Question "Repair Drive Errors"; Stuttering; Freezing

[LostLuggage]

Hello all. A few weeks ago I got a Windows notification (which is why I'm posting under Windows 10) to "Restart to repair drive errors". I did so, and my computer spent the next roughly 17 hours "fixing". Seemed nothing was resolved, because the error came up again. I didn't want to risk my computer getting stuck forever on the "fixing" process at that moment, as I've heard can happen, and I didn't seem to be having any issues anyway, so I figured I'd continued using my computer. Since then though I have had more issues. My Steam client has issues with speed constantly and I have games (both Steam and non-Steam) having intermittent but repeated stuttering and crashing issues. One of my Steam games said it had a file issue when I tried to load it and so I tried to verify the integrity of the files and update it, and I repeatedly get "Update Failed" with the reason given being "Corrupt disk". I tried to put my computer to sleep last night and instead it slowly moved to go to sleep before entering the aforementioned "fixing" process as if I had restarted it, and that took approximately 15 hours. Upon restart things worked alright, but same error message and aforementioned errors with verifying files on Steam and crashing in the non-Steam game I tried playing. Tried repairing library on Steam, and it froze up into "Not Responding". Pulling up the task manager to close Steam it would take unusually long or refuse to close at all, and in this most recent session task manager itself would freeze into "Not Responding" and I'd have to force that process to end. Also in this most recent session even my Windows file explorer froze almost immediately upon attempting to use it, entering "Not Responding". I tried to put my computer to sleep again, and same process as yesterday, though I managed to catch it and press a key before it entered disk checking again.

I can do alright with putting computer components together, but I know far less about the software side of things or if a hardware or software problem is causing these issues, or what to do from here. I have my OS on an SSD, two other SSD's for storage, and 2TB HDD for storage as well. The HDD is about ten years old at this point. If I had to venture an uneducated guess, I'd say the HDD is having a mechanical issue and needs to be replaced, but I've no real idea and the initial cause for concern was a Windows notification so I chose to post here as it may be better known what issues cause that message to appear. I've resigned to having to pick up a new drive (SSD this time of course) and do a full data transfer from my HDD to then remove it from my computer. That said, if this is a software/file issue, then transferring all the data won't do anything to solve the problem I assume.

I'd appreciate any knowledge and suggestions on how to proceed you can provide.
If this post is more appropriate under a different topic like one of the hardware ones let me know and I'll be sure to move it.

 

[Bob.B]

Hello all. A few weeks ago I got a Windows notification (which is why I'm posting under Windows 10) to "Restart to repair drive errors". I did so, and my computer spent the next roughly 17 hours "fixing". Seemed nothing was resolved, because the error came up again. I didn't want to risk my computer getting stuck forever on the "fixing" process at that moment, as I've heard can happen, and I didn't seem to be having any issues anyway, so I figured I'd continued using my computer. Since then though I have had more issues. My Steam client has issues with speed constantly and I have games (both Steam and non-Steam) having intermittent but repeated stuttering and crashing issues. One of my Steam games said it had a file issue when I tried to load it and so I tried to verify the integrity of the files and update it, and I repeatedly get "Update Failed" with the reason given being "Corrupt disk". I tried to put my computer to sleep last night and instead it slowly moved to go to sleep before entering the aforementioned "fixing" process as if I had restarted it, and that took approximately 15 hours. Upon restart things worked alright, but same error message and aforementioned errors with verifying files on Steam and crashing in the non-Steam game I tried playing. Tried repairing library on Steam, and it froze up into "Not Responding". Pulling up the task manager to close Steam it would take unusually long or refuse to close at all, and in this most recent session task manager itself would freeze into "Not Responding" and I'd have to force that process to end. Also in this most recent session even my Windows file explorer froze almost immediately upon attempting to use it, entering "Not Responding". I tried to put my computer to sleep again, and same process as yesterday, though I managed to catch it and press a key before it entered disk checking again.

