Hard drive dying

[DJS0302]

This pertains to my Windows 95 machine which I still use. Last Fall I was
booting the computer and it beeped and said there were possible errors on the
disk and I had to run a thorough scan to check the drive. It found one bad
sector. I rebooted the computer and it ran scandisk again and found another
bad sector. It was okay until this Spring when it found another bad sector.
Now yesterday and today it found two more bad sectors.
I've had the computer for seven years and have always made it a habit to run a
thorough scandisk and a defrag on a regular basis. I have a few questions.
First, based on your experience and the fact that scandisk is only finding one
or two errors at a time how much longer do you think the drive is going to
last?
Second, it takes scandisk at least 30 minutes to complete a scan, and that's if
it doesn't find any errors. If more disk errors pop up during a boot sequence
is it safe to stop scandisk and let Windows finish booting up and then run
scandisk at a more convenient time?

 

[Michael Culley]

This pertains to my Windows 95 machine which I still use. Last Fall I was
booting the computer and it beeped and said there were possible errors on the
disk and I had to run a thorough scan to check the drive. It found one bad
sector. I rebooted the computer and it ran scandisk again and found another
bad sector. It was okay until this Spring when it found another bad sector.
Now yesterday and today it found two more bad sectors.
I've had the computer for seven years and have always made it a habit to run a
thorough scandisk and a defrag on a regular basis. I have a few questions.

If you get any bad sectors immediately backup all your data and replace your HDD. A drive with any bad sectors should not be relied
apon. If you plan to keep the computer then get a second hand drive with no bad sectors. Win95 can be copied from one drive to the
other fairly easily so the job should take only 1 hour if you know what you're doing.

First, based on your experience and the fact that scandisk is only finding one
or two errors at a time how much longer do you think the drive is going to
last?

It could last another 7 years or could completely fail tommorrow, there is no way to tell.

Second, it takes scandisk at least 30 minutes to complete a scan, and that's if
it doesn't find any errors. If more disk errors pop up during a boot sequence
is it safe to stop scandisk and let Windows finish booting up and then run
scandisk at a more convenient time?

More than likely it will be safe but there is a chance you will lose data. The chances are probably fairly low though because you
would have to be unlucky enough to hit one of the bad areas.

 

[philo]

This pertains to my Windows 95 machine which I still use. Last Fall I was
booting the computer and it beeped and said there were possible errors on the
disk and I had to run a thorough scan to check the drive. It found one bad
sector. I rebooted the computer and it ran scandisk again and found another
bad sector. It was okay until this Spring when it found another bad sector.
Now yesterday and today it found two more bad sectors.
I've had the computer for seven years and have always made it a habit to run a
thorough scandisk and a defrag on a regular basis. I have a few questions.
First, based on your experience and the fact that scandisk is only finding one
or two errors at a time how much longer do you think the drive is going to
last?

it's impossible to predict how long the drive will last...
the best thing to do would be to just replace it

if you don't replace the drive you may want to backup all your data and try
lo-level formattting the
drive

 

[Trent©]

This pertains to my Windows 95 machine which I still use. Last Fall I was
booting the computer and it beeped and said there were possible errors on the
disk and I had to run a thorough scan to check the drive. It found one bad
sector. I rebooted the computer and it ran scandisk again and found another
bad sector. It was okay until this Spring when it found another bad sector.
Now yesterday and today it found two more bad sectors.
I've had the computer for seven years and have always made it a habit to run a
thorough scandisk and a defrag on a regular basis.

You should not run a THOROUGH scandisk every time. Its not
necessary...and will ofttimes cause more problems than it will
solve...especially if you have it set to auto fix.

I have a few questions.
First, based on your experience and the fact that scandisk is only finding one
or two errors at a time how much longer do you think the drive is going to
last?

Do you know how long YER gonna live?...for sure? So far...for you and
for your hard drive...things are goin' well. But ya never know! lol

Second, it takes scandisk at least 30 minutes to complete a scan, and that's if
it doesn't find any errors. If more disk errors pop up during a boot sequence
is it safe to stop scandisk and let Windows finish booting up and then run
scandisk at a more convenient time?

You should not be running the thorough. Only run that segment if yer
prompted to do so. This is especially true if you do regular backups.

Good luck.


Have a nice week...

Trent©

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.

 

[Spajky]

This pertains to my Windows 95 machine which I still use. Last Fall I was
booting the computer and it beeped and said there were possible errors on the
disk and I had to run a thorough scan to check the drive. It found one bad
sector. I rebooted the computer and it ran scandisk again and found another
bad sector. It was okay until this Spring when it found another bad sector.
Now yesterday and today it found two more bad sectors.
I've had the computer for seven years and have always made it a habit to run a
thorough scandisk and a defrag on a regular basis. I have a few questions.
First, based on your experience and the fact that scandisk is only finding one
or two errors at a time how much longer do you think the drive is going to
last?
Second, it takes scandisk at least 30 minutes to complete a scan, and that's if
it doesn't find any errors. If more disk errors pop up during a boot sequence
is it safe to stop scandisk and let Windows finish booting up and then run
scandisk at a more convenient time?

First change the IDE cable for new one & connect only HD to it & run
scandisk than; if still problems, its time to buy a new one!