Hard drive failing so I want to clone it

[noahgab1133]

First noticed there was a problem with the drive near christmas, when my computer all of sudden sent me a message that an error was found and needed to reset. I did so and window had to repair the disk, fortunately it worked and windows came back up only it said it found a bad block.

I been tracking the S.M.A.R.T data of the drive and have some images of the last 3 weeks.

Spoiler

I noticed that reported uncorrectable errors has been increasing steadily at least once a week. Current pending and uncorrectable sector count has remained the same since it first popped up.

I also checked the event logs and it said it was probably due to hardware failure.

Now i would normally replace my computer when a big problem like this shows up but I am reluctant to do so since its specs are still pretty good, i5, 3.00 GHz, windows 8.1, 12GB ram, and I am pretty sure replace the hard drive would fix the issue since everything else is working properly.

I have been reading some guides and threads on cloning here and I am a bit confused. If I install a second hard drive and use something like macrium reflect free to clone the drive to the second one will I have to do anything else? Someone told me I had to disconnect the failing drive and use another computer to clone the drive but i haven't read that anywhere. They also said I shouldn't be using the drive if I am cloning it but also haven't read that anywhere.

The next issue would be the window's license. If I clone the drive and then switch the failing drive with the new clone, would window's work properly? I've seen some people try and use a cloned drive only for windows to not work for them but then again they were moving everything to a new rig. So I am not sure if I should worry about this problem or not.

Is there anything I missed that I should do when replacing a new drive? Of course before I try any of this I will back up everything important to an external HD.

Would cloning a failing drive cause problems to the new hard drive?

 

[USAFRet]

Hard drive failing so I want to clone it

Bad idea if the drive is already failing.

The Windows license usage depends on exactly what you have now.

 

[noahgab1133]

Hard drive failing so I want to clone it

Bad idea if the drive is already failing.

The Windows license usage depends on exactly what you have now.

Why would this be a bad idea? The computer is working or will cloning it also transfer the problem? Is my only option to do a clean install of windows on a new drive and install that?

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Cloning a drive that is in use is dependent on the software you use to perform the cloning. Some software can, some can't.

I would recommend against doing so, as what sort of clone do you expect to have when you are using a hard drive? Obviously, not all of the data will be current. If it's trivial data such as temporary internet files, this likely won't be too big of an issue.

If done correctly, Windows will boot and run from a clone just fine. I have never tried with Windows 8 or newer, but have had no problems up to and including Windows 7. Haven't had the need to clone a Windows 8 system, but I would assume nothing has changed in that department.

Since your disk is failing, I doubt you will have good success making a proper clone. Very likely the drive could end up timing out on bad sectors while trying to retrieve data. I would back up your personal data and plan a proper reinstallation of Windows to a replacement drive.

Cloning the drive should involve a copy of the partitions, not a copy of the drive's remapped, failing sectors, so the new clone should be free of the physical defects found on the first. Data errors are something else, however. Data that is damaged on the source will still be damaged, if it can even be successfully read.

 

[USAFRet]

It depends on how and why that drive is failing.
Corrupt sectors might just end up as corrupt sectors on the new drive.

 

[noahgab1133]

So my best bet would be to reinstall everything on a clean drive? I guess buying a new copy of windows is in order. The event log says its a hardware failure of the drive but I'd rather not risk messing up a new drive. Will I have to buy office again?

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

You aren't installing the software to a new computer so your licenses are still valid. You will however need your license keys. Windows licenses up to and including 7 are usually tied to the motherboard, not the hard drive. Windows 8 is a bit different in that you can transfer it to another computer, provided you remove it from the computer it was previously on first.

 

[bootcher]

You don't need to buy office nor windows when reinstalling them, you might have to contact MS support tough to activate again.

 

[noahgab1133]

I ran chkdsk and it said everything is fine but in the event log it showed lots of lines stating that the usa check value at the block was incorrect and the expected value was something else. I take it windows is wrong here but would the data be corrupted?

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Windows may have logged errors as they happened, while at the same time causing the drive to become aware of them and remap the sectors internally. If the hard drive has successfully remapped any failing sectors, what would there be for chkdsk to find as being wrong except for any file system issues? It isn't checking that the data is correct, just that it's readable, and the file, folder, and other structures are correct. I wouldn't assume that any of the devices in question are necessarily "wrong" in this case.

 

[noahgab1133]

Thank you so much for your help! I have decided to try to clone the drive first and if everything worked, great, if not I will just do a clean install of windows and all the programs.

 

[fzabkar]

If you are trying to clone a drive that has bad sectors, then I would recommend ddrescue (freeware). It can be run from a Ubuntu Rescue Remix CD.