I can do alright with putting computer components together, but I know far less about the software side of things or if a hardware or software problem is causing these issues, or what to do from here. I have my OS on an SSD, two other SSD's for storage, and 2TB HDD for storage as well. The HDD is about ten years old at this point. If I had to venture an uneducated guess, I'd say the HDD is having a mechanical issue and needs to be replaced, but I've no real idea and the initial cause for concern was a Windows notification so I chose to post here as it may be better known what issues cause that message to appear. I've resigned to having to pick up a new drive (SSD this time of course) and do a full data transfer from my HDD to then remove it from my computer. That said, if this is a software/file issue, then transferring all the data won't do anything to solve the problem I assume.

I'd appreciate any knowledge and suggestions on how to proceed you can provide.
If this post is more appropriate under a different topic like one of the hardware ones let me know and I'll be sure to move it.

Use crystal disk info and post a screenshot for each disk.

 

[LostLuggage]

Use crystal disk info and post a screenshot for each disk.

Do you have a specific link you'd recommend for that tool?

I've seen that some recommend using the proprietary tool from the drive's manufacturer, so in this case I'd use Western Digital's scanning tool, whether Western Digital Dashboard or the discontinued Western Digital Data Lifeguard. Do you recommend that third-party software over using the drive manufacturer's tool/s?

 

[Bob.B]

Do you have a specific link you'd recommend for that tool?

I've seen that some recommend using the proprietary tool from the drive's manufacturer, so in this case I'd use Western Digital's scanning tool, whether Western Digital Dashboard or the discontinued Western Digital Data Lifeguard. Do you recommend that third-party software over using the drive manufacturer's tool/s?

The recco here is to use imgur.com.

Your call as to which tool to use to read the smart data.

 

[LostLuggage]

The recco here is to use imgur.com.

Your call as to which tool to use to read the smart data.

Hmm alright.

Before I run another scan using one of the other tools that have been mentioned, any required prep? And do I need to leave my computer completely idle while the scan runs or otherwise refrain from using particular processes on it? Will that interfere with the scan? I've read that trying to scan a drive "in use by the OS" will not yield accurate results but I don't know what that means; my HDD is not the drive with my OS on it it's just for storage.

 

[Bob.B]

Hmm alright.

Before I run another scan using one of the other tools that have been mentioned, any required prep? And do I need to leave my computer completely idle while the scan runs or otherwise refrain from using particular processes on it? Will that interfere with the scan? I've read that trying to scan a drive "in use by the OS" will not yield accurate results but I don't know what that means; my HDD is not the drive with my OS on it it's just for storage.

If your talking about the WD tools I have never run the things perhaps others will give a recco.

 

[stonecarver]

I second for a quick feedback on the condition of the drive is run crystal disk info. You don't even have to install it just run the exe and you have the hard drive information in about the same time it take you to open your Document folder.

One of my Steam games said it had a file issue when I tried to load it and so I tried to verify the integrity of the files and update it, and I repeatedly get "Update Failed" with the reason given being "Corrupt disk"

This is interesting in the since I fixed an issue almost with exact symptoms.

I had the long restarts, had the cksum Restart to repair drive errors. My Steam games were acting nuts. One day no issues only to start the next day and go to play game and Steam would say game was not installed. Install the game and yup like your Steam said Update Failed/Corrupt disk.

I disconnected my "D" drive and no issues. As far as booting.



I threw in a different new "D" drive re did games and life went on. Until it turned into a cycle. Three spare "D" drives later and about two years I figured it out.

What now seems like I ignored the issue I just thought bad drive , bad drive, than wait a minute. It was hard to know I had something deeper that was the issue.

Every time I switched out the "D" drive the darn PC had no issues for months and months.

I rarely turned off the PC but on the rare times I did shut down must have been when the issues showed up I was just not keeping track.

This was the strangest issue as to the cause that I happened to just catch it after a reboot I noticed a system fan trying to spin than seem to get going than freeze than kind of spin.
I shut down, flipped in a new fan booted up and every one of the symptoms with booting. Cksum repair drive errors. Steam stopped saying corrupt disk.

Not one issue now and If I had not seen this for myself I would not believe a bad fan could have the side effects it had on the hard drives.

One of the bonuses I retested the "D" drives I had thought were bad were all fine in the end

My take the fan was drawing all the amps from the drives trying to get itself spinning.

