Disk that "crashed and came back" Update

[Rainy]

Hi

The drive is still available to me but thought it might finally crash for
good.. now I'm not sure if it crashed at all.. it did disappear...and I
don't know why.. but thought it might be a good idea to go to PC Pitstop
which I believe is a great place to find out things about your computer.. I
ran a Disk health on just D Drive... and this is their findings, is this
readout only for fragmentation?? or is it more indept for the actual health
of the disk.. also does this readout give any information about the disk
which will help me save it??? I'm learning, slow at it, but still I'm
learning.. so any help appreciated... thanks Rainy

Drive D Statistics
Volume Size 39.07 GB
Used Space 21.12 GB
Free Space 17.96 GB
Total Files 79504
Cluster Size 4 KB
Health Analysis
Initial Scan Result OK. No crosslinked files.
Percent of Data Fragmented 1 %
Percent of Files Fragmented 1 %
Total Fragmented Files 27
Total Excess Fragments 110
Average Fragments per File 1.00
Overall Disk Health Very Good. Low fragmentation levels.
Recommendations No action required.
Still fragmented? The defrag utilities that come with Windows often cannot
fully defragment hidden, system, and swap files. Utilities such as Diskeeper
do a better job.
About Your Results
PC Pitstop's disk health test performs a quick check to ensure your drive is
running up to its potential. A drive that is in poor health will perform
poorly and put you at risk of losing data. Here's what the results mean:

Initial Scan Result
If serious drive formatting problems are found, such as cross-linked
files, they will be reported here. If any problems are reported you should
run the Windows ScanDisk utility immediately to detect and repair the
problems.
Percent of Data Fragmented
Of the total amount of data on the disk, the percentage of data that
resides in fragmented files. Generally, the lower the number, the better
the system performance. If the percent of data fragmented is very high, but
the number of files fragmented is low, this indicates large files holding a
majority of the total data on the disk. Note: These results may differ
slightly from the numbers shown by the analyzers in defragmenting utilities
due to differences in the way used and available disk space is counted.
Percent of Files Fragmented
Of the total files and directories on the disk, this is the percentage of
files and directories that are broken into two or more fragments. Lower
numbers indicate better system performance potential. Note: These results
may differ slightly from the numbers shown by the analyzers in defragmenting
utilities due to the way files are counted.
Total Fragmented Files
The actual number of files on the disk that are fragmented. Even a freshly
defragmented drive may have some fragmented files, particularly if you use
the defragmenters that are bundled with Windows. Those versions often cannot
defragment swap files or system files, which means they cannot totally
defragment the drive.
Total Excess Fragments
Total number of extra file fragments on the drive. Ideally this number
should be close to zero.
Average Fragments per File
Average number of fragments in each file. Ideally this number should be
close to one.
Overall Disk Health
Our assessment of the drive's health, based on the scan result and
fragmentation level. A drive that is in poor health will not perform well
and may be subject to data loss.
Recommendations
Based on the health and fragmentation level, this is our advice for any
action you should take to improve the health of your disk.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi

The drive is still available to me but thought it might finally crash for
good.. now I'm not sure if it crashed at all.. it did disappear...and I
don't know why.. but thought it might be a good idea to go to PC Pitstop
which I believe is a great place to find out things about your computer.. I
ran a Disk health on just D Drive... and this is their findings, is this
readout only for fragmentation?? or is it more indept for the actual health
of the disk.. also does this readout give any information about the disk
which will help me save it??? I'm learning, slow at it, but still I'm
learning.. so any help appreciated... thanks Rainy

Drive D Statistics
Volume Size 39.07 GB
Used Space 21.12 GB
Free Space 17.96 GB
Total Files 79504
Cluster Size 4 KB
Health Analysis
Initial Scan Result OK. No crosslinked files.
Percent of Data Fragmented 1 %
Percent of Files Fragmented 1 %
Total Fragmented Files 27
Total Excess Fragments 110
Average Fragments per File 1.00
Overall Disk Health Very Good. Low fragmentation levels.
Recommendations No action required.

