Bad hard drive?

[Antares 531]

I have a 500 GB Western Digital WDC WD 5000 AAKS-OOYGAO SATA hard
drive in a separate enclosure that lets me hook this hard drive up
with a SATA cable to my computer and use it as a back-up storage
means. Recently this hard drive has been erratic. Sometimes my
computer will stall during the boot process and ask me to run
Checkdisk on this hard drive. Other times it will go ahead and boot
and seem to work okay.

I've tried running my McAffee virus software but it always hangs up
when it gets to this hard drive. Then, after a few minutes the
computer will shut down or re-boot, although I have unchecked the
Automatic restart under Properties > Advanced Tab > Startup and
Recovery > Settings, under System failure.

Is this problem simply the early stages of a hard drive failure, or
could it be the results of some malware shutting the computer down
when it is being examined by checkdisk?

System; MS Windows XP Pro, SP3 with on-line updates current on a
computer with a Gigabyte GA-P35 DS3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2
Duo processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM.

I have an abundance of hard drive free space on the main hard drive as
well as on this back-up hard drive.

Any suggestions? Gordon

 

[Paul]

I have a 500 GB Western Digital WDC WD 5000 AAKS-OOYGAO SATA hard
drive in a separate enclosure that lets me hook this hard drive up
with a SATA cable to my computer and use it as a back-up storage
means. Recently this hard drive has been erratic. Sometimes my
computer will stall during the boot process and ask me to run
Checkdisk on this hard drive. Other times it will go ahead and boot
and seem to work okay.

I've tried running my McAffee virus software but it always hangs up
when it gets to this hard drive. Then, after a few minutes the
computer will shut down or re-boot, although I have unchecked the
Automatic restart under Properties > Advanced Tab > Startup and
Recovery > Settings, under System failure.

Is this problem simply the early stages of a hard drive failure, or
could it be the results of some malware shutting the computer down
when it is being examined by checkdisk?

System; MS Windows XP Pro, SP3 with on-line updates current on a
computer with a Gigabyte GA-P35 DS3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2
Duo processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM.

I have an abundance of hard drive free space on the main hard drive as
well as on this back-up hard drive.

Any suggestions? Gordon

When the drive is in the external enclosure, where does it get
electrical power ? Does it use an AC wall adapter ? Would the
problem be power related ? Does the light on the adapter flicker
or indicate it is having trouble providing power during the
ten second spinup period of the drive ?

There is a "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" here, if you want to
test the disk.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=606&lang=en

Since there is a "DOS" option, it may also be possible to run
the Lifeguard, without WinXP running at the time. When they
say DOS, they usually include FreeDOS or equivalent, as part
of the boot media.

Paul

 

[Antares 531]

When the drive is in the external enclosure, where does it get
electrical power ? Does it use an AC wall adapter ? Would the
problem be power related ? Does the light on the adapter flicker
or indicate it is having trouble providing power during the
ten second spinup period of the drive ?

There is a "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" here, if you want to
test the disk.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=606&lang=en

Since there is a "DOS" option, it may also be possible to run
the Lifeguard, without WinXP running at the time. When they
say DOS, they usually include FreeDOS or equivalent, as part
of the boot media.

Paul

Paul, I don't think there is a power problem. I have the external
drive caddy's power cord plugged into my UPS so it won't get any
surges or power interruptions.

The light flickers in sync with the light on the computer's front that
shows hard drive activity. This is normal.

If it weren't for the fact that this problem will cause my computer to
shut down or re-boot even though I have that unchecked in the
Properties > Advanced tab > Startup and Recovery > Settings > System
Failure I would be reasonably sure it was just a hard drive failure
developing. But what is shutting the computer down? This is especially
puzzling since this is being caused by an external hard drive.

Gordon

 

[JS]

Remove the drive from the enclosure and
connect it a SATA port on your motherboard.

Some tools to check your drive are as follows:
Western Digital's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=3

HD Tune: http://www.hdtune.com/

SpeedFan has an online analysis feature for hard drives.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

PassMark's BurnInTest which has options to perform numerous test including
the Disk: http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

If the drive passes all the tests and the S.M.A.R.T. values
are OK then the problem is with the eSATA interface.

