Storage Solutions Are Larger Partitions prone to crash..!!

dipen01

dipen01

Skilled
Hey,

This may sound little absurd....but i was wonderin if there is any chance that large size partitions could lead to HDD crash...

Well my Hitachi 250GB Sata II went dead few days ago..!! The only reason i suspect is i had one partion of size 110GB and other two of 53 each and last one of 15...!!

and all i was doin was moving data here and here..!! Intra Partion copying sucks i guess...i was gettin mere 5-6MB/s speed while copyin still i was patient...but in the end Hitachi costed me 250GB of data :mad: :mad: ...luckily i have backup 40GB Pata...so m working wid it..!

Ok back to our final question...was it my large partitions...or something else...
 
Intra-partition copying on a disk is the worst possible thing for your disk, causes a lot of drive stress.

Windows does not recognise the fact that the data is on the same physical disk. It copies from volume to volume, so the process goes like this:

Identify data (seek) and read into the disk buffer of the source volume

Send the data to the target volume buffer

Acknowledge the write

Go to step 1.

Within the disk it has to seek to the source location for a read and the target location to write.

When the two volumes reside on the same physical disk, the heads move twice for the same operation, plus they have to go seeking all over the disk.

This does cause low transfer rates, but should not lead to failure - maybe the disk was on the edge already and the excess mechanical movement caused failure.

Partition size on its own should not be a problem, I have a 300GB with one partition (279 GB) and a couple of them with two partitions (200GB + 79 GB) each, and they've always behaved themselves.
 
Sometime ago, I'd read that data shows short stroked disks more prone to failure. i.e. for eg: a 250gb disk might use 2 133gb platters. One platter would be region limited for usage to yield a combined capacity of 250gb.
Such drives are more prone to failure.

W.r.t to partitions having anything to do with it, I don't think there are any statistics to prove it. Or else they haven't as yet been taken. Have you RMA'd your HDD? Where is is manufactured?
 
yup.
mine maxtor 300GB with 3 100GB partitions.
even my local new Samsung 250GB with 110 x 2 and rest for tp.
but i always use small partition for OS (10GB) and one for programs (25GB)
seperate partition for movies and heavy files, seperate for Songs (needs lots of defrag) and seperate for Page file.

one more advice - make one 2.5 80GB for moving here and there..
dont remove your primary HDD from the system. :)
 
no such thing that large partitions r prone to crash , more like larger hdds r prone to crash if they dont cool down properly:p

and its more better is u have have jus 1 or max 2 partitions per hdd,see you wouldnt be copying between partitions in the first place if it was all 1 partition

the idea of having more partitions is only if u wanna have an os per partition,else u can always have more folders to sort your stuff.

and like i always say,keep defragmenting often god forbid if the hdd crashes therz a better chance of retrieving the same.
 
sydras said:
Sometime ago, I'd read that data shows short stroked disks more prone to failure. i.e. for eg: a 250gb disk might use 2 133gb platters. One platter would be region limited for usage to yield a combined capacity of 250gb.
Such drives are more prone to failure.

W.r.t to partitions having anything to do with it, I don't think there are any statistics to prove it. Or else they haven't as yet been taken. Have you RMA'd your HDD? Where is is manufactured?
Click to expand...

Well it was all default, HDD was Hitachi and i dont exactly remember wer it was manuafactured..probably Japan or Taiwan...am sorry cant remember it..!!

Well regardin RMAing...i dont know how to do it.!! so i dint do anything...Well i was gonna use Hitachi HDD Tool and change its specification from 1.5 to 3 but din get a chance.

Lets c i have given it for replacement yesterday, No Hitachi Service centres in Pune so gave to dealer, will take sm 10-12 days..

Yamaraj said:
It was probably a bad PSU or faulty disk controller.
Click to expand...

Dunno abt Disk Controller..!! but rare chance of PSU gettin bad..coz i hv Gold Plated Powersafe 500W..
sangram said:
Intra-partition copying on a disk is the worst possible thing for your disk, causes a lot of drive stress.

Windows does not recognise the fact that the data is on the same physical disk. It copies from volume to volume, so the process goes like this:

Identify data (seek) and read into the disk buffer of the source volume

Send the data to the target volume buffer

Acknowledge the write

Go to step 1.

