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Possibly failing hard drive
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Windows XP Annoyances Discussion Forum
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Possibly failing hard drive
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 9:35 am
Posted by Devarshi Patel
(29 messages posted)
I got this message on startup a couple days ago and today my PC froze...again:
Checking file system on c:
The type of the file system is NTFS
The volume is dirty
CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1)
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2)
The PC rebooted normally after it finished this. I've gotten this message several
times before including the occaisional freeze up. Could this be a failing hard drive?
What can I do to prevent it? Should I run a hard drive diagnostic tool and/or update
my drivers.
I run my defragment software regularly.
I have plenty of space available on the hard drive.
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Possibly failing hard drive
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 10:20 am
Posted by MartinM
(7550 messages posted)
Yes, it probably is a failing HDD, which is completely not preventable:-)
Next steps:
1. Backup your data before doing anything else and do so very regularly in
case the HDD turns up its toes.
2. Get the disk manufacturer's diagnostics (download form their website - free) and
run that.
3. Quit defragmenting - it serves no purpose other than to wear out your HDD !
4. Updating drivers is nothing to do with your issue.
You might also look in Event Viewer to see if there is a rash of HDD errors. If there
is, just go ahead and replace the HDD, no point in hanging around waiting for it
to fail.
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re: Possibly failing hard drive
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Posted by Devarshi Patel
(29 messages posted)
I've still got a lot of questions, thanks in advance for the help.
Would a clean install of Windows 7 do anything for the hard drive or would I have
to replace it completely? Also, any chance it's not the hard drive? I'm not getting
any weird noises from it and it is still pretty fast. I also ran CHKDSK again on
startup and got no errors. Is there any good software out there that is not made
by the manufacturer itself (DiskCheckUp, Active Smart)? I'd like to run one of them
first. Would I need to backup before using one of these?
On Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 10:20 am, MartinM wrote:
>
>Yes, it probably is a failing HDD, which is completely not preventable:-)
>
>Next steps:
>
>1. Backup your data before doing anything else and do so very regularly in
>case the HDD turns up its toes.
>2. Get the disk manufacturer's diagnostics (download form their website - free)
and
>run that.
>3. Quit defragmenting - it serves no purpose other than to wear out your HDD !
>4. Updating drivers is nothing to do with your issue.
>
>You might also look in Event Viewer to see if there is a rash of HDD errors. If
there
>is, just go ahead and replace the HDD, no point in hanging around waiting for it
>to fail.
>
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Possibly failing hard drive
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Posted by MartinM
(7550 messages posted)
Would a clean install of Windows 7 do anything for the hard drive ?
The software make absolutely no difference to the mechanical state and performance
of the HDD.
Also, any chance it's not the hard drive? I'm not getting any weird noises from
it and it is still pretty fast.
Possible but unlikely, in the end you'll never know until it fails, but you have
all the symptoms of a failing drive.
Its not 100% certain to be the HDD, just probable. You often don't get noises or
slowness.
Is there any good software out there that is not made by the manufacturer itself
(DiskCheckUp, Active Smart)? I'd like to run one of them first.
The manufacturer's software is best - why are you trying to avoid it ?
Would I need to backup before using one of these?
No.
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Possibly failing hard drive
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Posted by Devarshi Patel
(29 messages posted)
The manufacturer's software recommends that I back up my data beforehand because
it could be lost during the process. I didn't want to take that risk. How likely
is it that anyways?
So what's the end game here? If the results from the diagnostic tool say that my
hard drive is failing, I back up my data and get a new hard drive and install windows
again?
Sorry for all the questions, and again thanks for all the help.
On Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 2:00 pm, MartinM wrote:
>
>Would a clean install of Windows 7 do anything for the hard drive ?
>
>The software make absolutely no difference to the mechanical state and performance
>of the HDD.
>
>Also, any chance it's not the hard drive? I'm not getting any weird noises from
>it and it is still pretty fast.
>
>Possible but unlikely, in the end you'll never know until it fails, but you have
>all the symptoms of a failing drive.
>
>Its not 100% certain to be the HDD, just probable. You often don't get noises or
>slowness.
>
>Is there any good software out there that is not made by the manufacturer itself
>(DiskCheckUp, Active Smart)? I'd like to run one of them first.
>
>The manufacturer's software is best - why are you trying to avoid it ?
>
>Would I need to backup before using one of these?
>
>No.
>
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Possibly failing hard drive
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Posted by MartinM
(7550 messages posted)
Well I wouldn't challenge the advice from the provider of the software !
If the results from the diagnostic tool say that my hard drive is failing, I back
up my data and get a new hard drive and install windows again?
Yes, exactly so. But don't delay backing up your data - the more you investigate
the HDD, the sooner it will fail - if that's the cause.
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Possibly failing hard drive
Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 11:05 am
Posted by Larry
(1364 messages posted)
If you suspect your HD may be getting flaky, new drives are pretty cheap so it might
save a lot of headaches later to "clone" (image) the drive now to a new one. A good
free product is DriveImage XML found here: http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm
You'll need a same size or larger drive to copy the image to.
On Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 9:35 am, Devarshi Patel wrote:
>I got this message on startup a couple days ago and today my PC froze...again:
>
>Checking file system on c:
>The type of the file system is NTFS
>The volume is dirty
>
>CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1)
>CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2)
>
>The PC rebooted normally after it finished this. I've gotten this message several
>times before including the occaisional freeze up. Could this be a failing hard drive?
>What can I do to prevent it? Should I run a hard drive diagnostic tool and/or update
>my drivers.
>
>I run my defragment software regularly.
>I have plenty of space available on the hard drive.
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Possibly failing hard drive
Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Posted by barry
(11 messages posted)
it doesn't sound like the hard drive is bad If you cold reinstall that wouldn't be
a bad idea
On Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 12:57 pm, Devarshi Patel wrote:
>I've still got a lot of questions, thanks in advance for the help.
>
>Would a clean install of Windows 7 do anything for the hard drive or would I have
>to replace it completely? Also, any chance it's not the hard drive? I'm not getting
>any weird noises from it and it is still pretty fast. I also ran CHKDSK again on
>startup and got no errors. Is there any good software out there that is not made
>by the manufacturer itself (DiskCheckUp, Active Smart)? I'd like to run one of them
>first. Would I need to backup before using one of these?
>
>
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Possibly failing hard drive
Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Posted by barry
(11 messages posted)
Ya the file being dirty sounds like your installation got corrupted some how. I would
reinstall o/s.
I use western digital hard drives and always write zeros before reinstalling, cleans
them good, that however is not necessary.
On Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 9:35 am, Devarshi Patel wrote:
>I got this message on startup a couple days ago and today my PC froze...again:
>
>Checking file system on c:
>The type of the file system is NTFS
>The volume is dirty
>
>CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1)
>CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2)
>
>The PC rebooted normally after it finished this. I've gotten this message several
>times before including the occaisional freeze up. Could this be a failing hard drive?
>What can I do to prevent it? Should I run a hard drive diagnostic tool and/or update
>my drivers.
>
>I run my defragment software regularly.
>I have plenty of space available on the hard drive.
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