[SOLVED] HDD getting slow write speeds on random boot sessions - is it dying?

Tatazildo

Honorable
Jan 6, 2015
16
0
10,510
Hey, everyone!

My newest HDD, an 8TB Barracuda HDD, is getting really slow write speeds on CrystalDiskMark and a lot of "Disk Cache Overload 100%" on uTorrent. If it gets this error, it crashes the whole computer.

The funny thing is this doesn't happen every time but in random boot sessions. One of these days I downloaded 100GB+ directly to it and got not a single Disk Cache Overload message. Today I tried to download some more stuff to it but got a lot of errors so I decided to run CrystalDiskMark on it and compare the results with my other 4TB Barracuda HDD. Below are the results. 4TB is the first image, 8TB the second. I didn't do all the tests.



They're both compatible with SATA III 6 Gb/s speeds and connected to compatible slots on a compatible motherboard. I'm using a 64-bit Windows 10. What could be the problem?
 
Solution
I cannot spot any single s.m.a.r.t. reading suggesting the disk are bad. However, the Seagate implementation or 'Read Error Rate' is undocumented and it is hard to figure out if a number pints to bad, good or neither. If you search the web, there are several people out there that believes they've figured out how it works, but I'll say it is questionable.

There is a couple of other thing you may try out:
  • Try connect to another sata plug, preferable one that belong to another controller if possible (read your mobo manual)
  • Check if the RAM is good, use Memtest86+ for this.
I cannot spot any single s.m.a.r.t. reading suggesting the disk are bad. However, the Seagate implementation or 'Read Error Rate' is undocumented and it is hard to figure out if a number pints to bad, good or neither. If you search the web, there are several people out there that believes they've figured out how it works, but I'll say it is questionable.

There is a couple of other thing you may try out:
  • Try connect to another sata plug, preferable one that belong to another controller if possible (read your mobo manual)
  • Check if the RAM is good, use Memtest86+ for this.
 
Solution

Tatazildo

Honorable
Jan 6, 2015
16
0
10,510
I cannot spot any single s.m.a.r.t. reading suggesting the disk are bad. However, the Seagate implementation or 'Read Error Rate' is undocumented and it is hard to figure out if a number pints to bad, good or neither. If you search the web, there are several people out there that believes they've figured out how it works, but I'll say it is questionable.

There is a couple of other thing you may try out:
  • Try connect to another sata plug, preferable one that belong to another controller if possible (read your mobo manual)
  • Check if the RAM is good, use Memtest86+ for this.

I changed both the SATA cable and the port but got the same results. I'll try Memtest later. Thanks!
 

Tatazildo

Honorable
Jan 6, 2015
16
0
10,510
If you don't set you preferences on your downloading program it will play havoc on your system and hard drive. That's about all I will say on this one.
It's probably a 256mb cache drive and therefor likely to be an SMR drive with all it's inherent write issues.
As for the cache overload, you set that in utorrent in the advanced preferences section.

I know. But uTorrent did an amazing job at managing disk cache on itself with every other drive I've ever had. I'll try and mess with the settings. Thanks.