hard drive problems

[dlh75]

Hello i have been hearing a clicking sound from my HD. Soon after Windows will lock up. HD going bad? Also last week it did this and it stated that windows failed to start up and gave me options to choose from safe mode, start normal, last known configuation. None of them seem to work. All restart and do the same thing. Well what I did last week was do a format and relaod Xp. Seemed to work fine till today. HD is about 3-4 years old. Only noticed the clicking in the past week or so. Is this a sign that I need to replace the HD.


Thanks

David

who makes the hard drive?

go to the manufacture site and they should have a tool to scan if your drive is going bad or not

[kendo]

Is this a sign that I need to replace the HD

YES, often referred to as the "click of death", a sure sign the drive is failing

[Gettinbye]

Does your hard drive have S.M.A.R.T. capability, and is it enabled? If so, you can get more information as to the status of your hard drive that should give an indication as to whether or not it is developing a problem...

[dlh75]

Its a Western Digital. I did download the Diagnostics utility they had on there site to check it for errors or anything. Evrything was fine. It has been doing this all week. Usually a retstart would start windows up again. Not this time.
Was there another tool that they offered that might would help.
Seems funny that it allowed me to format and reload windows on a bad drive. Dont want to do this once a week so i guess i have to shell out for a new HD. What is a good brand that is not too expensive since im on a budget. 40 GB or less is all i really need.
And about the SMART tool or utility not sure. How would I find out.
Thanks,


DAVID

[dlh75]

Ok this is weird. I was messing around in DOS and did several things like check the disk and the volumes. It stated somthing like it had an error or something like that. SO I was unsure on what to do next so I rebooted and windows started up just fine. But i know the drive is still going bad I think since it does make those noises. Just not all the time. Somtimes it wont even crash. If what i did in DOS helped them I did not need to format the first time last week. Causing me to lose lots of data. Maybe i just got lucky this time. Oh well.

[dlh75]

Now i tried doing the WD lifeguard diagnostics on the drive it stated test failed Status code = 07(failed read test element),Failure checkpoint=65(error log test) Smart self test did not complete. That was with the quick test. I am trying the extended test as i am typing.

[dlh75]

extended test completed and found some bad sectors and I chose to repair them. Would this fix the drive? Does this have anything to do with the clicking i was hearing. I guess i will have to wait and see how the drive works out . Thanks for all the help.

DLH

[Gettinbye]

If you've found bad sectors and repaired them, it will truncate the bad sectors, not repair them. It has been my experience that when you find bad sectors, the damage usually progresses. (And yes, it has everything to do with the clicking you're hearing...your drive is not healthy.) IMO, a new drive would be in order unless you don't mind losing the data you have on your current hard drive...

[John Prophet]

Maxtor 40GB 7200RPM Hard Drive for $90 - $50 rebates Exp 11/22 = $40 with free shipping (Search for Item 368121)

$30 and $20 rebate..best to print em out as soon as you know the order shipped



mine was like $43 shipped after rebates