Within the disk it has to seek to the source location for a read and the target location to write.

When the two volumes reside on the same physical disk, the heads move twice for the same operation, plus they have to go seeking all over the disk.

This does cause low transfer rates, but should not lead to failure - maybe the disk was on the edge already and the excess mechanical movement caused failure.

Partition size on its own should not be a problem, I have a 300GB with one partition (279 GB) and a couple of them with two partitions (200GB + 79 GB) each, and they've always behaved themselves.
Click to expand...

Ya coz what happened was......

1) Transferrin from 110GB partition to 53GB partition - Transfer rate 5Mbps and after some time CRC Error...

2) Transfering same data in lil chunks - Same Transfer rate and successful copying..

3) CRC Errors very frequent...

4) While Copying Machine Hanged...After Restart it asked me to Scan that 110 GB partition for errors...while scanning with Chkdsk...it started reportin that so and so sector cannot be read...and it went on went on...and after that..the HDD restarted and same process..again.....so what i did on next restart was....skipped the Scan..

5) Now the System was DEAD SLOW..it almost felt worse than PI and 32MB RAM, slowly i checked my drives and that 110GB was shown as blank and RAW..i.e no NTFS and no FAT 32..wen i tries accessin it...it said the drive isnt formatted...!! and then the HDD startin makin noise.."tik tik tik tik"

6) wen i restarted again...the same Noise was coming..all over.."tik tik tik" and after few restarts again..!! it wasnt even gettin detected ...:mad: :mad:
That was pretty much everything...!!

NOW WHERE DID I GO WRONG :S :no: :no:
 
Did you overclock your system? Either cpu or ram? My samsung 80gb hdd died the same death as yours. No CRC errors, but same ticking sound when I connect it. I was experimenting with overclocks that time and maybe the hdd temps were too high.
 
I have 2 x 50 GB and 7 x 100 GB Partitions spread across 3 HDD. I have copied/moved about about 500 GB of data across these partitions in a single sitting while cleaning unnecessary junk and rearranging the stuff both intra partition and inter partition. The amount of data was 500 GB, but the actual amount copied/moved in rearranging it would be more like 700~800 GB. I never had a single error though the whole process.

So it should not be a problem with the large partitions or the amount of data. From what I see of the situation it is more likely that

1. The HDD is not getting enough power for proper operation. (PSU is weak).

2. The HDD has developed bad sectors or failing due to some other reason.

dipen01 said:
5) Now the System was DEAD SLOW..it almost felt worse than PI and 32MB RAM, slowly i checked my drives and that 110GB was shown as blank and RAW..i.e no NTFS and no FAT 32..wen i tries accessin it...it said the drive isnt formatted...!! and then the HDD startin makin noise.."tik tik tik tik"

6) wen i restarted again...the same Noise was coming..all over.."tik tik tik" and after few restarts again..!! it wasnt even gettin detected ...:mad: :mad:
Click to expand...

That sounds like trouble. Seems like the HDD is dying or more likely already dead from what I can make of your 6th point. Immediately get the drive replaced though warranty.
 
Lord Nemesis said:
I have 2 x 50 GB and 7 x 100 GB Partitions spread across 3 HDD. I have copied/moved about about 500 GB of data across these partitions in a single sitting while cleaning unnecessary junk and rearranging the stuff both intra partition and inter partition. The amount of data was 500 GB, but the actual amount copied/moved in rearranging it would be more like 700~800 GB. I never had a single error though the whole process.

So it should not be a problem with the large partitions or the amount of data. From what I see of the situation it is more likely that

1. The HDD is not getting enough power for proper operation. (PSU is weak).
2. The HDD has developed bad sectors or failing due to some other reason.

That sounds like trouble. Seems like the HDD is dying or more likely already dead from what I can make of your 6th point. Immediately get the drive replaced though warranty.
Click to expand...

I hope there isnt any prob wid PSU..but if it is there then how do i detect it...Is there any ways...

regarding HDD....well its already DEAD as i mentioned..gave it for replacement yesterday...will take sm 10-12 days...
 
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