 

[LostLuggage]

Use crystal disk info and post a screenshot for each disk.

Here's what it says after just opening the program.

https://imgur.com/a/2u2WaiB

View: https://imgur.com/a/2u2WaiB

 

[LostLuggage]

I second for a quick feedback on the condition of the drive is run crystal disk info. You don't even have to install it just run the exe and you have the hard drive information in about the same time it take you to open your Document folder.

This is interesting in the since I fixed an issue almost with exact symptoms.

I had the long restarts, had the cksum Restart to repair drive errors. My Steam games were acting nuts. One day no issues only to start the next day and go to play game and Steam would say game was not installed. Install the game and yup like your Steam said Update Failed/Corrupt disk.

I disconnected my "D" drive and no issues. As far as booting.



I threw in a different new "D" drive re did games and life went on. Until it turned into a cycle. Three spare "D" drives later and about two years I figured it out.

What now seems like I ignored the issue I just thought bad drive , bad drive, than wait a minute. It was hard to know I had something deeper that was the issue.

Every time I switched out the "D" drive the darn PC had no issues for months and months.

I rarely turned off the PC but on the rare times I did shut down must have been when the issues showed up I was just not keeping track.

This was the strangest issue as to the cause that I happened to just catch it after a reboot I noticed a system fan trying to spin than seem to get going than freeze than kind of spin.
I shut down, flipped in a new fan booted up and every one of the symptoms with booting. Cksum repair drive errors. Steam stopped saying corrupt disk.

Not one issue now and If I had not seen this for myself I would not believe a bad fan could have the side effects it had on the hard drives.

One of the bonuses I retested the "D" drives I had thought were bad were all fine in the end

My take the fan was drawing all the amps from the drives trying to get itself spinning.

Interesting. I haven't noticed anything like that but I'll give my fans a closer look I suppose. Thanks very much for all the information.

I've shared the CrystalDiskInfo screenshot in my prior comment.

 

[LostLuggage]

So worth saying that with some other searching I've done for people that have done scans and backups and such is they will check the Windows Event Logs to I guess examine the scan further? I'm not sure exactly how to interpret the information there, but they specified it would be an event labeled 'Wininit' under the 'Source' column. With searching the event logs I found only a single event of that kind, and the description of that event references the game I mentioned in my post that yields a "Corrupt Disk" message on Steam when trying to update. It makes me wonder if this is some sort of corruption error in the files for that game and it's causing a strange reaction from my computer as it doesn't know what to do with them? I don't know this is all very new to me but I found that to be a bit too coincidental to not be worth inquiring about.

 

[Bob.B]

Here's what it says after just opening the program.

https://imgur.com/a/2u2WaiB

View: https://imgur.com/a/2u2WaiB

The disk is showing a problem if there is anything important on the disk copy it off to some other media.

Once that's done you can play with things like chkdsk or the WD tools and see if the disk will clean up.

Or just replace the disk and move on......your call.

 

[LostLuggage]

The disk is showing a problem if there is anything important on the disk copy it off to some other media.

Once that's done you can play with things like chkdsk or the WD tools and see if the disk will clean up.

Or just replace the disk and move on......your call.

Is there a way to tell what the issue is with more precision?

It's where most of my games are stored and where I store all of my pictures and videos.

It's a 2TB drive. I bought a 2TB SSD to do a full image backup with Acronis. Does that sound like the way to go?

After that yeah I'd look to do a more thorough scan of the drive to find what the actual problem is, but even then I'm not sure exactly how to go about doing that.

 

[Bob.B]

Is there a way to tell what the issue is with more precision?

It's where most of my games are stored and where I store all of my pictures and videos.

It's a 2TB drive. I bought a 2TB SSD to do a full image backup with Acronis. Does that sound like the way to go?

After that yeah I'd look to do a more thorough scan of the drive to find what the actual problem is, but even then I'm not sure exactly how to go about doing that.

You can try running an image I have no idea what the image prog will do if it runs across parts of the disk it can't read.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Here's what it says after just opening the program.

Your hdd has 1177 pending sectors (hex 499).

