Constant 'Delayed Write Failures'

[Olimain]

Hi,

For the past week I have been getting constant 'Delayed Write Failure' messages in XP Pro relating to my c: drive. The system then becomes incredibly slow and I end up having to reboot manually. The system then won't boot into Windows and I have to enter the Recovery Console, do a chkdsk /r and on completion I can enter Windows again.

The problem is, when it does the chkdsk and repairs the damaged areas, I lose data on the disk. The latest loss was the entire user's profile.

Is it simply a corrupt HDD and time for a new one?

Thanks.

[Vibein]

Look up who the manufacturer of your HDD is and use their DFT (Drive Fitness Test) tool, it may shed more light on if the drive is indeed faulty.

[Olimain]

Yeah I have done. Used SeaTools and it failed both the short and long DST tests

[Jay]

the disk is faulty and I would advise you to backup what you can and get a new drive ASAP.

[Olimain]

Many thanks, the confirmation I was looking for!

[watercooled]

I agree - back up what you need and swap out the drive. It's likely that it will fail completely soon.