Unusual HDD Freezing

[wigman27]

Hi all,

I have recently been having issues with my HDD.

Just to give a bit of background, I run an SSD as my main system drive and a 2 TB HDD to sore my files on. I have recently been having issues with my HDD freezing and the HD light on solid, usually when transferring or accessing files. The computer will work and not freeze but I was unable to access anything on that drive and the computer would not respond after a little while.

I completed a chkdsk on the HDD but it locked up about 3/4 of the way through every time. It did eventually give some errors showing bad sectors. Because of this I have purchase a new HDD thinking the old one was just on the way out.

My new HDD arrived today and I began transferring my files across and it would get part way through and the HD light stayed on solid and things stopped. Presuming this was the old HDD I unplugged it and just left the new one in.

I started to transfer the files from a backup in an external HDD to the new HDD and all way good until the new HDD just disappeared from the computer like it was disconnected. I restarted the computer and commenced the transfer again and now my new HDD is locking up and causing the HD light to stay on!

Very frustrating!

Could this be an operating system (Windows 7 Pro) problem or even a MB problem?

Any help would be great!

P.S. If I turn the computer off for a while, it seems to last longer before freezing up.

 

[soccerkingpilot]

Can you confirm that you're using a SATA connection and not USB? Have you tried a different SATA port? I've had similar issues with an external drive I use for backups that will randomly disappear and come back upon restart. I haven't narrowed it down to the drive or mobo.

Running the drive through its paces on a separate machine is probably the easiest way to troubleshoot.

 

[RolandJS]

As crazy as this is going to come across - in overclock's forum there was a thread in which one guy solved his disappearing device by running F8's memory diagnostics, I think the middle one. Post after post came in thanking him for discovering the very unusual solution. Now, whether that idea applies here, whether that idea will work for you -- I do not know.

 

[wigman27]

Can you confirm that you're using a SATA connection and not USB? Have you tried a different SATA port? I've had similar issues with an external drive I use for backups that will randomly disappear and come back upon restart. I haven't narrowed it down to the drive or mobo.

Running the drive through its paces on a separate machine is probably the easiest way to troubleshoot.

Hi Soccerkingpilot,

I can confirm that the SSD, the old HDD and the new HDD are connected to different SATA connections. The external backup drive was connected via USB3.

It was more this issue of the freezing rather than disappearing.

The new drive is making some funny noises as well. It isn't a mechanical noise but it is quite hard to describe. It starts making the noise as it freezes. Could the new one be faulty? Do I really have that much bad luck?

My Wife's HDD in her laptop also recently failed with a very similar freezing issue. It couldn't be a virus of some sort could it?

Thanks again

Lee

 

[RolandJS]

It's remotely possible that both of you picked up a malware or two, hard to tell. What AV and what AM are you both running with shields ON in the background?

 

[wigman27]

It's remotely possible that both of you picked up a malware or two, hard to tell. What AV and what AM are you both running with shields ON in the background?

Hi RolandJS,

I am starting to think that is the case.

I use Avast free edition and use Adwcleaner to scan for Malware on a regular basis. Both of these haven't found anything on either computer.

Which soloution would you recommend?

Thanks

Lee

 

[RolandJS]

At this point, I don't know. I'm going to listen in and learn alongside you from the wisdom/experiences of others.

 

[USAFRet]

Have you tried a different SATA port for the HDD?
Or a different data cable?

 

[soccerkingpilot]

The new drive is making some funny noises as well. It isn't a mechanical noise but it is quite hard to describe. It starts making the noise as it freezes. Could the new one be faulty? Do I really have that much bad luck?

A small percentage of electronics are faulty when produced, which is why manufacturers generally run them for a burn-in period. They tend to fail early on or last close to the expected lifetime. There is always a chance a bum drive got to you.