Failed Hard Disk Woes

tom982 · Jan 29, 2014

Fortunately this isn't on my computer and is in fact my sister's laptop, but she's using my laptop at the moment so it's still in my interest to fix this

Computer: Dell Inspiron N5010
OS: Windows 7 x64 SP1 OEM

I came back from uni a few weeks ago to find her laptop was being incredibly slow and was failing to restore from hibernation. After ruling out malware, I tried SFC which really struggled with one file, I couldn't even access the file myself so I ran chkdsk and it found 12MB of bad sectors. I ran SeaTools and it failed every test I threw at it, so I ordered a replacement disk. When the disk arrived, I dismantled the laptop and swapped the two, then tried to install Windows to this but it failed at various stages of the installation, it then got to the stage where a Linux live CD wouldn't even boot when the HDD was in. I didn't manage to get it up and running before I had to go back to uni, so I've brought it with me. I hooked up the new HDD to my Desktop and rebooted my computer so Windows would recognise it and I could run SeaTools on it, but was presented with a S.M.A.R.T error on the BIOS screen with the hard disk plugged into port 6, which happened to be the new disk. I continued to boot and got SeaTools up and running and this new disk has failed all of the tests too!

My question to you all is whether it is possible that the laptop is destroying these disks, or have I just been incredibly unlucky and had two failed disks in a row?

Thanks in advance!

Tom

Patrick · Jan 29, 2014

Hi Tom,

I would have suggested possible internal issues with your sister's laptop, such as a faulty SATA controller, port, etc. However, given it's receiving errors on your own machine, they likely gave you another faulty HDD. What manufacturer?

Also...

I ran chkdsk and it found 12MB of bad sectors.

:thud:

tom982 · Jan 30, 2014

Thanks for the reply, Patrick!

Yeah, I didn't have a chance to test it in my computer before trying it in hers, so I was worried that another hardware fault in her laptop was destroying these disks? If that's even possible!?

Western Digital - same as the old one. I've always been a fan of SeaGate but couldn't get my hands on a 2.5" disk.

Yeah, chkdsk took about 16 hours to finish! It said a disk error was preventing it from writing the log (or something similar), but I took a photo of the summary:

Patrick · Jan 30, 2014

Aha, no, I don't believe that's what's occurring. You were likely just very unlucky and received a faulty refurbished model. I'd contact them again, explain, and when you receive the next one, test it in your machine first to see if the basics are a green light (detected in the BIOS, detected when you attempt to install Windows, etc).

Wrench97 · Jan 30, 2014

Try testing the drives on another PC, it very well be a failing motherboard or cable or even the adapter(plug) that's causing the failed tests.

tom982 · Jan 31, 2014

Patrick said:
Aha, no, I don't believe that's what's occurring. You were likely just very unlucky and received a faulty refurbished model. I'd contact them again, explain, and when you receive the next one, test it in your machine first to see if the basics are a green light (detected in the BIOS, detected when you attempt to install Windows, etc).

Thanks Patrick, will do! I'll get a replacement ordered this weekend and let you know how it goes.

Wrench97 said:
Try testing the drives on another PC, it very well be a failing motherboard or cable or even the adapter(plug) that's causing the failed tests.

Thanks Bruce! I originally suspected other hardware in the laptop might be faulty and have managed to prove that the problem is with the drive, but there may well be other problems in the laptop which will cause more chaos for me!

The old drive was performing poorly in her computer so I plugged it into mine and ran SeaTools - it failed every test.
The new drive wasn't working at all in hers so I ran SeaTools on it again - it, too, failed every test.

Both of these tests were done using a SATA cable and port that I took out of one of the disks I currently use so I know they work okay :)

Wrench97 · Feb 1, 2014

Sounds like you were unlucky enough to get 2 bum drives in that case.
They aren't the Seagate hybrid drives by chance are they?

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Failed Hard Disk Woes

tom982

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Patrick

Sysnative Staff

tom982

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Patrick

Sysnative Staff

Wrench97

Administrator, Hardware Expert

tom982

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Wrench97

Administrator, Hardware Expert