<snippage>

Try looking for SMART test utilities for the drive, to see if it is
physically failing. Be sure SMART testing is enabled in the BIOS and that
bootup stops to tell you of impending failure.

But if you have data on that disk that you value, back it up.

HTH
-pk

 

[Rainy]

Hi Pat, I will look for smart test utilities... but you will have to give me
more information about Bios and having it setup that way.. I'm not very
informed about bios.. and need a little extra help.

Actually, I feel pretty stupid, because it was notifying me for over a year
a half.. about half the time I hard booted, I got the disk failure notice on
startup.. but just didn't know what that was...after restarting it would go
away, so I thought it was ok... My tech saw it the day he installed the
drive and did not say one word to me.. I'm not happy about that at all.. but
I live in another state and can't do a thing about it, we live and learn
don't we?

Can you recommend a free smart test utility? thanks rainy

 

[Rainy]

Ok I found a smart drive utility (Diskcheckup.exe) and ran it on both my
drives... also have Belarc ADvisor and it gave me a healthy readout.. I am
attaching the two texts that were generated by the utility and to an
untrained eye the readouts look good, it says ok all the way down... I would
really appreciate someone looking at the text i am attaching... and let me
know if they think the drive will disappear again or crash.. the largest
drive is the one in question.. it's a Western Digital Drive..40 gig capacity
while my C drive is a Maxtor...20 gig capacity.. I don't understand any of
this.. so I will be happy to take any advice.. thanks Rainy

 

[CWatters]

Ok I found a smart drive utility (Diskcheckup.exe) and ran it on both my
drives... also have Belarc ADvisor and it gave me a healthy readout..

Just for info... I had a drive failure last week... but the smart data still
passes! Make really sure you have a full backup of everything on that
drive.

 

[Rainy]

thanks for the response, but what is the point of a smart drive utility that
isnt so smart? Did your drive crash and then come back and work great, or
seem too..? Yes I have everything backed up! Couldn't there be another
reason why this drive disappeared? Does it always mean it's done for?
Rainy

 

[Sharon F]

thanks for the response, but what is the point of a smart drive utility that
isnt so smart? Did your drive crash and then come back and work great, or
seem too..? Yes I have everything backed up! Couldn't there be another
reason why this drive disappeared? Does it always mean it's done for?

I ran into similar with my very first drive failure. At the time I wondered
how smart SMART was too. No notification from the system at startup but on
a SMART enabled system, Event Log was reporting imminent failure. A month
later the drive failed.

I researched SMART a little bit during this time. The gist of what I
discovered:

Most drives nowadays are SMART capable. They have a software program that
reports the disk status. I don't know if this program is in a hidden
portion on the drive or resident in a chip but it's there. If the system's
BIOS is SMART capable, it has a little program routine that queries the
SMART program on the hard drive and then reports the status on the startup
screen. The same for Windows, if the drive or BIOS is SMART capable, it
will show the reported SMART status in Event Viewer.

As you found out, there are additional SMART software programs that can be
installed. Quite useful if monitoring a large network but usually overkill
for a home network. I was directed by the drive manufacturer's tech support
to download a tool that could "reset" SMART. The tech explained that
sometimes there was a wrong report. Resetting put all back to "healthy." If
the drive was defective, the imminent failure warnings would reappear soon
enough. And they did.

Anyhow, you have various levels of SMART software all talking to each other
about your hard drive's health status. Errors between these tools can
happen and give false hope. Bottom line: It's very unusual for SMART to be
wrong. You could have weeks left with the drive or hours or minutes. If
you're lucky enough to get a warning before failure, use it to your
advantage and grab copies of any important files stored on that drive.

 

[Rainy]

Thanks Sharon! you are always so thorough with your responses, and it is
much appreciated I WAS getting notification... (for over a year and a
half) Is this normal? I offered this information in another post... but
ignored it.. .. even the day my tech installed the drive, the
notification was there.. and my lovely tech did not say one word to me..
I guess he figured with what I paid for my new computer, that I could easily
replace the drive if I had too.. not true, but oh well..

No, I only have one smart drive utility installed, (Smartcheckup.exe)
Belarc Advisor is what I use for system information and driver updates.. and
they are not running in the background together..as far as I know.. I now
know that Belarc also checks the health of your drives..

