[SOLVED] Hard drives over the past 2 year all have failed

Apr 5, 2020
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So I've had a problem for 2 years which the easy and first answer i think of is that my hard drive is failing.

I can't remember exactly when it started but it was around 2 years ago where when downloading things(specifically downloading a majority of the time, although very occasionally in the past it would restart or lock up when extracting files or installing games/programs but i think that may of been a side effect of my hard drive starting to fail from all the frequent, abrupt restarts) my pc hard disk usage on the task manager would go up to 100% and lock up my pc, although not always crash and it would sometimes come out of the lock up after a little while OR it would just restart, no BSOD, no error, just restart abruptly and the abrupt restarts were not always linked to the hard drive locking up, sometimes it would just randomly restart.

Sometimes i could keep a game open that was particularly intensive such as total war: three kingdoms, and i could download things without crashing or locking up but most of the time my pc would restart when closing the game, other times that was not the case(but again some of these problems may of just been the hard drive failing and not linked to what seemed to be the main problem, which was downloading causing abrupt restarts). Recently after my pc has been off all night i can turn it on and download stuff just fine for awhile but eventually it would lock up or restart. Upon installing new hard drives the problem would go away for awhile but would always return.

On a side note at some point over those 2 years my pc started detecting a floppy drive which i don't even own a floppy drive so that was very weird which made me think it was a bios problem but I'm not really sure how to fix a bios problem or if that is what is causing it.

Over that time I have used 2 different GPU's, a few different sticks of RAM mixed and unmixed at different stages, and 10-15 hard drives and tried numerous fixes. A lot of the parts on my pc are very old but upgrading or getting a whole new pc isn't an option right now because I'm currently a pseudo stay at home mom with not much support in the way of cash money or i would've already bought an entire new pc.

I'll take any and all help because this problem after so much time has really wore me down.

SPECS
Intel Core i7 960 @ 3.20GHz 3.33GHz
AMD Radeon RX 560
Gigabye Technology EX58-UD5 Motherboard
16GB of RAM
 
Solution
So you've only been using one or two internal hard drives at a time, and have lost 10-15 drives? You've lost enough drives for 10 folks in a lifetime...

I'd replace both SATA data cables, and the PSU if possible, which will get you new power cables to your drive(s) as well....

Most mainboards do not overheat, assuming some minimal airflow and no massive overclocks, but, HWMonitor can help you monitor assorted temps; does you case have some sort of intake and/or exhaust fan?
pc started detecting a floppy drive
If you haven't changed the motherboard battery your bios just reset floppy drive as being there.

Get crystaldiskinfo and check condition of hard drive "s" google it.

If you do a lot of downloading your computer will just get slower and slower gunked up with gremlins.

It's kinda hard at this point so say you have hardware issues or more likely just need a fresh install of windows.

Have you cleaned the dust out lately?

What happens if you take the side off and take a fan and direct it into open case toward motherboard while running. Any change or the same.
 
Apr 5, 2020
6
0
10
If you haven't changed the motherboard battery your bios just reset floppy drive as being there.

Get crystaldiskinfo and check condition of hard drive "s" google it.

If you do a lot of downloading your computer will just get slower and slower gunked up with gremlins.

It's kinda hard at this point so say you have hardware issues or more likely just need a fresh install of windows.

Have you cleaned the dust out lately?

What happens if you take the side off and take a fan and direct it into open case toward motherboard while running. Any change or the same.

I do tons of downloading

I've used Crystaldiskinfo before and i just checked it's health is unknown and isn't giving me much info at all

and i will try putting a fan right next to my motherboard right now.
 
Apr 5, 2020
6
0
10
If you haven't changed the motherboard battery your bios just reset floppy drive as being there.

Get crystaldiskinfo and check condition of hard drive "s" google it.

If you do a lot of downloading your computer will just get slower and slower gunked up with gremlins.

It's kinda hard at this point so say you have hardware issues or more likely just need a fresh install of windows.

Have you cleaned the dust out lately?

What happens if you take the side off and take a fan and direct it into open case toward motherboard while running. Any change or the same.

I put a fan up too it, just a clip on fan i have at my desk and it seems to be doing okay, but could be a red herring would have to see how it does longterm, but i will keep the fan there and see if the problem happens again.

Also i blow my pc out very recently like just a couple days ago, i leave the case completely open and just blow it out regularly.

And i've reinstalled windows numerous times with the problem persisting like 20 times or something ridiculous over the past 2 years.
 
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If you have quite a few SATA ports, realize any failing connected drive can hypothetically lock up or a slow a system to a crawl...

Naturally, a new $40-$50 PSU might be of assistance as well...(be sure to never mix any modular cables from old PSU with new one...; swap ALL PSU cables to drives, mainboard, etc...)

If we are dealing with external USB drives, many simply will not handle multiple GB of writes per day, and, I consider them to be not as reliable as the internal variety.

Perhaps a fresh install to an SSD , test with all other drives disconnected for stability....
 
Apr 5, 2020
6
0
10
If you have quite a few SATA ports, realize any failing connected drive can hypothetically lock up or a slow a system to a crawl...

Naturally, a new $40-$50 PSU might be of assistance as well...(be sure to never mix any modular cables from old PSU with new one...; swap ALL PSU cables to drives, mainboard, etc...)

If we are dealing with external USB drives, many simply will not handle multiple GB of writes per day, and, I consider them to be not as reliable as the internal variety.

Perhaps a fresh install to an SSD , test with all other drives disconnected for stability....

I've suspected the PSU before because everything in my pc is 7+ years old besides my GPU, but so far having a fan blowing into my case at my mother board has fixed this. So maybe motherboard overheating? is that even a thing?

Does having my case open on both sides cause that? Does the fan on the back of my pc need the case to be closed to cool the motherboard?

Also I'm only using internal hard drives, can i not write lots of data to them everyday? I'm currently using a 1TB hard drive.
 
So you've only been using one or two internal hard drives at a time, and have lost 10-15 drives? You've lost enough drives for 10 folks in a lifetime...

I'd replace both SATA data cables, and the PSU if possible, which will get you new power cables to your drive(s) as well....

Most mainboards do not overheat, assuming some minimal airflow and no massive overclocks, but, HWMonitor can help you monitor assorted temps; does you case have some sort of intake and/or exhaust fan?
 
Solution
Apr 5, 2020
6
0
10
So you've only been using one or two internal hard drives at a time, and have lost 10-15 drives? You've lost enough drives for 10 folks in a lifetime...

I'd replace both SATA data cables, and the PSU if possible, which will get you new power cables to your drive(s) as well....

Most mainboards do not overheat, assuming some minimal airflow and no massive overclocks, but, HWMonitor can help you monitor assorted temps; does you case have some sort of intake and/or exhaust fan?

I have an exhaust fan, and i have many SATA cables, around 7-8 and they've been changed out at random.

Also if i could get a new PSU i would've done that already, i would've got an entire new PC honestly but i was already super duper tight on money and now with the current epidemic there's no money, I'm just trying to get this old, handmedown, patchwork, pc to work or at the least figure out what the problem is so i can fix it in the future and find a temporary fix for now.

Since I put this fan blowing into my pc it's been working like a charm, so maybe stonecarver was on to something, but it could be a red herring so i'll see how it does tomorrow.