delete the partion and created an new one and did a normal windows format. Formatted fine, and I am now running XP 64 from it with out a problem. Now I've never come across this in my many years of computers, if a drive dies, it dies (Clicks, doesn't show up in BIOS etc). All I can think it was was a Virus effected the MBR, I wasn't running any virus software and it was a new program I download right before it happened. Anyone had anything like this happen? Should I trust the drive, it wasn't clicking or any of the normal signs of a drive dying.

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30-07-08, 12:10 PM	#2 (permalink)
gavpk _________________________ iTrader: (4) Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 366 Spent time on board: 2 Weeks, 1 Day and 18:30:15	Hard drives are cheap these days, give it the boot and get a new one. Or you could download Data Lifeguard Tools and run a few tests on it

30-07-08, 12:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
SuperSize Senior Member iTrader: (16) Join Date: May 2008 Location: Brisbane North Posts: 160 Spent time on board: 2 Weeks, 3 Days and 1:10:00	Yeah. Been doing that today. Reinstalled Different versions of Windows from 2000 to Vista including server versions. Also have installed 2 versions of Linux. Puppy and Ubuntu 8.04, so far everything is working fine.. Active Kill disk is formatting it now to... Might just toss it and get another one. The drive is only 6 months old though. Might even send it away for warranty..

01-08-08, 06:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
mel421 Junior Member iTrader: (0) Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Melbourne Posts: 28 Spent time on board: 3 Days and 16:44:12	I certainly wouldnt be trusting it for anything important, its not worth the risk

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