How to identify if HDD is going to die or it's cable is faulty?

[tangor]

Hello 2 all!

First of all, I am not a hardware guy.

I have GA-G33-DS3R motherboard with SSD and HDD connected. SSD is primary with OS and 250 gb HDD is for other stuff.

The issue is, that recently HDD started to be 100% in use. As soon as I try to run some program from it OR running programs tries to read from it - it becomes 100% in use and everything is slow and bad. And this continues for quite a time even if the file size is small.

My first thoughts were that is is win10 100% disk issue (tried some solutions but didn't help), but I also did some restarts and windows updates and windows wasn't loading after that... After many attempts it loaded up and I realized that Windows doesn't see my HDD disc 🙁

Later, after hibernate and woke up - shows up again, but it is slow upon calling, as usual.
I tried to copy some files from it and copying was very slow as well and was throwing an error something about I/O error.
Managed to copy small files, but for big failed.

So my last idea that it isn't software issue but is hardware issue instead... maybe my HDD is going to die shortly?

Is there any easy way to say if IDE cable (yes I think I have IDE interface for HDD) is faulty or HDD is going to die?

P.S: my PC is quite old (4+ years).

 

[kanewolf]

Start by checking the disk with the manufacturer's tools. Seagate and WD have downloads of tools.

 

[Paperdoc]

It is VERY likely that your HDD is SATA - few machines sold four years ago came with IDE HDD's in them.

The manufacturer's HDD diagnostic utilities will help, but IF your problem really is just a poor cable connection, that type of testing will still show you many read errors without identifying them as cable problems. Your best process to check for that is adjustment and/or replacement of the data cable.

Shut down your system and disconnect it from power. Open the case and locate the HDD unit. It has two cables to it. The wider one is power from the PSU. Unplug it from the back of the HDD, then plug it back in again. Do this several times. IF there is oxidation contamination on the metal contacts, this action will "scrub" them clean. Now, do the same thing with the smaller cable that is for data. Lastly, go to the other end of the data cable that plugs into a mobo header and do the same. Be careful while doing these not to disconnect anything else by mistake. Check when you're finished that you have not disturbed other stuff. Close up the case, reconnect the power cord, and try the system. If the problem has disappeared, you have it solved at least for now.

If this does NOT solve the problem, the next step would be to replace the data cable itself, and that means you need to get one from a computer parts shop. They are easily available. You cannot replace the power supply cable (it is part of the wiring from the PSU), but you MAY be able to switch to a different power connector on that same set of wires.

If this still does not solve your problem, then it is very likely that cables is not the issue, and your diagnostic tools will tell you something about the problems with the HDD. Note down what it does say and consult with your HDD maker's Tech Support people for advice, or post back here if that might be useful to you.

 

[geofelt]

If your HDD is IDE, it will be connected by a ribbon cable and a psu molex.
If IDE, it is time to replace it.
IDE is slow and the capacity is small.
check that the cables are securely plugged in.

Over time, a HDD can develop bad sectors.
This is handled by the drive reassigning alternate sectors.
Such alternates may be anywhere causing non optimized seeks and performance.
In time, you may run out of spares.

I suppose you could run defrag, but really, it is time to replace the unit.

 

[tangor]

hello again!

Turned out , that my HDD actually uses SATA cable. I connected another SATA cable available in the PC case and run Seatools for diagnostic and now it shows that everything is OK! And everything works smoothly as well!

Thank you all!

 

[Paperdoc]

Glad to hear you have fixed it. Thanks for Best Solution.