1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Memory Hard Drive dying a Sad Death?

Discussion in 'Tech Support' started by Mongoose132, 2 Jan 2010.

  1. Mongoose132

    Mongoose132 Duckmad

    Joined:
    23 Aug 2007
    Posts:
    783
    Likes Received:
    22
    Happy 2010 all, my hard drive seems to be celebrating it in it's own inventive way, by dying on me. :eyebrow:

    I've got a Samsung HD321KJ 320GB that came with it from Dell a while ago, and every so often when it seems to be accessing something it freezes, stops all activity on screen and makes a duhh-duhh-duhh noise, and seems like there's a bad sector or something. The only way to get around this is either wait an hour or so and it miraculously works for a while, or turn it off and on and hope to dear god it doesn't do it again. :sigh:

    On the recommendation of an older thread on the forums here, I downloaded + ran HD Tune Pro, and looked for Reallocated sector count, it said more than 0 was bad, I have 253 (And rising after each juddering halt.) :eeek:

    Is there anything I can do about this? Can I just grab another hard drive and hope this one lasts long enough to transfer all my Stuff? Any would be met with unbridled love and very, very welcome. :D
     
  2. PureSilver

    PureSilver E-tailer Tailor

    Joined:
    16 Dec 2008
    Posts:
    3,152
    Likes Received:
    235
    You can only hope that the drive will last long enough to copy everything over.

    1. Partition the new drive with an empty partition at the beginning of the drive; later overwrite as the C: partition.
    2. In the partition(s) that make up the rest of the drive, copy over all the important data.
    3. Remove old HDD, install/image OS in first partition of new drive.
    Alternatively, if you have a third/external drive, copy everything over to that and just install on the new drive as normal. In the meantime, use the current drive as an absolute minimum; I would've saved myself the horrors of a RAID rebuild if I'd done that. Bad sectors don't necessarily mean imminent death but yours sound particularly troubling, and with drives so cheap you've no excuse for losing everything.

    I'd recommend the Samsung 1TB SpinPoint F3. :thumb:
     
    Last edited: 2 Jan 2010
  3. Mongoose132

    Mongoose132 Duckmad

    Joined:
    23 Aug 2007
    Posts:
    783
    Likes Received:
    22
    Thaaank you, was beginning to lose hope, more about the process I'll go through, is there a *ahem* guide for the lesser-man? Just for future reference if anyone asks. :p

    And on the subject of Steam Games, will I need to re-download them? Or could I create a Copy and just drag + drop it back onto the hard drive? Thanks in advance. :D
     
  4. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

    Joined:
    23 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    7,666
    Likes Received:
    208
    for steam games, if you go to the steam directory, and copy the steamapps folder, then when youv'e reinstalled OS, reinstall steam, login to your account, then exit steam, copy the steamapps folder into your new install of steam. Start steam up again and hey presto you've got your games. Some may possibly say they need updating but it usually does it super quick.

    And just remember that some games store savegame files on the C: drive, hidden away. I made the mistake of forgetting this one time and lost quite a few, :D
     
  5. PureSilver

    PureSilver E-tailer Tailor

    Joined:
    16 Dec 2008
    Posts:
    3,152
    Likes Received:
    235
    +1 Cerberus90 - remember above all to find the save files which are always in stupid places. Do the actual Steam copy last; you can always download those again so if the HDD's going to fail, better when you've already got everything you can't download.

    Regarding the process, what do you need to know? The general process is pretty simple if you have an external HDD or something - copy everything to that, then just junk the current drive, install the new one, install the OS on that and copy everything back from the backup drive. If you don't have a backup drive, it's more complicated:
    1. First, prep the new HDD.
      1. You need to create two or more partitions. It's fastest to do this on another computer; plug it in, format it, and then use something like Easeus Partition Manager (or the XP Partition Manager, the Vista one sucks though I don't know about 7's).
      2. First you delete the partition that currently occupies the drive; then, partition it into at least two LOGICAL partitions; the first is a temporary placeholder for what will be the new Primary (C: drive) partition, but the computer that is doing the partitioning won't take kindly to having two Primary partitions at once, so best to create that later. This is why it's best to do this on another computer - if you do it on your own, you're using up your current HDD's worryingly short lifespan. If you have to do it on your own computer, disconnect the original HDD, and replace it with the new one. Try and partition it using the BIOS; otherwise, go to all the trouble of installing your OS, and then partitioning it, then rebooting into BIOS and wiping the C: partition. Either way, what you should get is a blank, but partitioned HDD. The C: partition should be the size of Windows at a minimum (~40GB to be safe), or considerably bigger if you install all your programs to C: also.
      3. Then partition the rest of the drive as you see fit, and connect both the original and new HDDs to the same machine.
    2. Second, copy the data across.
      1. Copy nothing onto the first partition, you're going to be deleting that.
      2. Start with the absolute essentials, if it's going to fail halfway get the important stuff first.
      3. When you're done, turn it all off, disconnect the old HDD, and insert your OS installation discs.
    3. Third, install your OS to the new Primary partition.
      1. When the installation screen comes up, it'll show the partitions on the drive. Delete the first one (the empty one), and tell it to create a Primary partition in that space and install the OS there.
      2. Make some backups, for God's sake!
    BTW, sorry if I sound really patronizing, I just wished someone had explained this to me before my own HDD grenaded itself... :thumb:
     
    hughwi, Guest-16 and Mongoose132 like this.
  6. Mongoose132

    Mongoose132 Duckmad

    Joined:
    23 Aug 2007
    Posts:
    783
    Likes Received:
    22
    I like patronizing, patronizing's simple and good. :D
    Thank you very much, I should be golden now, bought myself two 1TB disks, and a new motherboard whilst I'm at it, one more question, do the hard drive's come with the SATA cables? :p
     
  7. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    +rep this man
     
  8. hughwi

    hughwi Minimodder

    Joined:
    23 Dec 2003
    Posts:
    1,640
    Likes Received:
    65
    that will depend on wether the drives are retail or OEM, you won't get any SATA cables provided with OEM drives, but, depending on the package they send out with your new motherboard, you should be covered (they usually have 2-3 included in the bundle)
     
  9. Mongoose132

    Mongoose132 Duckmad

    Joined:
    23 Aug 2007
    Posts:
    783
    Likes Received:
    22
    I already have. :D

    And thanks, was just wondering because the Cables that came with it are Dell ones, and won't reach the second hard drive bay. :duh:
     

Share This Page