Frustrated with Hard Drive

[envy14tpe]

WD 500GB Blue is 2 months old and giving me a headache. I need help troubleshooting.

1. If HDD is connected through SATA then my computer won't boot.

2. Ran CHKDSK and it found something. It ran a long time and when I came back I didn't
see the final result. But I had seen bad sectors.

3. Then ran Intel Data Lifeguard - Extended test - and found no problems.
(connected through USB after booting)

4. Afterwards I transferred some files off the HDD to second HDD.

5. While watching a movie I got a blue screen (bad HDD not attached) but since then I have
had no problem for two days.

 

[Dr_JRE]

Run a virus check.

not sure how you ran chkdsk. did you run just chkdsk or did you do a full surface scan? (chkdsk /r)

Have any drivers recently been updated?

Have you run a diagnostic on your RAM? RAM problems will cause this error. try memtest86+ @ http://www.memtest86.com/download.html

This problem can also be caused by inadequate cooling. check your sensors while the system is stressed. make sure you computer is not over heating. Try Speedfan. It will read sensor data, control fan speeds, control clock speeds, and run tests on hard drives. Speedfan can be downloaded @ http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

Is your system overclocked? overclocking can cause this stop error as well.

 

[envy14tpe]

Nothing found with virus check.

I ran CHKDSK on the hard drive in question.

No new updates to drivers.

I will run memetest86 soon, but I doubt that's the problem.

I won't use Speedfan because I have a Dell Ultrasharp. They don't go together. You can find others that have found problems too. It's weird yes. But trust me, I can't use my monitor with that software.

The blue screen could be cuz I overclocked from 4.2 to 4.4. However, my computer wasn't being pushed, I was only watching a movie with VLC.

I still need to identify if I have a bad HDD or just a weird blip. Any suggestions on testing HDD?

 

[Dr_JRE]

Your system is overclocked. try changing the clock settings.
I really doubt this stop screen was directly related to the hard drive.

 

[envy14tpe]

I downclocked my system back to 4.2MHz. (I never had issues at this setting)

I need to address the HDD. I have financial documents that are important. I copied them, but need to wipe HDD. I tried DBAN but received an error message when I tried to execute it. Error occured after I selected drive. Any thoughts?

 

[MidnightDistort]

Get HD Tune, run it's error scan. Crystal disk info is another good program to check for S.M.A.R.T. info.

 

[envy14tpe]

Every time I initiated a program, such as WD Data Lifeguard, I had errors and had to restart computer. Luckily I was able to get my documents off the drive.

I took the 2 month old HDD to the shop and they said that yes its a failure. Nothing physically wrong but they will send me a new one. I just got to wait 2 weeks.

Starting to wonder if I should have bought Seagate instead. I've enjoyed their portable HDD. At the same time, I know HDDs fail, but I thought 1 in 2. argh. Thankfully I didn't have my OS on it too.

Thanks for the info about HD Tune and Crystal disk.
Let's hope the new HDD lasts longer.