You can resolve pending sectors with victoria software.
Run victoria - test&repair with remap option.
Download link here:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/victoria_for_windows.html

 

[LostLuggage]

Your hdd has 1177 pending sectors (hex 499).

You can resolve pending sectors with victoria software.
Run victoria - test&repair with remap option.
Download link here:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/victoria_for_windows.html

What does that mean? Are those bad sectors? Or just ones the program says might be bad, or...? What is "hex 499"?

As for "resolving" those sectors, I assume that means wiping whatever data is in them? If so, I assume you recommend backing up all data on the drive before doing anything else?

 

[LostLuggage]

You can try running an image I have no idea what the image prog will do if it runs across parts of the disk it can't read.

Is that was "pending" means is the program couldn't read those sectors?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Are those bad sectors? Or just ones the program says might be bad, or...?
Is that was "pending" means is the program couldn't read those sectors?

That means - sectors could not be read.
To determine, if they are bad or not, they have to be overwritten.
Then depending on overwrite result, they're considered fine or get remapped to spare area.

What is "hex 499"?

Hexadecimal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal

As for "resolving" those sectors, I assume that means wiping whatever data is in them? If so, I assume you recommend backing up all data on the drive before doing anything else?

They are corrupt already. There's no point in backing up corrupted data.

 

[LostLuggage]

That means - sectors could not be read.
To determine, if they are bad or not, they have to be overwritten.
Then depending on overwrite result, they're considered fine or get remapped to spare area.

Hexadecimal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal

They are corrupt already. There's no point in backing up corrupted data.

If I'm understanding correctly, would you just go ahead and remap/rewrite those sectors right now without backing anything up because the data in those sectors is corrupt already anyway, and the remapping/rewriting won't touch any of the other sectors and so they don't need to be backed up?

 

[Bob.B]

If I'm understanding correctly, would you just go ahead and remap/rewrite those sectors right now without backing anything up because the data in those sectors is corrupt already anyway, and the remapping/rewriting won't touch any of the other sectors and so they don't need to be backed up?

If there is anything on this disk that is not replaceable you might want to copy it out before playing with any tools.

 

[LostLuggage]

If there is anything on this disk that is not replaceable you might want to copy it out before playing with any tools.

That's what I would think. So in this case if you're not sure how an image backup would handle the pending sectors would you copy only specific things out manually then?

 

[Bob.B]

That's what I would think. So in this case if you're not sure how an image backup would handle the pending sectors would you copy only specific things out manually then?

Yes.

 

[SkyNetRising]

So in this case if you're not sure how an image backup would handle the pending sectors would you copy only specific things out manually then?

Depends on imaging software.
Some may have options for skipping unreadable parts.
Some will just fail, when encountering disk corruption.

 

[LostLuggage]

Depends on imaging software.
Some may have options for skipping unreadable parts.
Some will just fail, when encountering disk corruption.

Makes sense. Is there one you recommend?
Also, if I move everything over to my new drive (I bought a 2TB SSD to replace this drive in case the conclusion was to replace my current one), won't all of the paths that involve my current drive be wrong? Like when Steam has to refer to that drive for a save file or when some other program has to refer to that drive for a particular image or something. Is that something it's possible to prepare for at all or will it have to just be a deal of "handle them as they come up"?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Makes sense. Is there one you recommend?

Haven't done this for a while.
I don't remember, if Macrium Reflect allowed to skip bad blocks.
I think, R-Drive Image has that feature (if I remember correctly).

Also, if I move everything over to my new drive,
won't all of the paths that involve my current drive be wrong?

Just change drive letters. So new drive has drive letter of old drive.
That can be done in Disk Management.

 

[LostLuggage]

Haven't done this for a while.
I don't remember, if Macrium Reflect allowed to skip bad blocks.
I think, R-Drive Image has that feature (if I remember correctly).

Just change drive letters. So new drive has drive letter of old drive.
That can be done in Disk Management.

Good idea on changing the drive letter. Sounds so obvious now that you say that.

I had programs freeze up on me and had to do a hard shutdown. Upon restarting I reopened CrystalDiskInfo and now the hexadecimal number is '49C' instead of '499'. I assume that means the issue is now worse?