Computer Hard Drive Problem

[Torper]

Over the last few weeks my wife has been complaining that her PC, running Windows 7 64-bit, has been getting slower and slower.  This came to head a few days ago when the PC slowed to a crawl, taking literally several minutes to open a programme which would then probably crash and "fail to respond".  I was puzzled - it didn't seem to be a virus as our Eset Internet Security found nothing wrong.  I thought it might be the PSU playing up, or a fan failing and causing overheating though a test suggested that temperatures were fine.  Then a Windows message came up on the screen advising that the hard drive was failing and recommending that we carry out a full back up, shut the computer down, and consult an engineer.  I duly did the first two of these (to my surprise a full back up onto an external drive was apparently successful) but I haven't yet called in an engineer.

 

If this was my computer I'd buy and install a new hard drive (I'm perfectly capable of doing that) and then carry out a full restore from the external drive.  I've done that before on my computer when the hard drive failed.  If that didn't work I could try a restore from a back up I did a couple of months ago.  Spouse, however, would much prefer me to call in an expert.  I wouldn't mind except that my experience of computer "experts" in the past has not always been good - I seem to have known more than most of them.

 

Any suggestions please?

 

DT

[sp1]

Over the last few weeks my wife has been complaining that her PC, running Windows 7 64-bit, has been getting slower and slower. This came to head a few days ago when the PC slowed to a crawl, taking literally several minutes to open a programme which would then probably crash and "fail to respond". I was puzzled - it didn't seem to be a virus as our Eset Internet Security found nothing wrong. I thought it might be the PSU playing up, or a fan failing and causing overheating though a test suggested that temperatures were fine. Then a Windows message came up on the screen advising that the hard drive was failing and recommending that we carry out a full back up, shut the computer down, and consult an engineer. I duly did the first two of these (to my surprise a full back up onto an external drive was apparently successful) but I haven't yet called in an engineer.

 

If this was my computer I'd buy and install a new hard drive (I'm perfectly capable of doing that) and then carry out a full restore from the external drive. I've done that before on my computer when the hard drive failed. If that didn't work I could try a restore from a back up I did a couple of months ago. Spouse, however, would much prefer me to call in an expert. I wouldn't mind except that my experience of computer "experts" in the past has not always been good - I seem to have known more than most of them.

 

Any suggestions please?

 

DT

Swap the hard drive yourself- a few minutes work with a screwdriver. The restoration from the backup will, of course, take a little longer. If that doesn't work (although I don't see why it shouldn't) then you still have the original hard drive for the 'expert' to sort it out

[SRman]

Yeah: wot 'e sed!

If you are able to install a new drive and install Windows, there is no reason why you should have to pay someone else to do it. Gone are the days when one had to tell the BIOS the number of cylinders and sectors, etc., etc. on a hard disk. Nowadays it's all plug and play.

[MJI]

Over the last few weeks my wife has been complaining that her PC, running Windows 7 64-bit, has been getting slower and slower.  This came to head a few days ago when the PC slowed to a crawl, taking literally several minutes to open a programme which would then probably crash and "fail to respond".  I was puzzled - it didn't seem to be a virus as our Eset Internet Security found nothing wrong.  I thought it might be the PSU playing up, or a fan failing and causing overheating though a test suggested that temperatures were fine.  Then a Windows message came up on the screen advising that the hard drive was failing and recommending that we carry out a full back up, shut the computer down, and consult an engineer.  I duly did the first two of these (to my surprise a full back up onto an external drive was apparently successful) but I haven't yet called in an engineer.

 

If this was my computer I'd buy and install a new hard drive (I'm perfectly capable of doing that) and then carry out a full restore from the external drive.  I've done that before on my computer when the hard drive failed.  If that didn't work I could try a restore from a back up I did a couple of months ago.  Spouse, however, would much prefer me to call in an expert.  I wouldn't mind except that my experience of computer "experts" in the past has not always been good - I seem to have known more than most of them.

 

Any suggestions please?

 

DT

 

DO IT YOURSELF

 

You know it makes sense.

[MJI]

I would swap HDD and put the old one in as a slave afterwards to copy off it necessary

[beast66606]

before doing anything make sure you backup all your important stuff - a second copy just in case.

 

I always check all the cables are in correctly when these sort of things start happening.

 

If your hard drive is SMART then get yourself some tools and let the disk analyse itself.

[RFS]

I would install a new hard drive in your PC that's at least the same size as the original.  If the original is still readable, then you could clone it with the free Macrium Reflect (http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx).  Then disconnect the old drive and boot off the new.

[Torper]

Thanks for all this help, everyone - it's much appreciated.

 

I'm assuming the (Hitachi) hard drive is Smart and that is why I got the Windows message telling me that it is failing.  I'm not sure whether I can rely on that as being accurate and the last thing I want to do is go and buy a new hard drive only to find that the problem is something entirely different, which will result in a certain person telling me in no uncertain terms that she told me I should get an expert on the job and I've wasted £50 on a new HDD.  So as the computer currently still boots up, albeit slowly, I'll try to install something like Smartmontools or CrystalDiskInfo to see if they confirm the situation.  If they do, then I'll buy a nice new Seagate HDD and do it myself.  If they don't, then I fear that there will be considerable pressure on me to get the expert in.

