possible HDD failure

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kujija

kujija

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Hello guys, here i am again with a problem and looking for queries.Bear with me this is going to be long. I had gone out of station for two weeks and upon returning i did what every PC guy/gamer does that is to start the computer, but to my utter despair i got stuck at the windows loading screen, so as usual i did the routine ram slot exchange and checked for loose Sata cables. So after all the routinely checks i fired it once again but this time two options popped out, first start windows normally and second windows repair , i selected windows repair and once he files were loaded the repair option also got stuck for a good 20 minutes without any results. I tried booting from safe mode again it got tuck at some command. Heavily frustrated i decided to reinstall a new OS formatting C drive as most of my crucial data was in other drives. I booted from optical drive selected the language and went for installing and again to my surprise it got stuck at setup is starting, tried again still stuck at setup is starting. i opened the command mode during windows install (shift+f10) and did a list disk, the command mode hanged. I have two HDDs on my system one is 160 Gb old and new is 1 TB WD green which was my Primary dive and partition. To inform you guys i previously had a sector issue with my 1TB drive which got sorted after reinstalling new OS. So keeping that in my mind i unplugged my 1 TB hdd sata cable to let allow windows to install in my 160 drive and voila the setup worked fine but i still haven't installed windows on that one. This proves that there is something wrong with the 1TB one. I have all my important data on that drive and don't want to lose it at any costs. What do i do to save all my data , upon inspecting POST and checking the sata the 1tb along with the 160gb shows up there with no errors. So what is wrong and what should be done.
BTW since a month or so it would take more than five minutes for the desktop screen to appear after hitting the power button.

As always any information would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Do you hear any noise from the hard drive which might indicate that it is going bad? When hard drives go bad, they make some weird noises.

You should connect the hard drive, and test the drive with WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics software. It will tell you the exact state.

I will also tell you a method by which the data can be backed up from the faulty drive. It might work. It has worked for me in the past for few of the drives that I tried. Download any Linux live CD, like Puppy Linux (small in size), and boot the computer from it. Then transfer the data from the faulty hard drive to any other drive. Generally, with Linux, the faulty drive doesn't give much problem.

You can also try a different SATA cable to test if the cable might be the issue.

If you had sector issues on the drive, you should have done a low level format of the drive, which generally solves the issue. But, when such problem arrives, you should be prepared that the drive might go bad in near future.

If you do not have an external drive, I suggest that you buy one, and use it to keep backup of your data. It is really important to have regular backups.

If the drive is still in warranty, go for a replacement after saving your data.
 
Thank you for your reply. No there are no noises coming from the drive. and yes i did change the sata cables. I have many linux cds which i got in digit mag subscription, will those work? . i do have an external HDD . supposedly i did manage to access the drive through linux , can i back it up to my external HDD?. and please elaborate on that wd diagnostic procedure, how to do it since i cant access windows.
 
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Perfect! Those Linux CDs will work fine. Yes, from Linux, you can backup the data to the external drive. Linux is an operating system, just like Windows is. You can do all the usual stuff with it.

You have the 160 GB hard drive. Install Windows on it, so then you can boot from that drive, and install the WD software on it to check the faulty hard drive. If you are able to access the faulty drive from this drive, and the faulty drive works fine, you can even copy data from this drive too.

Or, there is the DOS version of the software, which you can download and create a bootable USB drive with it, and then boot from it, and test the hard drive.

https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=2

This is a good option.

Another option is to download the Ultimate Boot CD, which has got the WD software in it too.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
 
ok as you said earlier i did try to use linux, but it seems i cant get the linux setup working , i have elected the first boot to optical drive still no signs of setups popping up. As for the wd diagnostics , i am currently downloading it.
 
Which Linux CD did you use?

Just to be clear, you do not have to install Linux on any hard drive. It has to be a live CD/DVD of Linux, means, Linux will just run from the CD, and provide you with an operating system environment.

If one CD isn't working, you can try another, if you have more than one. Or, just download the small size Puppy Linux from here:

http://puppylinux.com/index.html#download

Download the Ubuntu one, 32-bit or 64-bit depending on your computer.
 
Yes... I did find a working copy of linux mint.. To add to my misery, i get this error after linux tries to boot. When diagnosed with Wd diagonistic i got the 0225 multiple error log. So what next
 

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0225 is bad news I am afraid :(. The drive is bad beyond repair.

If your data on the drive is quite important, then I suggest that you start looking for data recovery services around you. Or, check with WD if they provide data recovery. Don't use the drive anymore, because it will only make it worse.

If anyone else has any suggestions, please post.

You should have done a low-level format of the drive, when it had developed bad sectors. Or, you should have started taking regular backups of the drive, since once the bad sectors are there, the drive will fail ultimately sooner or later. With low level format, there was a chance that the drive could have been salvaged.
 
Yes, anupam looks like end of the line here. I did manage to run live ububtu, found the drive, opened it to find three folders one was lost+ found folder other two were log files. Looks like all the data is lost as it is showing 900+gb free space upon checking properties. So as usual i tried to find a way to open the lost+found folder, suggestions on the net were lines of command which was literally kala akshar to me as linux is alien for me. Still i tried copy pasting commands which yielded no results..hehe.

I forgot to tell you, i did try to slave the drive to a frens pc. The partitions didn't show up there. Upon checking disk management it was offline, so i made it online and tried a partition recovery once again with no results. So here i am with a dead drive. The only data i miss are the photos(amateur photography). Last resort, ill try the freezer method.
 
Seems like the data has been lost. But, that seems quite strange, I haven't seen a drive fail like that before. Generally, the drive starts making noises, when it's about to die. The PC will hang often too, in bursts... and it will be difficult to access the drive, or copy data. But, I haven't seen a drive where it won't show data at all, and shows only lost+found folder. Quite strange.

Another thing I found strange is that it happened after u returned from your trip, in which time, your PC wasn't used. Before that, the drive was behaving fine? No hangs, nothing? The drive shouldn't suddenly develop issue like that, and so badly. All this seems quite strange to me.
 
I previously had a sector error before, one year back or so, that time it shows signs like you mentioned. Files copied slow, windows was very laggy. But after reinstalling new os after formatting C, everything became normal. Yes i had gone out of station for a fortnight, before that as I mentioned earlier since two months the system used to boot up very slow, sometimes taking more than five minutes. But after getting the desktop screen no lags and error or crashes. The sector errors before were a indication to me of a time bomb. Sad that i did not back up my data. Lesson learnt nevertheless. Guys having sector error in crystal disk i recommend to back up your data frequently as it will fail some time in the future. The drive was seven years old served me well. Anyway ty for the help.
 
Oh, so the drive is seven years old, and it was showing signs of failure earlier. Yes, considering the age of the drive, and also the signs that the drive was showing, you should definitely have backed up the data on your drive, and should have considered buying a new drive too, since this drive was showing signs of failure. Anyways, this is how we learn, from our mistakes. It's good that the drive served you well, and there was no data on the drive that you required and was of utmost importance.

So you will be buying a new drive? Which one?
 
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