HD failing, hardware or software problems?

[Gman]

The mfgr is sending me a new HD, yippee, so I stripped everything off
of this one, plus killed the NAV and ZA, and just thought I would see
what it felt like to go skinny-dipping on the web. Funny thing, no HD
problems now, and XP is running better than ever without all that crap.
I know, some bad guy is going to find me, but I have to reinstall
everything anyway, and I'm now wondering if the problem, it sounded
like the HD was continually snapping the retreive mechanizem from full
seek back against the stop, was the HD hardware failing, or was it some
software problem?

Is there some log that tracks hardware problems, like the Event Viewer
does software?

Tis a mystery to me. Would love to run this free all the time.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

The mfgr is sending me a new HD, yippee, so I stripped everything
off of this one, plus killed the NAV and ZA, and just thought I
would see what it felt like to go skinny-dipping on the web. Funny
thing, no HD problems now, and XP is running better than ever
without all that crap. I know, some bad guy is going to find me,
but I have to reinstall everything anyway, and I'm now wondering if
the problem, it sounded like the HD was continually snapping the
retreive mechanizem from full seek back against the stop, was the
HD hardware failing, or was it some software problem?

Is there some log that tracks hardware problems, like the Event
Viewer does software?

Tis a mystery to me. Would love to run this free all the time.

Did you run the hard disk drive diagnostics from the manufacturer of the
drive?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

The mfgr is sending me a new HD, yippee, so I stripped everything
off of this one, plus killed the NAV and ZA, and just thought I
would see what it felt like to go skinny-dipping on the web. Funny
thing, no HD problems now, and XP is running better than ever
without all that crap. I know, some bad guy is going to find me,
but I have to reinstall everything anyway, and I'm now wondering if
the problem, it sounded like the HD was continually snapping the
retreive mechanizem from full seek back against the stop, was the
HD hardware failing, or was it some software problem?

Is there some log that tracks hardware problems, like the Event
Viewer does software?

Tis a mystery to me. Would love to run this free all the time.

Did you run the hard disk drive diagnostics from the manufacturer
of the drive?

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
Hitachi

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/M...View By Category/Desktop Storage/Maxtor Other
Maxtor

http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools
Seagate

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp
Western Digital

And yes - the event viewer system and/or application logs may list "disk"
errors.

 

[Gman]

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
Hitachi

Stanley, thank you for responding. I missed this link before, and the
other sites i went to said I had to create a 'floppy'. No floppy on
this laptop, and I didn't know about my burners capability to make an
image, so I dropped the ball. However, when I went to the Hitachi you
provided, I found the option to download an image to a CD. Did it,
Ran it. Showed a SMART Failure, 0x72. TRC 720201D1. That belays my
fears of replacing a 'good' HD. Would you happen to know what the
specific failure indicates, or where I could find out? Thanks for your
assistance.

And yes - the event viewer system and/or application logs may list "disk"
errors.

You're right again. I went to the 'System' option in Event Viewer and
looked back to the date when the HD started acting up and found several
ERROR messages labeled 'disk'. They cooresponded to the times when the
problems started. So, XP does keep track of that stuff as well.
Thanks again for that pointer.

FWIW, I loaded AVG and turned on the XP Firewall and this stripped down
laptop has never run better and boots quicker than a wink. Sad that
I'm going to have to return this HD. However, there was a lesson to be
learned here, and that is, to not go overboard with all the toys, etc.,
AND to not allow them to put themselves in to the Start sequence
willy-nilly, when I do install one of them. Also my rethink installing
Norton SystemWorks/AV and Zone Alarm on the new HD. Once they were
turned off, everything settled down. Any thoughts about that?

 

[Og]

Stanley, thank you for responding. I missed this link before, and the
other sites i went to said I had to create a 'floppy'. No floppy on
this laptop, and I didn't know about my burners capability to make an
image, so I dropped the ball. However, when I went to the Hitachi you
provided, I found the option to download an image to a CD. Did it,
Ran it. Showed a SMART Failure, 0x72. TRC 720201D1. That belays my
fears of replacing a 'good' HD. Would you happen to know what the
specific failure indicates, or where I could find out? Thanks for your
assistance.

Each drive manufacturer crafts a diagnostic utility that is specific to that
manufacturer. In your case, only Hitachi Corporation engineers would have
knowledge about the meaning of specific error messages. Very likely, an
explanation of error messages will be incomprehensible to mere mortals who
are not electrical engineers possessed of specialized hard drive training
and experience.
Steve