Dead HDD? Files recovery?

[Alexandre Vermette]

Hello, i have a western digital 1TB HDD for about 3 years, but about 2 weeks ago, the computer suddenly started going really slow, like starting computer takes over 15 mins, opening a little picture or internet takes about 15 second before it unfreeze, read speed wont go over 4mb/s etc etc... So i tried to do a western digital diagnostics quick test, and every time i do it, it get an error after a few second of test. This one

Error 7 SMART Offline Immediate Command Failure Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) Offline Immediate command failed. This may be due to a media error. It also may be due to a defective connection. Retest after checking the connections. Replace the drive if the error repeats.

So i guess its time for a new HDD? Or it could be software?

If its dead, can i just install windows on the new drive and transfert every games and files to my new one? If so what free programs should i use? Thanks

 

[Y0GI]

If you're sure that all of your cables and connections are good, then it prolly is time for a new one.

Transferring from the old drive to a new one would not be practical nor reliable. It would take forever and many of the transferred files would be corrupt

Yogi

 

[fzabkar]

I agree with Y0GI, but I would first examine the SMART report using a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo.

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.