PC and hard drive malfunction - need advice

My PC suddenly quit on me last night, with the screen blinking and emitting a last message about "I/O failure" before going black. When I attempted to reboot the PC, the PC stayed in DOS mode and indicated a Windows failure, and an accompanying message suggested attempting a Windows OS repair with the source disc. I did not hear any unusual noises or see any unusual images prior to the PC losing consciousness--the PC seemed to die silently. I ran the Windows source disc repair sequence several times--the first few times, the screen remained blank, but finally the last two times, the screen prompts for choosing Windows repair with the source disc finally appeared. I received two slightly different sets of problem details with the last two repair attempts, but both seem to point to the hard drive as the culprit. I've listed both sets of problem details below, but I'm not expecting a detailed analysis. I'm rather ignorant about PC malfunctions and would appreciate it if I could be "pointed in the right direction" to help decipher the problem details.

1st Windows repair attempt w/source disc
Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: StartupRepairV2
Problem Signature 01: ExternalMedia
Problem Signature 02: 6.0.6000.16386.0.0.0.0
Problem Signature 03: 0
Problem Signature 04: 65537
Problem Signature 05: unknown
Problem Signature 06: NoHardDrive
Problem Signature 07: 0
Problem Signature 08: 0
Problem Signature 09: unknown
Problem Signature 10: 1168
O.S. Version 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

2nd Windows repair attempt w/source disc
Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: StartupRepairV2
Problem Signature 01: ExternalMedia
Problem Signature 02: 6.0.6001.18000.6.0.6001.18000
Problem Signature 03: 2
Problem Signature 04: 65537
Problem Signature 05: unknown
Problem Signature 06: NoRootCause
Problem Signature 07: 0
Problem Signature 08: 2
Problem Signature 09: WrpRepair
Problem Signature 10: 2
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

As mentioned earlier, I suspect the root problem is hard drive has malfunctioned. My hard drive did not emit any unusual noises and has been very quiet. For what it's worth, I did not hear the "clack-clack" of a hard drive's death throes. I have a 2nd M1330 PC and its hard drive is so quiet I cannot hear it most of the time either. If the hard drive has failed, are there any options for retrieving its data? I have been negligent and forgot/failed to back up some important data. My PC is three years old, out of warranty, and has been used heavily, but handled carefully and most of its use has been at home, with little travel.

I hope the information I presented is not overwhelming. I'm looking primarily for sources to help me diagnose the failure cause(s) and, since the hard drive is suspect #1, also for any options to retrieve some of its data. Of course, if anyone can provide more detailed information about my PC's failure, I'd be greatly appreciative also.

Thanks much for reading and any information.

 

First:

Remove your HD and put into an external enclosure or directly connected to a desktop's internal ports. Hopefully, with this method you'll be able to retrieve your data.


Second:

Buy a new HD (with return privileges preferreably) and see if you can install Windows on it. If this step gives you no hiccups with a new drive - you can safely assume that your original HD is history - hopefully step 1 will be able to get your data back before you need to chuck it.

Good luck.

 

Unfortunately, hard drives don't always fail with a bang, oftentimes they can go out with a whimper. Before you go too far with it, you may wish to simply try removing your hard drive, and then re-seating it; if you're very lucky, the contacts may have just worked loose, although since it sounds as if it stopped working while you were in the middle of using it, I don't hold out a huge amount of hope for that scenario. Other than that, you can try what tilleroftheearth suggested; that will help isolate whether the problem is with the harddrive itself, or possibly the motherboard of your notebook, which would be a much more troubling problem.

 

Thanks for the responses and suggestions. My brother-in-law pulled out the hard drive and put it into external enclosures for Linux and Windows separately (as I understand his descriptions). He is able to browse the drive from the Linux aspect, but sees only a few files with scant data, and does not recognize any of my data (i.e., Word documents, music and video files, Favorites, etc). When browsed from the Windows aspect, the drive simply freezes. We surmise that, for unknown reasons, important sectors on the drive were corrupted and I presume the data is lost or even destroyed. I assume nothing else can be done, but if anyone has any suggestions for other ways to salvage any of the hard drive's files, I'd be appreciative.