The funny thing about this is.. my computer is running great..couldn't be
better, so you would think that if the drive was going to conk out, it would
be sending signals to my other drive and windows! Causing huge problems..

During the time the drive was disappearing/crashing/whatever my computer was
running terrible.. but I believe that was because I had programs that
pointed to the D drive for graphics, music or fonts.. so now I'm not using
the drive.. it's there, and I can get an image from it, but all my personal
files are now on the C drive... ready to be burned on a weekly basis to
DVD.. I am eternally grateful that the drive reappeared long enough for me
to burn everything that meant something to me..

Thanks again Sharon, .. Rainy

 

[Sharon F]

Thanks Sharon! you are always so thorough with your responses, and it is
much appreciated I WAS getting notification... (for over a year and a
half) Is this normal? I offered this information in another post... but
ignored it.. .. even the day my tech installed the drive, the
notification was there.. and my lovely tech did not say one word to me..
I guess he figured with what I paid for my new computer, that I could easily
replace the drive if I had too.. not true, but oh well..

No, I only have one smart drive utility installed, (Smartcheckup.exe)
Belarc Advisor is what I use for system information and driver updates.. and
they are not running in the background together..as far as I know.. I now
know that Belarc also checks the health of your drives..

The funny thing about this is.. my computer is running great..couldn't be
better, so you would think that if the drive was going to conk out, it would
be sending signals to my other drive and windows! Causing huge problems..

During the time the drive was disappearing/crashing/whatever my computer was
running terrible.. but I believe that was because I had programs that
pointed to the D drive for graphics, music or fonts.. so now I'm not using
the drive.. it's there, and I can get an image from it, but all my personal
files are now on the C drive... ready to be burned on a weekly basis to
DVD.. I am eternally grateful that the drive reappeared long enough for me
to burn everything that meant something to me..

Thanks again Sharon, .. Rainy

You're welcome, Rainy. I remember your mention of the drive always doing
this. I wonder why the tech didn't swap out the drive right away. Since you
now live in another state, I guess we'll never know the answer to that. Why
the drive has hung in there for over a year and half is another mystery.
Some mysteries you just accept gratefully and move on.

A drive can be mechanically failing or it can have bad surfaces on the disk
platters. Mechanically failing - it's cheaper to replace than to repair.
Bad surfaces - the thin plates oxidize over time. Data cannot be stored
consistently or reliably on the bad surfaces. "Checkdisk" and "Scandisk"
are examples of tools that can be used to check the drive surface area for
flaws.

Files written to bad surfaces can be permanently damaged - impossible
(extremely difficult and expensive) to retrieve all bits of data or bits of
data never recorded. Failing mechanics? Well, my car works when it needs a
tuneup but not very well.

If only data is stored on a bad drive, it's possible not to notice any
problems until the drive goes completely kaput. It's a lot easier to tell
that there's trouble when there's programs (or program components) -
executable code - being retrieved from it. Your troubles have diminished
since moving the files to another drive. I think that success is due to the
very fact that they are now stored on a good working drive.

 

[Rainy]

Hi Sharon,

I think the reason the tech did not swap out the drive was because I paid so
little for my computer.. ($400) and except for the hard drive capacities, I
have a great computer.. fast processor, lots of ram..good motherboard,
although the sound is inboard, well you can't have everything... But
reading my post I made it seem like it was a lot of money.. He did me a
great favor by only charging for the components and not for his time.. but I
believe used some shortcuts that were not good for the overall computer..
like buying cheaper items to save me money. (like the speakers, keyboard,
and mouse I have since had to replace!)

I ran Chkdsk on boot and it did not find any errors on the drive... I will
try to run Scandisk.. haven't done that one in a long long time.. simply
because I have Diskeeper Pro to do it and it's much faster! But if you think
that Scandisk will do a better job I will start it when I go to bed
tonight... see what happens!

All the files are still on the D drive...(I know it looked like I said just
the opposite) sorry! I just copied and pasted a few important ones to my C
drive so I could use my computer... but everything is still intact..although
I never kept executables there.. just files.. images, fonts, music,
documents, etc.. I used it simply as a storage drive... nothing more!

