[Ashitaga]

This started yestersday. My computer had something pop up that said A hard drive has reported that it might fail. Then under it it says A hard drive is reporting a SMART event.

Then when i shut my computer off and turned it back on it says... Hard drive disk 2: WDC WD2500VEVS-22USTO-(2)

What does this mean and how can i stop my hard drive from failing.

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Edited by Ashitaga, 20 October 2008 - 02:45 PM.

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Welcome to geeks to go.

SMART is monitoring the drive. It is telling you a failure is imminent.
I would suggest you back up all files, folders, pics, etc before it completely fails (this should be done anyways as a prevention.

You can run the manufacturers diagnostics (link in my signature) to verify. If is under warranty, they will want that anyways.

Really, not much you can do. It can fail tomorrow, next week, or next month.

[123Runner]

Welcome to geeks to go.

SMART is monitoring the drive. It is telling you a failure is imminent.
I would suggest you back up all files, folders, pics, etc before it completely fails (this should be done anyways as a prevention.

You can run the manufacturers diagnostics (link in my signature) to verify. If is under warranty, they will want that anyways.

Really, not much you can do. It can fail tomorrow, next week, or next month.

[Gnomad1600]

You can't stop the hard drive from failing. Back up all of your important data. Download the hard drive diagnostics from the hard drive manufacturer and run the diagnostic program. Be prepared to replace your hard drive.

[Ashitaga]

I ran HD Tune and everything came back as ok. So does that mean it wont fail or that it wont for awhile

[Samm]

SMART monitors the mechanics of a drive whereas most Hard drive utilities such as HD Tune don't. If a HDD utility such as HD Tune gives any analysis of the drive mechanics, then it usually gets them from the SMART monitor anyway.

In other words, just because HD Tune reports no problems, it doesn't mean that SMART has got it wrong! However, as 123Runner said, your drive could go on for another few months or more or it could fail next week. There's no reason why you can't keep on using it in the meantime but just work on the assumption that IT WILL FAIL, and usually when you least expect it or least want it to, so keep everything backed up!

[Ashitaga]

What is it like when it fails and or starts to fail?

[123Runner]

There are numerous types of failures. All become disasterous.
1. Fails to boot
2. MBR (master boot record) corrupted. It can't boot
3. some programs may stop working/ give errors due to corruption.
4. Blue screens
5. System might report that "unable to find hard drive"

and I know there are others.

Have you run the western digital diagnostics found at the link in my signature. That could give us a better idea what is going on. keep in mind that the drive will need to be replaced.

Your option is to replace it now (preventative measure) before a total crash. Drives are very cheap now. 500gb is about $120.00. Most drives have a 3-5 year warranty. And most drives come with the tools to clone (exact copy) the old drive to the new.

[Ashitaga]

I did go to the tacktech website that u had in your signature, but i didnt know which one i should click on.

[Samm]

That's good advice from 123Runner - buying a replacement drive before the current one fails would allow you to clone the drive and save you from having to do a fresh install (unless you wanted to of course).

One more to add to the list of symptoms - noise coming from the drive. It's not unusual for drives to make a certain amount of noise anyway but any new or stranges noises you hear may indicate imminent failure.

[123Runner]

You want the western digital "data lifeguard diagnostics".
You need to choose floppy (if you have a floppy) or CD (if you have no Floppy).
You can also do the windows version which runs right from the windows OS, but I prefer either CD or floppy. That way the diagnostics has excluseive use of the drive.

[Ashitaga]

I ran the test and the test result came back saying that it passed

[Ashitaga]

So sence it came back as a pass does that mean it wont fail?

[Samm]

Not necessarily - SMART monitoring monitors different things to the other diagnostic programs. SMART attempts to predict imminent failure whereas Datalife guard deals tests for problems which have already happened.

[Ashitaga]

I have a few questions...What makes a hard drive fail and is there any where to prevent this from happening again. And is it possible that the SMART thing is wrong or will it fail no matter what.

[Samm]

A hard drive contains some mechanical components (i.e. the motor which drives the spindle that the disk sits on). As with all mechanical things, they eventually wear out or breakdown. SMART monitoring attempts to predict when a failure is going to occur by monitoring indicators of impending failure such as increased heat output, noise, bad sectors etc

Failures caused by general wear and tear cannot really be prevented. Obviously you can help to maximise the life span of the drive by making sure it's always operating within acceptable environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity etc. Also of course, making sure you don't drop or bump the drive about & don't expose it to static if you need to remove it from the computer at any point.

Sooner or later all drives will fail. Like I said before, despite the SMART warning, your drive may continue to work fine for quite a while yet, so in a sense, SMART can be wrong in it's prediction of imminent failure.