slavi_asenov2002

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Apr 11, 2018
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Hello,

So 2 and a half years ago, or to be more precise, 28 months ago I got a 2TB Seagate Barracuda and I have been completely satisfied with the drive as it replaced a 12 year old Toshiba HDD.
But 2 months ago while I was playing a game it crashed, everything started lagging so I decided to check the drive in HD Sentinel and I saw it had around 200 bad sectors. After that I did the wisest thing - saved all necessary data, but I could not save every single thing as the more I copied data, the more bad sectors occurred. In a span of 15 min the 200 bad sectors became almost 4000.
So in the past I guessed it was a bad luck with the drive, maybe it is balancing things out because of the 12 year old Toshiba.
I got a replacement for the dead drive - 2TB Samsung 870 EVO and as the previous one I am satisfied. However, yesterday almost the same problem while playing it started crashing, I could not open task manager, even though my Windows in a different SSD from the new one. I did not have to save any data, ... for now, as I do not see any problems again for now, but I looked the drive in HD Sentinel and from 100% performance, 99% health, it is down to 97% and 95%(screenshot - https://prnt.sc/4VLp5pAlX_W2). I am very confused by that as I do not use the same SATA power cable as the previous failed drive, I only use the same SATA data cable and I do not see the connection here if it is the cables. For the record, I used to put all my SATA drives on one power cable, currently the Samsung SSD is on separate cable.
Can the cause of this crashes in both drives be because some kind of a PSU failure, and if it can be why is that my other 2 drives, which are as old as my PSU, have not failed? While I am playing I keep wallpaper engine in the background as an image, and I am constantly alt+tabb-ing, can that be the problem?

Edit: System Specs:
MB: Asrock AB350M Pro4 - bought June 2018 new
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600(4.0ghz 1.26v) - bought June 2018 new
GPU: RX 5700 XT (undervolted 1.075v) - bought December 2019 new
PSU: System power 9 600w - bought June 2018 new
RAM: 2x8gb Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz - bought around 2020 new
Storage: 120gb ADATA SU650 - bought around 2020 new
240GB Kingston A400 - bought around 2020 new
2TB Samsung 870 EVO - bought like 2/3 months ago new

Games: Mostly esports and light games such as Valorant, CS:GO, LoL, Hearts of Iron IV, rarely more demanding games such as World of Tanks (yesterday's crash was during a game of WoT), World of Warships, Rainbow Six Siege(Seagate's crash happened while playing R6S), Hitman 2.
 
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Closing the thread.
The drive is currently in some manufacturer service for some diagnosis in order to give me new one.
Though the PSU is not probably the problem and my advice to friends is to get a good PSU no matter what, I have not followed my own advise and there is a slight possibility there is something wrong with it. Only time will tell, but I will probably change it as it is already in my plans.
you had 'bad luck', and, the drive likely crashed; be glad it gave you any time to safely extricate any of your needed data!

I'd not to to reach any conclusions just yet in light of an additional 870 EVO glitch or failure....

Health will run down in a drive per manufacturer's algorithms based on a the last few days' usage analysis. If a fresh install, some usage might tick off a few points rapidly over the first few days, but, should slow massively afterward.

No one can definitively rule out PSU spikes or brownouts, etc., on a particular output, but, some drives would be more sensitive to such variations than others, so, you could not necessarily rule out such a possibility just because one or two other drives remained functioning...(if ever the PSU was even ultimately the cause)
 

slavi_asenov2002

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Apr 11, 2018
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No one can definitively rule out PSU spikes or brownouts, etc., on a particular output, but, some drives would be more sensitive to such variations than others, so, you could not necessarily rule out such a possibility just because one or two other drives remained functioning...(if ever the PSU was even ultimately the cause)
The strange thing is that the Samsung SSD is using the cable that I have been using on my System drive(the Kingston) and the other garbage collector(the ADATA) for 2 years with no failure (I rely heavily on programs installed on both as I need them for work, projects, assignments, etc.), I just put the other 2 drives on the other cable, just to try and remove any possibilities.
 

slavi_asenov2002

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Apr 11, 2018
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Could we see the actual SMART data? HD Sentinel appears to be reporting communications problems (UDMA CRC Error Count?), but we would need to see the raw data to be sure.
I really do not know if that is what you want - https://prnt.sc/x037D_CmhwQo
But the drive is dying imo, the bad sectors are now 95... , the question is how in the span of so little time 2 drives die. Can it be the Windows 11 as I wanted to try it, this was shortly before the first one died?
 
