Hard drive questions

[Justiceinacan]

It never occurred to me that there could be some fixes to this, but I will ask anyways or at least find an explanation. Pretty much, sometimes my hard drive has some weird issues ;

-Higher than normal noise levels when opening file explorer (normally silent until I hop between files, such as browsing photos)
-File explorer taking more time to open (5+ sec, usually 10 maximum)
-Some delays in opening a folder when compared to opening folders/files on the SSD.

I know a 7200 RPM drive shouldn't compare in speed to an SSD but sometimes this happens, sometimes it doesn't. When I say normal, I mean behaving like expected ; taking less than a second to open something and only making noise when opening/viewing a different files.

SSD : Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB
HDD : Seagate ST1000DM003 (1 TB, 7200 RPM)

 

[ss202sl]

run diagnostics or look at the smart readings to see if the drive has issues. Use HDTUNE
http://www.hdtune.com/

 

[photonboy]

I don't know if a diagnostic will always show a drive that is starting to fail though.

Generally, abnormal noise is an indicator that the drive MAY fail in the near future but it's hard to be certain.

The DIAGNOSTIC program you want is called WINDFT
https://www.hgst.com/support/hard-drive-support/downloads

-select the HDD
-run quick test
-run "tools" and run the SHORT test

If it passes you can run the extended tests which should take several hours. The quick tests are SMART, and the tools do surface checks which are more thorough.

 

[Justiceinacan]

Thanks, I will look into that
What should I do if this drive is found to be broken?

Also I should note there was another issue I found ; instead of placing a file into or exporting a file in this drive, it doesn't move it normally, it copies it (like my USB drives would) like I said, this happens alongside the other issues, which happen sometimes but not always.

 

[ss202sl]

You have your important data backed up right?

The drive isn't dead, but could be wearing out(on it's way to being dead). the fix is cloning it to a new drive before it dies(most retail drives include cloning software), or install the OS on a new drive along with your applications, and then restore your data from your backup.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Justiceinacan,

My suggestion would be to back up the important data stored on it.

After that, as the other guys suggested, you can test it. It would be nice if you can provide a screenshot of the SMART report.

Another thing you can do is to double check the connection. Just attach the drive with different SATA and power cables to another port.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[Justiceinacan]

Went to WINDFT
http://i.imgur.com/8ox9gQl.png

Swapped out sata power and data cables and got the same test ending.
So I take it this drive is calling it quits soon?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Well yeah, it seems you will need to replace it.

You can RMA it if it is under warranty.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[Justiceinacan]

Looks like it's covered for a replacement, hopefully the replacement doesn't have the same problem, thanks.