 

[Anna]

When the drive is in the external enclosure, where does it get
electrical power ? Does it use an AC wall adapter ? Would the
problem be power related ? Does the light on the adapter flicker
or indicate it is having trouble providing power during the
ten second spinup period of the drive ?

There is a "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" here, if you want to
test the disk.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=606&lang=en

Since there is a "DOS" option, it may also be possible to run
the Lifeguard, without WinXP running at the time. When they
say DOS, they usually include FreeDOS or equivalent, as part
of the boot media.

Paul

Gordon:
First of all we'll assume that aside from the apparent problem you're
experiencing with that WD HDD, there's absolutely *no* problem with your
system when the external HDD is disconnected from the system, i.e., your OS
boots without incident and functions without *any* problems.

As Paul suggests it would be advisable to check out the disk with the WD HDD
diagnostic utility. It's not clear from your description whether the
external HDD is connected to your system via a SATA-to-SATA connection or
it's simply a USB-connected system (utilizing a SATA HDD as the drive). If
it's the latter, you will most likely need to install the disk as an
*internal* (secondary) HDD in your system to utilize the WD diagnostic
utility since that program ordinarily will not detect a USB-connected HDD.

If the disk checks out OK it's most likely a defective external enclosure
you're dealing with or defective cabling or a mis-connection of some sort. I
assume you've tried connecting the external device to one or more other USB
ports (assuming it's a USB-connected device), or to another one of the
motherboard's SATA connectors (assuming this is a SATA-to-SATA connectivity
external device).

Do you have another HDD that you could install in the enclosure in order to
determine whether it's the enclosure that's the problem?

Assuming the HDD checks out OK and there's no apparent problem with the
enclosure, cabling, etc., is there any chance you could simply delete the
disk's partition and reartition/format the drive (first saving, if
necessary, whatever data you may need to another destination)?
Anna

 

[Antares 531]

(snip)


Gordon:
First of all we'll assume that aside from the apparent problem you're
experiencing with that WD HDD, there's absolutely *no* problem with your
system when the external HDD is disconnected from the system, i.e., your OS
boots without incident and functions without *any* problems.

Anna, this seems to be true. My computer, with the external hard drive
removed works quite well. My McAffee virus scan goes over it with no
glitches and My Computer > Computer Management finds no fragmentation
or bad sector problems.

As Paul suggests it would be advisable to check out the disk with the WD HDD
diagnostic utility. It's not clear from your description whether the
external HDD is connected to your system via a SATA-to-SATA connection or
it's simply a USB-connected system (utilizing a SATA HDD as the drive). If
it's the latter, you will most likely need to install the disk as an
*internal* (secondary) HDD in your system to utilize the WD diagnostic
utility since that program ordinarily will not detect a USB-connected HDD.

I will try plugging the external hard drive into the computer using
its USB-SATA cable. I have been using its SATA-to-SATA cable. Maybe
the problem is in the SATA card or cable.

If this doesn't work I may take the whole thing to Best Buy, where I
bought it and see if their Geek Squad can diagnose the problem.

If the disk checks out OK it's most likely a defective external enclosure
you're dealing with or defective cabling or a mis-connection of some sort. I
assume you've tried connecting the external device to one or more other USB
ports (assuming it's a USB-connected device), or to another one of the
motherboard's SATA connectors (assuming this is a SATA-to-SATA connectivity
external device).

Do you have another HDD that you could install in the enclosure in order to
determine whether it's the enclosure that's the problem?

No, I don't have another HDD but I may take this one out of the caddy
and put it into the computer's other SATA setup.

Assuming the HDD checks out OK and there's no apparent problem with the
enclosure, cabling, etc., is there any chance you could simply delete the
disk's partition and reartition/format the drive (first saving, if
necessary, whatever data you may need to another destination)?
Anna

I could delete the disk's files and do a re-format, but this still
leaves open the question, what is causing my computer to shut down or
re-boot when it tries to scan this external hard drive?