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The SMART data look good. However, they appear to be for a different SSD. :-?

For example, the Bad Block Count is 0xB (= 11 decimal). That may even be the number of bad blocks that the drive had when it left the factory.

The SATA CRC Error count is 0, so there would appear to be no communications errors.

The Power On Hours is 0x40D3 (= 16595), so this drive has been in service for at least 1.9 years.
 

slavi_asenov2002

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Apr 11, 2018
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The SMART data look good. However, they appear to be for a different SSD. :-?

For example, the Bad Block Count is 0xB (= 11 decimal). That may even be the number of bad blocks that the drive had when it left the factory.

The SATA CRC Error count is 0, so there would appear to be no communications errors.

The Power On Hours is 0x40D3 (= 16595), so this drive has been in service for at least 1.9 years.
Sorry my bad, I have updated the link - https://prnt.sc/x037D_CmhwQo . This data is from the ADATA.
 

slavi_asenov2002

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Yes, it does look like the drive is going bad. :-(
Yeah, and what is worse I still do not know is it some kind of personal habit that caused that as 2 drives dying in the span of 5 months personally is not only bad luck.

Is it Wallpaper engine when it runs with the game to cause something? - Not likely as many friends have it before me and they run it the same way.
Is it Windows 11, because I upgraded without losing my data from W10(with the tool) - Still I do not know as other people have done that and have no problem. I can make a fresh w10 installation if that is the case.
Is it because I am alt+tabbing a lot while playing? - I have been doing this for more than 12 years and have never had problem.
Is it something like the electricity is not grounded etc. ? - It is not that because we have tested that numerous times.
Is it the PSU because it has no power? - The rx 5700xt even when not undervolted in the specs shows that it can run on 600W psu.
Is it the PSU because of some unstable voltage, current or whatever? - I do not know and I can not know. There are no services that will test that and I do not have knowledge and the right equipment.

I am completely baffled and to be honest pretty much annoyed and angry as I have to swap another drive... At least it is in warranty but here a lot of retailers would always try to scam you when you give something back to be changed or to get your money back (wish me luck :D)
 

DSzymborski

Curmudgeon Pursuivant
Moderator
I don't think the PSU is the direct cause here, but it's also an inappropriate entry-level PSU for a system with a 5700XT, and continuing to use it like this increases the odds of you facing a significantly more expensive instance of bad luck.
 

slavi_asenov2002

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Apr 11, 2018
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I don't think the PSU is the direct cause here, but it's also an inappropriate entry-level PSU for a system with a 5700XT, and continuing to use it like this increases the odds of you facing a significantly more expensive instance of bad luck.
You are absolutely right. That is why I am so unsure about the PSU. When I bought the pc parts I had a 1060 as my GPU. I got the Rx 5700xt later because it was on sale.
That is why I also undervolted it a little bit so it does not draw that much power but of course there is the amperage and different stuff that I am not so educated in.

I plan to change it with a 750W gold PSU when my financial situation is stable, you know.(that is why I am so stressed for this SSD as I cannot change it currently) Choosing the PSU is another topic because that is probably the part that I know least about. I recon that when I was searching for a PSU I was focused on evga, bequiet, and the third brand was... I think seasonic or some brand that makes the bequiet PSUs(or it did,)
 

DSzymborski

Curmudgeon Pursuivant
Moderator
Don't get me wrong, BeQuiet isn't a bad brand or anything. It's just that this particular PSU is a budget offering intended for entry-level builders and light systems and as such, it uses a much older, cheaper design. It's just not suited towards higher-end, higher-power modern GPUs that can be really spiky.

Sorry to get you off track here. I just wanted to bring it up as I noticed it and wanted to bring it to your attention. Honestly, as of right now, I think that bad luck is most likely your problem, though perhaps not a satisfying answer.
 

slavi_asenov2002

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Apr 11, 2018
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Closing the thread.
The drive is currently in some manufacturer service for some diagnosis in order to give me new one.
Though the PSU is not probably the problem and my advice to friends is to get a good PSU no matter what, I have not followed my own advise and there is a slight possibility there is something wrong with it. Only time will tell, but I will probably change it as it is already in my plans.
 
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