Sleep and HDD bad sector issues, whole PC freezes, related?

[HDDIssueMan]

I built my own PC around June 2015, since then it has had sleep issues (randomly waking from sleep, turning off after I wake it from sleep) and by around March 2016 the hard drive had developed bad sectors, the PC would sometimes become unusable as HDD usage in Task Manager would spike to 100% or 99% but everything was only at 0.1 or 0 MB/s usage. I replaced the HDD with the same model and within the last month the issue has developed again, all throughout the sleep issue persists.

My specs are as follows:

• 
  
  * Windows 8.1 until July 2016, now Windows 10
  * Western Digital Blue 1TB HDD WD10EZEX
  * 1x 8GB RAM
  * EVGA 750W G2 PSU
  * Gigabyte Z97 Gaming 5 ATX
  * Intel i5 4690K - stock no OC
  * CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO
  * Fractal Desgin Arc Midi R2

Using integrated GPU. During HDD usage spikes everything freezes. CrystalDiskInfo reports about 200 C5 and some C6 errors. Any help welcome. Thanks.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, @HDDIssueMan!

I'm sorry to hear about your issues with the WD Blue HDD 🙁. I'd strongly recommend you back up all your data from the drive somewhere off-site (to an external HDD or some other storage device). This is how you will avoid the potential data loss. I'd also recommend you share a screenshot of the diagnostic SMART data reports and also try running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics, once you have backed up the contents on the WD Blue. Let me know if the drive passes both tests.

Have you checked your power management settings in Windows to try and resolve the sleep issue? It might also be a good idea to swap the SATA cable and the SATA port where the drive is connected to the motherboard and see if that problem would still be present.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[HDDIssueMan]

Welcome to the community, @HDDIssueMan!

I'm sorry to hear about your issues with the WD Blue HDD 🙁. I'd strongly recommend you back up all your data from the drive somewhere off-site (to an external HDD or some other storage device). This is how you will avoid the potential data loss. I'd also recommend you share a screenshot of the diagnostic SMART data reports and also try running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics, once you have backed up the contents on the WD Blue. Let me know if the drive passes both tests.

Have you checked your power management settings in Windows to try and resolve the sleep issue? It might also be a good idea to swap the SATA cable and the SATA port where the drive is connected to the motherboard and see if that problem would still be present.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting!
SuperSoph_WD

Thank you for your reply. I was not able to complete the QUICK test as it crashed twice midway. I have attatched the screenshots of the SMART results and the error code for the QUICK test. Yesterday, I got a "Insert Boot Media" screen when I turned the PC on. I had to boot Ubuntu off a DVD before it would detect the HDD again and boot off it. This used to happen when it failed the first time. Should I try the extended test?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there again, @HDDIssueMan!

This seems pretty unfortunate if the WD Blue fails the tests. 🙁 I'd strongly recommend you backup all your data from the HDD somewhere else immediately, if you haven't done it already! This is the surest way to avoid the potential data-loss headaches! If you are not able to do that through Windows OS, then use the Ubuntu environment to that. Afterwards, you could run the extended test as well, however, since it fails the QUICK one, I'd definitely not trust any important files with this WD Blue at this point. I'd also advise you edit the screenshot and get rid of the one that's showing the HDD's serial number. This is sensitive information that shouldn't be shared in public.

My recommendation is to check the warranty of the WD Blue. If it's still covered, you should be able to send an RMA request and get a replacement from our Customer Support. I'm sorry for the struggle that you will need to go through again, but I consider this WD Blue has failed as well.

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have more questions or concerns.
SuperSoph_WD