Gordon

 

[Anna]

"Antares 531" (e-mail address removed) responds...

Anna, this seems to be true. My computer, with the external hard drive
removed works quite well. My McAffee virus scan goes over it with no
glitches and My Computer > Computer Management finds no fragmentation
or bad sector problems.

"Antares 531" <[email protected]> responds...
I will try plugging the external hard drive into the computer using
its USB-SATA cable. I have been using its SATA-to-SATA cable. Maybe
the problem is in the SATA card or cable.

If this doesn't work I may take the whole thing to Best Buy, where I
bought it and see if their Geek Squad can diagnose the problem.

"Antares 531" <[email protected]> responds...
No, I don't have another HDD but I may take this one out of the caddy
and put it into the computer's other SATA setup.



"Antares 531" <[email protected]> responds...
I could delete the disk's files and do a re-format, but this still
leaves open the question, what is causing my computer to shut down or
re-boot when it tries to scan this external hard drive?

Gordon

Gordon...
As best as I can understand from your responses your external enclosure is
connected to your PC via a SATA-to-SATA connection. I'm assuming it's
connected to an eSATA external port on your motherboard or perhaps via a
SATA or eSATA adapter you've affixed to your PC case. In any event, assuming
that is so, the system treats that SATA external HDD as an *internal* HDD,
so if the HDD is defective or the external enclosure is defective or there's
a problem with the cabling or there's a misconfiguration problem, then it's
possible the shut-down/re-booting problems you're experiencing are due to
one or more of those causes.

In any event as has been suggested to you check out the external HDD with
the WD HDD diagnostic utility. That should be your first order of business.
Then undertake the other suggested processes.
Anna

 

[Antares 531]

"Antares 531" (e-mail address removed) responds...




Gordon...
As best as I can understand from your responses your external enclosure is
connected to your PC via a SATA-to-SATA connection. I'm assuming it's
connected to an eSATA external port on your motherboard or perhaps via a
SATA or eSATA adapter you've affixed to your PC case. In any event, assuming
that is so, the system treats that SATA external HDD as an *internal* HDD,
so if the HDD is defective or the external enclosure is defective or there's
a problem with the cabling or there's a misconfiguration problem, then it's
possible the shut-down/re-booting problems you're experiencing are due to
one or more of those causes.

In any event as has been suggested to you check out the external HDD with
the WD HDD diagnostic utility. That should be your first order of business.
Then undertake the other suggested processes.
Anna

Thanks, Anna. I'll give this some consideration. The main thing that
bothers me is that if this set of problems is being caused by some
form of malware I might end up with my other hard drive squirreled up
if I play around with this external hard drive, trying to figure out
what is causing the problem. The computer shut-down is what has me
concerned. It shouldn't do that just because the hard drive is
failing.

I think I'll just take the external hard drive, in its caddy, to the
local Best Buy Computer Store and have their Geek Squad check it out.
I bought it there, and I would think they could safely analyze it for
any malware or malfunction.

Gordon

 

[JS]

Is it still in warranty?

If the drive is out of warranty the "Geek Squad"
will cost $$ only to tell you what you may already know.

Call first and see if they provide free diagnostics.
If it's not free and the drive is out of warranty, save your money
and remove the drive from the case yourself.

Then connect it directly to your PC as I mentioned
before as it may be the eSATA interface that has failed
and the drive may still be perfectly fine.

The

 

[Antares 531]

Is it still in warranty?

If the drive is out of warranty the "Geek Squad"
will cost $$ only to tell you what you may already know.

Call first and see if they provide free diagnostics.
If it's not free and the drive is out of warranty, save your money
and remove the drive from the case yourself.

Then connect it directly to your PC as I mentioned
before as it may be the eSATA interface that has failed
and the drive may still be perfectly fine.

The

Thanks, JS, I probably will do this. I bought the drive Oct 16, 2007,
at Best Buy, but I don't remember how long the warranty lasts.

