Windows detected a hard disk problem

Mar 25, 2018
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(note: i am running Windows 8.1 Pro on a Lenovo Thinkpad W540)

several days ago i received a blue screen of death and my computer restarted. upon restart my computer acted like a new system (received the “let’s get you started” message, etc.), and though my data and programs were all intact my user settings (background, taskbar settings, MS Office default settings, etc.) were gone. i also received a message which read “Windows detected a hard disk problem.” in the details it says that “SAMSUNG MZ7TE256HMHP-000L7” is reporting failure. some programs are also acting odd – e.g. Microsoft Office programs won’t open unless i right-click and open as administrator, not all fonts render as they should, etc.

i have since done the following:

- backed up important data.

- ran sfc /scannow in command prompt as administrator. was told that “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them”

- ran DISM Restorehealth and then ran sfc /scannow again after reboot. continued to receive the same message as above.

- ran “wmic diskdrive get status” in cmd. Received one “Pred Fail” result and four “OK”s.

- ran CHKDSK on C: drive several times. results were inconsistent – was told that errors were found after some checks but that no errors were found after others.

- ran CHKDSK /f /x /r /b C: in boot. continued to receive “Windows detected a hard disk problem” message after reboot.

- used third-party software to check hard drive health. one of these programs indicated that it found no bad sectors. however CrystalDiskInfo is indicating a problem with “Wear Leveling Count,” and “Health Status” is at “Bad 100%”.

i chatted with a number of Microsoft customer service people. one suggested that i do an “in-place upgrade” and said that it would not remove any of my data or programs. another suggested that i do a “refresh your PC,” which would delete my programs but not my files. i would be open to trying the in-place upgrade, particularly if i can be sure that i wouldn’t lose anything, but i tend to question how good Microsoft’s customer service people are.

is this a hardware problem or a software problem? would the in-place upgrade or refresh really fix anything? do i need to replace my hard drive? is there some other fix?

note that my computer is 3.5 years old and has an SSD. i do tax my computer at times but this seems like it would be very early for it to crap out. i've been having some problems with my PC for the last several months too (available hard drive space read ~10GB at startup but quickly fell below 1GB during use, somewhat frequent blue screens, etc.) but i'm not sure if this is related.
 
Solution


It might be the drive. Unknown.
Install and run the manufacturers diagnostic tool. See what it says.

"however CrystalDiskInfo is indicating a problem with “Wear Leveling Count,” and “Health Status” is at “Bad 100%”."
This leans towards a drive issue, not software.

A change to the OS won't fix a physical drive issue.

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


An SSD with only 1GB free space is a BadThing. Period.

If it is regularly at this level, the drive may indeed be dying. SSD's require a bunch of free space (15% or so) to for wear leveling and performance.

What size is this drive?
 
Mar 25, 2018
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it's a 256GB SSD. actual free space is closer to 20-30GB, but over the last few months my reported free space will wind down to <1GB after 1-2 hours of use. i'm using the machine right now (as lightly as i can) and it reports just under 30GB free.

is this a sign of a dying drive? or could it be a software issue that could be solved via something like an in-place upgrade install?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


It might be the drive. Unknown.
Install and run the manufacturers diagnostic tool. See what it says.

"however CrystalDiskInfo is indicating a problem with “Wear Leveling Count,” and “Health Status” is at “Bad 100%”."
This leans towards a drive issue, not software.

A change to the OS won't fix a physical drive issue.
 
Solution
It's impossible to predict how long a hard drive should last before eventual failure, there are just too many unknowns and variables. I've had hard drives fail in less than two years, whilst the WD drives I have now are still going strong after 10 years.

Almost certainly your hard drive needs replacing in my opinion.