Question Hard drive acting up lately.

[samir167ahuja]

Hello guys.
First things first, my setup:
I have a laptop (Acer Nitro 5).
Running Windows 10 Home.
i5 7300 HQ
8 GB DDR4 RAM
GeForce GTX 1050 2GB graphic card
I have one Western Drive 1 TB HDD and a 128 GB SSD (I'm not aware of the brand).
Laptop age is about 10-11 months.
Please note, I have NEVER opened up this laptop. It's still running the way it shipped, and I haven't tinkered around or anything at all.

Okay so coming to the problem.
Yesterday, I opened up my laptop after 3-4 days of not using it. I wanted to watch an episode of Family Guy (which I've stored on my HDD drive, y'know, the 1 TB one). I opened it with my video player (Media Player Classic). It played fine for 3-4 minutes before it suddenly stopped saying "Can't render file". I tried opening it again, but it couldn't even start playing now. Thinking it to be some software problem, I tried opening with VLC, then that Movies app, but nothing worked. It was like the file was not there. (VLC said, path not found or something like that). So I refreshed Windows Explorer and it suddenly said "This folder is empty". So I went back to the drive guys, and ALL THE FOLDERS WERE EMPTY. Now this was weird.
So I restarted the PC. Now all my files were there. I could play the episodes. But some weird [censored] is happening!
For a start, none of the shortcuts on my desktop work (which lead to the files on that HDD alone).
I cannot COPY or MOVE any files from my HDD to anywhere else. Not to my external backup drive, not even to my own desktop (which is on the SSD obviously)
uTorrent cannot download any torrents. It says " Error: System cannot find the path specified".
The Nvidia experience program (which I use to run games from) has completely deleted ALL MY GAMES WHICH WERE ON THAT HDD. The Few installed in Local Disk C (thats my SSD) are there and work. But these games (from my HDD) do still work fine if I open them from their directory. Even Groove Music cannot play the songs on the drive from the app but if I go to the file locally and then open it it works..

Guys its like my PC and most of its programs cannot read the files from the HDD. It's like utorrent doesnt know there is such a drive, NVidia doesnt know there is such a drive. But if I actually open the folder then open the files, they work pretty fine. It's like the drive is invisible and can only be accessed through file explorer. Any other program just cannot read it.

I have tried checking the drive from errors (No errors found), tried optimizing my drive (drive condition is OK according to windows). Even the partition wizard says it is "Healthy". I am simply at a loss guys. I'm afraid I'll lose my stuff if this drive suddenly fails!! But I cant even make a backup because these files just cant be copied.
Any tips?

 

[Ralston18]

If the hard drive is having or developing problems then anything you do may cause loss of data. Without previous backups all HDD data is at risk...

How full is the Western Digital 1 TB HDD?

Have you tried running WD's diagnostic software on the drive? [Noted that you mentioned "checking the drive". What tool(s) did you use to check the drive?]

Did you try uninstalling uTorrent? uTorrent seems "central" to the problems. Current uTorrent installation could be buggy or corrupted.

Have you tried running the Windows 10 built in troubleshooters? The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

From the command prompt, try running "sfc /scannow" (without quotes).

Reference:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

 

[ElectrO_90]

Hard disk Sentinel - download and install that and check if your HDD is going to die - it will tell you
Example -

 

[samir167ahuja]

If the hard drive is having or developing problems then anything you do may cause loss of data. Without previous backups all HDD data is at risk...

How full is the Western Digital 1 TB HDD?

Have you tried running WD's diagnostic software on the drive? [Noted that you mentioned "checking the drive". What tool(s) did you use to check the drive?]

Did you try uninstalling uTorrent? uTorrent seems "central" to the problems. Current uTorrent installation could be buggy or corrupted.

Have you tried running the Windows 10 built in troubleshooters? The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

From the command prompt, try running "sfc /scannow" (without quotes).

Reference:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

Hey man appreciate your reply.

Regarding free space, I got about 240-250 GB free.

I checked it using Drive Properties > Check for errors (windows explorer) .
On your suggestion I tried out the WD's diagnostic software. (Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics).
Result is attached. Although originally it says the smart status is pass, on running a quick test, this error message came up.
What does this mean??

wd test quick.PNG

drive.google.com

Disk 2 is my HDD, btw.

I really don't think uTorrent can be the problem man, its across all apps.. plus Ive been using utorrent for 6 months ish.. and no problems until yesterday.

Do you still want me to run the windows troubleshooter? This WD diagnostic... do I have to replace my HDD?

 

[samir167ahuja]

Hard disk Sentinel - download and install that and check if your HDD is going to die - it will tell you
Example -

Hey, thanks for the reply!
I ran the Hard Disk Sentinel thing. It initially said both disks are healthy, but reported 17 weak sectors in my HDD (as seen).
I then ran a quick test and this is the message that popped up.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lbviUWTWWj0Y-MfukA4njKrsF7Pqjpms

Could you interpret this for me? What am I supposed to do? Should I run any other tests and report here?
I'm sorry, I am just not very savvy with this kind of stuff.

