Arghhhh - another "dead" (nearly) hard drive :(

[Shmee150]

Hi, Fortunately this is the first time I have every had a problem with an item delivered from Scan! (after quite a few orders!)

I got a 750GB Seagate drive on Monday 26th, Put it in my computer yesterday (tuesday), and have been having random computer lock ups since. I couldn't work out what caused it, have done numerous wipes of my other boot drive (this one is just storage), Because of the heat yesterday and today I've been having my case fans blasting as well as music on non-stop so hadn't heard any problems, but I've been playing around for the last few hours and unfortunately it is making amazingly unhealthy sounds.

The one thing I can't understand though, is why would a drive that isn't the boot drive cause the system to BSOD? It hasn't done so since I disconnected it so I'm pretty sure that was the reason for the problems. I'm desperately hoping I'm going to be able to pull the 500-odd gbs of data back off it, or it's gonna be a very painful week

Time to test out their RMAing,

ShMeE

[aidanjt]

It shouldn't, try reading off it with a knoppix livdcd and see what happens before the RMA goes through.. I've never heard of a non-system disk BSoDing Windows :/

[Shmee150]

I will try that.

Either way I am pretty sure there is a problem with the drive. I have sat close to the open tower on a number of tries just to confirm that the really loud clicking noises are coming from this particular drive, which means there's a problem.

I don't quite get though that I've successfully copied the first 150GB off it, without it spinning up to much, but just to test, if for instance I try to copy multiple things at the same time, it starts to make a lot more, rapid clicking sounds before boom and the blue screen appears.

I suppose I'll only know more the more I test, but either way the drive has problems and I have sent in a Scan RMA request.

ShMeE

[aidanjt]

it must have got a good bang during transport

My friend reciently sent his PC to sweden (he's staying there for his last year of uni), he said what he got back looks like it got run over by the truck or something.

[Shmee150]

Ouch that's unlucky...

It was the usual well wrapped Scan packing, but I suppose you never can be safe with delivery companies and hard drives, I'm just annoyed that it's chosen to happen the day before I go on holiday for a week! (well 36hrs) Typical!

ShMeE

[this_is_gav]

You're sure it's not simply a power issue, which is switching the drive on and off? That makes a rather audible clicking noise. Try unplugging a few components (an optical drive and a couple of case fans and things) just to try to eliminate that.

[FatalSaviour]

I don't quite get though that I've successfully copied the first 150GB off it, without it spinning up to much, but just to test, if for instance I try to copy multiple things at the same time, it starts to make a lot more, rapid clicking sounds before boom and the blue screen appears.
ShMeE

If you want to copy more than one folder in Windows, you should select all the folders and then drag them simultaneously, so that it queues the files.
If you start another file transfer once Windows has started one, you'll get seeks in different physical locations on the disk, hence the rapid seeks. This is extremely ineffective, and will most likely be the reason for the more rapid sounds you're hearing.

It's definitely not a SATA controller issue with the drive? Does it have a SATA I jumped that you can move across? Have you tried disabling NCQ etc?

If it's making an excessive amount of noise though, there may well be a physical problem with the drive.

[Spud1]

Ouch that's unlucky...

It was the usual well wrapped Scan packing, but I suppose you never can be safe with delivery companies and hard drives,
ShMeE

Ah but it was delivered by Citylink wasn't it, so theres your problem ..probably been run over a few times, used as a football and then chucked out of a window for good measure

On a more helpful note - maybe the drive itself is fine, ideally you need to test it in another machine (perhaps a friend?) or a different sata port if you have one of those. It could easily be a motherboard issue too, with the controller - perhaps the controller chip is overheating? It's possible if you are making it do a lot of work with a high ambient temp..