Disk Read Error has me beaten

[FakeCheese]

I'm getting the dreaded disk read error message on my now 3 year old pc. The problem there seems to be no way to restore, repair or just delete everything and start over. Every time I run my windows boot disk it tells me the drive is locked and none of the available options are possible. I'm using windows 8.1 and a generic Samsung 1TB hard drive. Does anyone have any idea what I can do. I dont really have the facilities to link it to another computer and I have taken out and reconnected things in different port, even moving my graphics card. The Bios recognizes the hard drive, but it does nothing else apart from sit there.

 

[Calculagator]

You cannot repair a failing/failed hard drive. You will need to buy a new disk. If the disk is still recognized it may be possible to copy over some of your old files before they are lost, but you will not be able to do so until you buy and install a new disk.

 

[FakeCheese]

You cannot repair a failing/failed hard drive. You will need to buy a new disk. If the disk is still recognized it may be possible to copy over some of your old files before they are lost, but you will not be able to do so until you buy and install a new disk.

Yeah I understood that was one of the possibilities but even the article here on the forums says it can be caused by a huge number of different things, if this is with at least a small amount of certainty a hard drive failure then I'll just go ahead and replace it I just wondered if anyone had any idea if there was another cause/solution

 

[Calculagator]

I see what you mean. It could be random corruption, but from your description it sounds like both your windows install and recovery have been corrupted. I wouldn't trust the disk even if I could get it working again. This is a great time to buy a new SSD. You can repair your machine and give it a significant upgrade at the same time.

 

[FakeCheese]

I see what you mean. It could be random corruption, but from your description it sounds like both your windows install and recovery have been corrupted. I wouldn't trust the disk even if I could get it working again. This is a great time to buy a new SSD. You can repair your machine and give it a significant upgrade at the same time.

Yeah, good point. New drive it is then. Thank you for the help
I would love to get an SSD the only trouble is the storage space to money ratio is pretty bad still and as I had nearly a TB of space used up before my disk stopped working. Do you think it would be viable and cheaper to buy 2 smaller sized SSD's than one big one?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there FakeCheese,

I would also advise you to back up the important data that is stored on the drive as soon as possible.
After that, it may be a good idea to test the drive with a brand specific testing tool. Most probably the results will show you what is wrong with the drive.
Regarding the SSDs, my advise would be to get one small sized SSD(way cheaper than the bigger ones) for your OS and heaviest games and programs. You will experience significantly shorter loading/boot times. For the data and lighter programs/games you can get a 500 Gb or 1 TB drive.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[Triophile]

BTW, I've seen drive test tools pass drives which still had problems which looked very, very much as if they were being caused by disk failure, so I wouldn't always take the results of drive-checking tools as gospel. I think the guys above are right - new drive(s) time 🙂

 

[D_Know_WD]

This is why I have written most probably. You can't be a 100% sure. Though, the test outcome and S.M.A.R.T results can show whether the drive can be used(as an external one let's say) for storing some not that important stuff.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD