How do I know if PC is killing hard drives?

[Tom Lenz]

I've got an older Gateway here. We replaced the original dead hard drive
with an 80gig Western Digital drive that was made in June of this year. Now
it's dead. Did I get a lemon drive or is this PC a drive killer?

 

[biscayneSix]

I am having similar problems...
Check out this thread- although it is somewhat inconclusive

http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?as_umsgid=1102692104.727794.103680@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com

 

[Tom Lenz]

I am having similar problems...
Check out this thread- although it is somewhat inconclusive

http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?as_umsgid=1102692104.727794.103680@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com

Thanks. Nobody brought up anything about the possibility of a bad
controller. Does that mean that a bad controller is out of the question as a
cause?

A lot of those posts mentioned that heat could be a problem. This computer
does have a very noisy fan. Maybe it's running slowly and not cooling as it
should? At any rate, the SpeedFan mentioned sounds like a good idea.

For now, I've got an expendable drive in it and I've got a continuous loop
xcopying the windows (/s) directories to another directory. My plan is to
see how long the thing lasts. Perhaps this is a misguided test, I don't
know.

 

[biscayneSix]

http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?as_umsgid=1102692104.727794.103680@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com

Nobody brought up anything about the possibility of a bad
controller. Does that mean that a bad controller is out of the question as a
cause?

I don't think the controller would cause this, and I know the problem I
have been having has been with more than one controller. In fact, the
only thing that was the same thruought my problem was the power supply.

A lot of those posts mentioned that heat could be a problem. This computer
does have a very noisy fan. Maybe it's running slowly and not cooling as it
should? At any rate, the SpeedFan mentioned sounds like a good idea.

Yea, but I am pretty sure that my computer is not running extremely
hot.

For now, I've got an expendable drive in it and I've got a continuous loop
xcopying the windows (/s) directories to another directory. My plan is to
see how long the thing lasts. Perhaps this is a misguided test, I don't
know.

It might take a long time to die if it does...

 

[biscayneSix]

By the way...
Are you dead hard drives making the clicking/grinding noise as I
described? Or are they just not mounting?

 

[Tom Lenz]

Are you dead hard drives making the clicking/grinding noise as I
described? Or are they just not mounting?

I wasn't really around when the first one died, I don't know what it did.
The last one didn't make any noises. Things just took forever to do. Running
the Western Digital diagnostics in Windows showed that all was well.
However, running the DOS diagnostic showed two items were below the
threshold values. Those error ID's were 5 and 200. Sorry, I don't remember
what they meant. Finally, I am told that the computer wouldn't boot at all
anymore. That's all I know.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

I wasn't really around when the first one died, I don't know what it did.
The last one didn't make any noises. Things just took forever to do. Run-
ning the Western Digital diagnostics in Windows showed that all was well.
However, running the DOS diagnostic showed two items were below the
threshold values.

Those error ID's were 5 and 200.

5 Reallocated_Sector_Count
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate

Sorry, I don't remember what they meant.

Sounds like media problems. But can be caused by external influences
like temperature or bad power supply or vibration or a little of all.

Finally, I am told that the computer wouldn't boot at all anymore.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the drive is dead. A corrupted
bootsector may cause that as well.

 

[biscayneSix]

Have you tried putting the drives in another computer?

 

[Tom Lenz]

Have you tried putting the drives in another computer?

No. That's a good idea. It's too late though. I took the first one apart,
just out of curiosity. I found amazingly strong magnets in there. One of
them will hold up a ten inch frying pan. The other is off to Western Digital
for warranty replacement.