 

[Satan-IR]

The picture you posted doesn't load (maybe for me). If HD Sentinel reported 17 weak sectors the drive MIGHT be going to fail.

Take a screens shot of the SMART tab, upload it somewhere, dropbox. google drive etc. and post link here.

Before doing any further tests backup any important data you might have on the drive.

 

[samir167ahuja]

The picture you posted doesn't load (maybe for me). If HD Sentinel reported 17 weak sectors the drive MIGHT be going to fail.

Take a screens shot of the SMART tab, upload it somewhere, dropbox. google drive etc. and post link here.

Before doing any further tests backup any important data you might have on the drive.

Thats weird.. the photos are gone somehow from my answers. My apologies, I'll upload em again.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Bottom line here is that the drive is failing. There's nothing you can do to prevent that. Backup all important data and replace it ASAP. In these cases the drive could last several more months, or go full failure on the next boot. Do not delay.

 

[samir167ahuja]

The picture you posted doesn't load (maybe for me). If HD Sentinel reported 17 weak sectors the drive MIGHT be going to fail.

Take a screens shot of the SMART tab, upload it somewhere, dropbox. google drive etc. and post link here.

Before doing any further tests backup any important data you might have on the drive.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1w8j97aFDsnEm_00TDUqXzjbQu-R1g-LJ

here's a snap of the SMART tab.

Dude, I cannot backup! Anything I try copying it starts, but at about 10 or 11% or so one file can no longer be read from the disk and the whole thing fails. If I skip that file, all the files after that are also not readable anymore apparently. But the thing is, all these files WORK PERFECTLY FINE. for example, if they are video clips, they open just fine in my media player. I just cannot copy or move them anywhere.

cant copu.PNG

drive.google.com

 

[samir167ahuja]

Bottom line here is that the drive is failing. There's nothing you can do to prevent that. Backup all important data and replace it ASAP. In these cases the drive could last several more months, or go full failure on the next boot. Do not delay.

Thanks for the reply, man.
I see. That sucks 🙁
Do you think it is still eligible for warranty? I bought it in around mid June last year.. so still under one year from date of purchase.
A friend of mine seems to think this is some type of mega virus. He wants me to wipe the drive clean and start over.
Is that advisable?

Also, I really can't seem to copy my data off the drive anymore.. It just gives me that error "cant read from source file or disk".

 

[ElectrO_90]

Have you tried changing the SATA cable?

 

[Ralston18]

Overall, a drive failure seems to be the leading culprit. And the drive could (as stated) fail at any time.

What problems are shown in the logs?

As for warranty, you will need to check with the drive's seller and/or Western Digital.

"Mega virus" - not likely. You could try scanning the drive but that may do more harm than good. And an AV scan will certainly not recover any data.

Depending on the cause of the "can't read" it may be worth a try at removing the drive and putting it in an external case with a USB connection.

Or some other SATA to USB drive adapter with its own power source.

Sort of a last resort when you determine that there is nothing else to lose.

But "weak sectors" are "weak sectors". Doubt that much can be done.....

 

[samir167ahuja]

Overall, a drive failure seems to be the leading culprit. And the drive could (as stated) fail at any time.

What problems are shown in the logs?

As for warranty, you will need to check with the drive's seller and/or Western Digital.

"Mega virus" - not likely. You could try scanning the drive but that may do more harm than good. And an AV scan will certainly not recover any data.

Depending on the cause of the "can't read" it may be worth a try at removing the drive and putting it in an external case with a USB connection.

Or some other SATA to USB drive adapter with its own power source.

Sort of a last resort when you determine that there is nothing else to lose.

But "weak sectors" are "weak sectors". Doubt that much can be done.....

I see.
Thanks man.
So I've asked for a service request by Acer (laptop manufacturer) since my laptop is still under the 1 year warranty. They want me to bring it to the store to check it over.
Do you guys think this is serious enough for a replacement? Or will they be able to fix it somehow?
And no, I don't wanna open up the laptop at all since that would void my warranty.

Thanks for everyone's reply, you guys rock!

 

[ex_bubblehead]

You don't fix a failing drive, you replace it. Anything else is just putting lipstick on a pig.

 

[samir167ahuja]

A big fat thank you to everyone who replied!!
Well guys, I contacted Acer support online, and they sent a technician over to my doorstep. I explained the problem (guy said it was a virus 😛), then I showed him the Hard Disk Sentinel report. He plugged in some software they carry (Acer Diagnostic Suite or something) and immediately got these red "FAILED" results for the disk. ( He ran a SMART test, a read write test and a test for bad sectors. Then he opened up the back and checked the cables of the drive. All three tests failed and the cables were alright)

They've promised to replace my disk for free in 2-3 days, it is covered under my warranty.
Thank you guys, issue resolved!