I asked a friend to come over and open the tower for me and clean it out..
one thing I don't do.. mess with the inside of the tower.. but she is good
about that.. maybe it's just plain dirty?

As you see I am trying to make excuses since it's going to be sooooo
difficult for me to replace it..and where I live there are no techs..this
tech group is my only means of finding things out, along with the net so
it's very very much appreciated! A big thank you to anyone who has
responded to my posts!

Thanks Sharon, Rainy

 

[Rainy]

sorry my mistake.. I thought we were talking about defrag not scandisk...
that's why I compared it to Diskeeper.. I hate it when my ignorance shows!
Rainy ps. will run scandisk tonight... and get back to you

Hi Sharon,

I think the reason the tech did not swap out the drive was because I paid
so little for my computer.. ($400) and except for the hard drive
capacities, I have a great computer.. fast processor, lots of ram..good
motherboard, although the sound is inboard, well you can't have
everything... But reading my post I made it seem like it was a lot of
money.. He did me a great favor by only charging for the components and
not for his time.. but I believe used some shortcuts that were not good
for the overall computer.. like buying cheaper items to save me money.
(like the speakers, keyboard, and mouse I have since had to replace!)

I ran Chkdsk on boot and it did not find any errors on the drive... I will
try to run Scandisk.. haven't done that one in a long long time.. simply
because I have Diskeeper Pro to do it and it's much faster! But if you
think that Scandisk will do a better job I will start it when I go to bed
tonight... see what happens!

All the files are still on the D drive...(I know it looked like I said
just the opposite) sorry! I just copied and pasted a few important ones
to my C drive so I could use my computer... but everything is still
intact..although I never kept executables there.. just files.. images,
fonts, music, documents, etc.. I used it simply as a storage drive...
nothing more!

I asked a friend to come over and open the tower for me and clean it out..
one thing I don't do.. mess with the inside of the tower.. but she is good
about that.. maybe it's just plain dirty?

As you see I am trying to make excuses since it's going to be sooooo
difficult for me to replace it..and where I live there are no techs..this
tech group is my only means of finding things out, along with the net so
it's very very much appreciated! A big thank you to anyone who has
responded to my posts!

Thanks Sharon, Rainy

 

[Sharon F]

sorry my mistake.. I thought we were talking about defrag not scandisk...
that's why I compared it to Diskeeper.. I hate it when my ignorance shows!
Rainy ps. will run scandisk tonight... and get back to you

Rainy, XP doesn't use scandisk so don't use it on XP. I only mentioned it
because Scandisk is just one of many tools in this category.

Defrag is related to file storage. Defrag will do a cursory check for file
storage problems. It can fix a few little things but it needs a more
advanced tool to fix more complex problems. However, I would never use
Defrag to check on a hard drive's health.

Disk manufacturers also have tools to check the hard drive's health. These
are more intense then chkdsk or scandisk. But they can be wrong too. My
first bad drive that I was telling you about passed these tests but still
broke down not long afterwards. The only visible hint that I had that the
drive was going bad was the reports in Event Viewer.

 

[Rainy]

I already tried to do it .. why is it an option in XP is it's not good? I
tried running scandisk on D and got to Phrase 4.. and it just sort of hung
there. I was in safe mode at the time.. but canceled it and rebooted..I
think I'm going to just let the drive do whatever it's going to do... since
I am using C for storage and will continue to do that.. I just go to D once
in a while to get something I need since it's still working at the moment..
thanks for all the help.. you are a keeper.. Rainy ps. think I will look
at event viewer.. just to see!

 

[Sharon F]

I already tried to do it .. why is it an option in XP is it's not good? I
tried running scandisk on D and got to Phrase 4.. and it just sort of hung
there. I was in safe mode at the time.. but canceled it and rebooted..I
think I'm going to just let the drive do whatever it's going to do... since
I am using C for storage and will continue to do that.. I just go to D once
in a while to get something I need since it's still working at the moment..
thanks for all the help.. you are a keeper.. Rainy ps. think I will look
at event viewer.. just to see!

Okay and good luck with this!