 

Speccy has confirmed that the PSU seems to be working and that the CPU temperatures seem to vary between the mid 50s and every now and again a brief mid 60, and that the fan is working.  Bearing all that in mind, and the message I got from Windows, could the problem realistically be anything other than the HDD?

 

DT

[ColinK]

If you try to fix it yourself and it goes wrong - its your fault.

 

If you pay an expert and it goes wrong - it's NOT your fault.

[MJI]

I do not trust experts

 

An expert screwed coil packs on an older car during an LPG conversion (next was DIY which worked)

An expert changed a drive shaft seal and screwed my ABS, (I had to fix it using a new hub)

[Colin_McLeod]

I do not trust experts

 

 

An "ex" is a has been and a "spurt" is a big drip.

[beast66606]

I'm assuming the (Hitachi) hard drive is Smart and that is why I got the Windows message telling me that it is failing.  I'm not sure whether I can rely on that as being accurate and the last thing I want to do is go and buy a new hard drive only to find that the problem is something entirely different, which will result in a certain person telling me in no uncertain terms that she told me I should get an expert on the job and I've wasted £50 on a new HDD.  So as the computer currently still boots up, albeit slowly, I'll try to install something like Smartmontools or CrystalDiskInfo to see if they confirm the situation.  If they do, then I'll buy a nice new Seagate HDD and do it myself.  If they don't, then I fear that there will be considerable pressure on me to get the expert in.

 

Speccy has confirmed that the PSU seems to be working and that the CPU temperatures seem to vary between the mid 50s and every now and again a brief mid 60, and that the fan is working.  Bearing all that in mind, and the message I got from Windows, could the problem realistically be anything other than the HDD?

 

DT

 

 

Google SMART drive tools for Windows and download a free one, a full SMART test on the drive will identify errors - and give you some degree of confidence that the drive is actually at fault.

 

Regarding experts - it's far better to get an amateur to do the job, then you can (nearly) always rely on them getting it wrong.

[jonny777]

If you have done  a full backup onto an external drive, and have confirmed the backup is error free and secure, why not try re-formatting the internal drive and re-installing Windows on there?

 

At least you will see if it is a faulty drive, rather than just corruption of the drive directory or some other high level access problem.

[raymw]

What did chkdsk show? Lots of bad sectors?

[BR60103]

We had this 2 months ago -- computer was complaining of an upcoming HDD problem.

Local tech guru ran a diagnostic program. It ran for 5 days and showed one bad sector, but the computer was slowing down and doing nasty things. As well, the battery had been reported as bad a few years ago. We bought a new computer. Old computer now seems unbootable.

I hate Windows 10.

[Torper]

Initial test using HDDScan showed a red (failure) against "Reallocation Sector Count" (01) and a warning against Reallocation Event Count.  Tests are continuing, but from what I've read this suggests that the hard drive requires to be replaced.

 

DT

[beast66606]

Initial test using HDDScan showed a red (failure) against "Reallocation Sector Count" (01) and a warning against Reallocation Event Count.  Tests are continuing, but from what I've read this suggests that the hard drive requires to be replaced.

 

DT

 

Get the data off and once you know you've got everything off and onto a new drive store the old one in the round file. (aka The bin - green version of course)

[Guest]

store the old one in the round file. (aka The bin - green version of course)

 

But take the awesome fridge magnets out of it first

[Torper]

Right, mind made up.  Tomorrow I shall order a new HDD.  I've always tended to use Seagate drives - I know, some people complain about reliability but they've never let me down - and I think I'll go for one of the new(ish) ST1000DM010 ones (1tb is more than adequate).  If it was me I think I'd probably get a SSD for the OS and do a complete reinstall, getting rid of a whole lot of rubbish in the process, but it's not for me.  Maybe just as well.

 

DT

[RFS]

Right, mind made up.  Tomorrow I shall order a new HDD.  I've always tended to use Seagate drives - I know, some people complain about reliability but they've never let me down - and I think I'll go for one of the new(ish) ST1000DM010 ones (1tb is more than adequate).  If it was me I think I'd probably get a SSD for the OS and do a complete reinstall, getting rid of a whole lot of rubbish in the process, but it's not for me.  Maybe just as well.

 

DT

 

Both our home PCs now have a 60 Gb SSD dedicated to the OS (Windows 10) with a 1 Tb hard drive for all the data.  The SSD makes a big improvement in performance, especially boot times, plus it's easy to back up via Windows Image Backup to the separate hard drive. I always do this at least monthly so I can always quickly recover if the SSD drive fails, or some software corruption prevents booting. They cost about £25 from the likes of Ebay.

[Torper]

Just thought I'd say that everything went very smoothly.  The new hard drive arrived within 24 hours of my placing the order (Morecomputers) but lay untouched for a few days as we had visitors over Christmas and New Year.  Fitting it (didn't even need a screwdriver) took less than 10 minutes (and much of that time was spent hoovering dust out of the interior of the computer) and the restore was also a piece of cake, taking about an hour.  The only snag was that the restore only restored the C drive, ignoring the partitioned D drive, but as I had the contents of the latter backed up separately that was not a problem.  Thanks for your help, everyone.

 

DT