Hard drive problem
 

On a couple of occasions after the computer has been on for several hours it locks up and it has to be switched off by pulling the plug. After 5 minutes, on trying to restart it I get the following message:-

"Disk read error, press CTRL, ALT, DEL to restart"

On trying this, the message repeats and I am unable to get the computer to start. It can be shut down by holding in the start switch. After about an hour it can be restarted and carries out a 3 stage disk check before loading Windows.

Am I correct in thinking that my hard drive is about to fail?

CC

I would think that is pretty well guaranteed.

... but the good news is that 120 GB drives (ata and sata both) are available on Ebay for less than thirty quid inc postage. (Strewth - that cheap? I'll have three! :) )

Sounds more like an overheating problem.

...Or a carked drive that spins happily when cool and not when at normal temp.

Google says many reasons for your error, but as others point out, HDD's are so cheap now, may as well jump ship while you can and hitch a ride on a new one.

Yep - a heat-related failure, not uncommon. Hopefully, it can give you sufficient time to get your data off before it fails entirely.

There's a suspicion of that as a contributory factor - Give the case a good dusting & vacuuming when replacing the hard disk.

SD

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. New drive it is then:ok:

CC

New drive...
 

Compass.....

If it is heat related the problem wont be fixed by a new drive (why would one drive be hotter than another and can you assure your new drive runs cooler ?)...

However it does sound like your disk is on the way out - to me it sounds like its having trouble maintaining rotation speed). However...

The good news is if your existing disk is not totally gone when you purchase your new disk we can copy over an image of what you have direct onto your new disk so there is no need for a fresh install.

If you want to do this PM me and I will let you know what freeware you need to download and how to do this it will save losing the OS/Applications/Data you already have.

Cheers

Jofm5

More informative for others to do so across the open forum.

Best to reserve PMs for private matters and off-topic discussions.

SD

Am fine with that also :ok:

Was not sure about site policy on mentioning urls, refs etc

See Computer / Internet Forum Guidelines

SD

Jofm5

Thanks for your offer of help. I agree with Saab Dastard that it would be best to post the info on this thread as it would certainly be of interest to others.

CC

Cloning disks
 

OK here is what to do...

Download DriveimageXML (DriveImage XML - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com) on your current system.

Shutdown and plug in your replacement drive so both drives are connected.

Boot the computer off the original disk and select to run drive image.

Within drive image select the clone option, its best to clone physical disks rather than logical partitions as it will grab all partitons off of the source disk regardless of whether they are active or not.

Select your new disk as the destination (You do have the option of an image file but you dont need this).

Then leave it running.. it can take some time dependent upon disk size - I think my 120gb disk took around half an hour.

After its complete you may now take the old disk out and the system should boot off your new disk with everything looking exactly how it was.

If you are feeling brave you could in the bios change which disk is boot disk and reformat your old disk but if its on its way out its best not to store anything of use on it. Personally I put mine in a draw should I ever need to go back and re-image that disk.

If your still feeling unsure there are utube videos showing this being run which can be seen here YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

Cheers

Jof

Forgot to say...

If you have bought a larger disk than orignally you can use the disk manager tool to expand an existing partition into this space (you cant do the primary partion C:) or you can create a logical partition in this space so you have an additional logical drive - if your unsure about this step let me know.

Cheers

Jofm5
Thank you for posting the info. Very useful:ok:


CC

All enthusiastic, I downloaded and installed DriveImage XML so that I could back up my "boot" drive that's getting old, in preparation to cloning it to a new SATA drive.

A slight problem arose! This PC has three internal hard drives (2 IDE, plus the new SATA), and a USB external. DriveImage only found the external. The other three are there, and known to the operating system.

Am I doing something wrong, or is that how it works?

Is there an alternative package that will allow me to clone the drive?

EASUS Partition Manager.

Keef, how is the SATA drive interfaced? Do you have dual type interface on the MB or a card in a slot?

Yes, there are two SATA connectors on the motherboard. It's plugged into SATA 1.

I haven't had much time to do anything else with it, but will take a look later today.