External hard drive transfer stops after few files after chkdsk

[Chandlock]

I am using a WD My passport Ultra 1TB to store movies and TV shows. All of a sudden it stopped working where it detected the HDD and there was an icon 'Local Disk' in My Computer but I just couldn't access anything. When I tried opening I got the error 'Cyclic Redundacy failure'. I googled the error and got a solution about running Windows Check Disk Utility. Tried it and then the HDD started working thankfully. I can now access my HDD. But now when I transfer files from internal to HDD, it sometimes stops in between to 0 bytes/second. I cannot even cancel it. Then I have to eject the HDD and connect again. Works for a while and then same issue again.

Help please!

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Chandlock,

That is really unpleasant. 🙁

Can you get your data off the external drive? In case you can do that, my advice would be to do so ASAP as your drive may be failing.
If the transfer rate is really low, you can boot up Ubuntu from a CD or a flash drive(just boot, don't install it) and try to access the drive and transfer the data. Sometimes Ubuntu handles failing drives better. Here's a thread on that: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/267999-32-recover-data-mode

After that, you can test the drive with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool and see what is wrong with it: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Bpn6Qw

Is the drive under warrant?

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

 

[Chandlock]

Hi there Chandlock,

That is really unpleasant. 🙁

Can you get your data off the external drive? In case you can do that, my advice would be to do so ASAP as your drive may be failing.
If the transfer rate is really low, you can boot up Ubuntu from a CD or a flash drive(just boot, don't install it) and try to access the drive and transfer the data. Sometimes Ubuntu handles failing drives better. Here's a thread on that: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/267999-32-recover-data-mode

After that, you can test the drive with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool and see what is wrong with it: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Bpn6Qw

Is the drive under warrant?

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

I have too much data to backup so I have backed up the important stuff. I ran the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool.
Ran the Extended Test and this is what I got. http://imgur.com/w9kbOBj
Then I selected to repair the bad sectors and I got the error 'Unable to repair bad sectors'.

Ran the Quick SMART test and this is what I got. http://imgur.com/Vahhlpm

What do I do?

Nope, it isn't under warranty.

P.S: I am not a very technical person so don't understand too much technically.

Thanks.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Unfortunately, your HDD has some bad sectors. They will continue to appear until the drive becomes completely unresponsive. You can't really know when this is going to happen. It could fail in a week or it could last for a year.
You need to back up all the data that you need. Of course, you can continue using the drive. Yet, my advice would be to use it for storing only non important data.

D_Know_WD

 

[Chandlock]

Unfortunately, your HDD has some bad sectors. They will continue to appear until the drive becomes completely unresponsive. You can't really know when this is going to happen. It could fail in a week or it could last for a year.
You need to back up all the data that you need. Of course, you can continue using the drive. Yet, my advice would be to use it for storing only non important data.

D_Know_WD

Thanks a lot for your reply. A few questions though:

1) What exactly are bad sectors? Can I fix them by using the Windows Check Disk? How can I avoid them in the future?

2) So this means I need to buy a new HDD?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Chandlock,

In your case, as those were not fixed, are physical ones. These are physically damaged sectors of the disk surface. These could be a result of a bump/fall/ drop etc. On the other hand, these could be caused by some mechanical deterioration as well. Chkdsk fixes logical file system errors. In can't repair some physical flaw.(this is a temp fix)
HDDs should be handled properly as they are vulnerable to shocks/falls/ etc. Yet again, bad sectors could appear even if you are using the drive once a month. So, you can't really avoid the occurrence of bad sectors. Some drive could last for 10 years, others could fail in a week after being bought. The important thing is to keep your data backed up.

Yes, in my view, you will need to get another drive. You can use that one until it dies.

Let me know in case you have some more questions,
D_Know_WD