What's your assessment of the risk that I might really mess the other
hard drive up if this questionable hard drive is installed directly in
the computer, and it happens to be infected with some form of malware
that my McAfee can't get rid of.

I can't think of any other reason that the computer would shut down or
re-start every when I try to scan this questionable hard drive with
McAfee, or run CheckDisk on it.

Gordon

 

[JS]

If it's really infected it most likely
would have already spread if the
virus was designed to do so. So the
risk is minimal.

McAfee is not the best AV software around.
Try this one for starters:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Try HD Tune, provides drive info and has an option to test your drive.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Also SpeedFan has an online health analysis feature
(SMART tab) for hard drives. It will show how your drives
compares with other drives of the same make and model.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Does the external drive fail if you copy a large file or
a groups of files from your internal hard drive to the
external drive?

 

[Bennett Marco]

What's your assessment of the risk that I might really mess the other
hard drive up if this questionable hard drive is installed directly in
the computer, and it happens to be infected with some form of malware
that my McAfee can't get rid of.

You're fine. Do it.

 

[Antares 531]

Remove the drive from the enclosure and
connect it a SATA port on your motherboard.

Some tools to check your drive are as follows:
Western Digital's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=3

HD Tune: http://www.hdtune.com/

SpeedFan has an online analysis feature for hard drives.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

PassMark's BurnInTest which has options to perform numerous test including
the Disk: http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

If the drive passes all the tests and the S.M.A.R.T. values
are OK then the problem is with the eSATA interface.

I removed the drive from the caddy and cleaned the dust bunnies out
very carefully, then put it back together and deleted those files that
were in the partition that was causing trouble. This seems to have
cleared the problem up. It has been running for the past 4 hours with
no fuss and I even got a good virus scan of the whole drive. Maybe
this was just a heat related problem caused by the dust in the caddy
around the control circuit board.

Gordon

 

[JS]

Good news

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com

I removed the drive from the caddy and cleaned the dust bunnies out
very carefully, then put it back together and deleted those files that
were in the partition that was causing trouble. This seems to have
cleared the problem up. It has been running for the past 4 hours with
no fuss and I even got a good virus scan of the whole drive. Maybe
this was just a heat related problem caused by the dust in the caddy
around the control circuit board.

Gordon

 

[Antares 531]

I have a 500 GB Western Digital WDC WD 5000 AAKS-OOYGAO SATA hard
drive in a separate enclosure that lets me hook this hard drive up
with a SATA cable to my computer and use it as a back-up storage
means. Recently this hard drive has been erratic. Sometimes my
computer will stall during the boot process and ask me to run
Checkdisk on this hard drive. Other times it will go ahead and boot
and seem to work okay.

I've tried running my McAffee virus software but it always hangs up
when it gets to this hard drive. Then, after a few minutes the
computer will shut down or re-boot, although I have unchecked the
Automatic restart under Properties > Advanced Tab > Startup and
Recovery > Settings, under System failure.

Is this problem simply the early stages of a hard drive failure, or
could it be the results of some malware shutting the computer down
when it is being examined by checkdisk?

System; MS Windows XP Pro, SP3 with on-line updates current on a
computer with a Gigabyte GA-P35 DS3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2
Duo processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM.

I have an abundance of hard drive free space on the main hard drive as
well as on this back-up hard drive.

Any suggestions? Gordon

Final chapter for this problem. I tried the things that were suggested
here, and it seems that there is a problem with the hard drive
external enclosure. After I cleaned the dust out and put it back
together the external drive seemed to work okay, but it did drop off
the list when I used it for a while. I think this is a thermal
problem, involving the circuit board in the external hard drive case.

I took the hard drive out of the external case again and put it inside
the computer cabinet, using the same eSATA connection to the
motherboard...the one that fed out through the connector on the back
of the computer's cabinet...and it seems to be working okay now. I
have been through two long sessions with it very active and it never
balked or faltered. So, I've concluded that the Antec external hard
drive case is the source of this problem.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

Gordon

 

[JS]

You're welcome.