On a related topic, I also assume that hard drive failure is the culprit here. Is it reasonable to buy a replacement drive and install it, or should I be concerned that malfunction of other aspects of the PC (i.e., motherboard) is still a possibility? The screen appeared to function normally in DOS mode when I tried to repair the Windows code with the OS source disc.

Thanks,

 

Ask your brother in law to try to browse the HD when he's in Safe Mode (Windows).

If he still gets the freezing, ask him to do a chkdsk repair on the HD (he can simply right click on the HD and select properties and then tools and error checking tab and click check now and make sure both boxes are checked and click Okay (especially if it wants to reboot to try the repairs).

Yeah, I would go ahead a buy a replacement HD - looks like this one is done for.

 

There are a few programs you could try, EASEUS being one that I've heard of (but never tried, as I've *knock on wood* never needed to use a data recovery program yet).

Yes, it does seem like hard drive failure is the culprit here, and it's probably reasonable to buy a replacement drive and just install it. The difficulty arises in the fact that we don't know why it failed. If there's any chance your brother-in-law could put the drive into a spare internal bay and try reading the SMART values off the drive, we might have a better idea of what killed it, but without any other information, yes, there's always the chance that the motherboard was what corrupted the drive in the first place, in which case any replacement drive would suffer the same fate.

Another possibility which just occured to me is that this could also be the work of a computer virus, which would be resident on said hard drive. You should probably try to run an anti-virus scan on the hard drive if at all possible, and if not, run one on any files you may manage to recover. Still, something to try after any file recovery attempts, and assuming nothing bad comes up on the SMART values would be a full format of the hard drive, and then seeing if it returns to a usable state. It's possible that the corruption was a one-time thing, and the drive is still usable. I'm still not sure I'd fully trust it, and I'm certain you've learned the value of backups, but it is a possible idea.

 

Thanks much for the suggestions. The reason I asked about buying a new HD is I wasn't sure if I needed to be concerned other aspects of the PC were also suspect, or if I can assume the problem is solely the HD. On a related note, I've never bought an aftermarket HD before. Do I need to be aware of any technical specifications for an appropriate drive, or can I just buy any reputable one that's an internal laptop HD 500GB - 1TB capacity and 7200RPM?

Thanks again,

 

Any 2.5", 9.5 mm high SATA hard drive should do. 7200 RPM, 5400 RPM, those will all be fine. Unfortunately, the 9.5mm height limit will rule out current 1 TB drives, which are all 12.5 mm in height. There are some 750 GB drives out there that are the right size, though.

 

With three years under its belt of 'heavy use', I would not be suspecting any other part of the system except the HD. There is always a chance it is something else, but the chances are very, very small.

I would recommend a 500GB Hitachi 7K500 as a replacement - if you want the ultimate speed, the 500GB Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid is my top choice for top speed and capacity.

If you want to throw some money around - a SandForce based SSD is your next performance stop - but I would hesitate buying an SSD until early 2011 because of newer/better models being available then. Be aware though that any SSD you buy will cost much more than the two mentioned above and will also be much less capacity too.

Good luck.

 

Tilleroftheearth (Tote) and Judicator-

Thanks for your multiple suggestions and ideas. My brother-in-law has my errant hard drive and is still working on several angles to retrieve its data, although I have assumed the worst for now.

In the meantime, I've ordered from Amazon a Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM hard drive to replace the errant one. Although it's not labeled as such, one of the buyer reviews stated it's the same as the Hitachi 7K500 Tote recommended, do you know/agree it's the same one?

Amazon.com: Hitachi Travelstar 2.5 Inch 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA II 16 MB Cache Internal Hard Drive 0S02858: Electronics: Reviews, Prices & more

I considered seriously ordering the Seagate 500GB Momentous XT Hybrid, but some of the Amazon buyer reviews mentioned problems with the disc not spinning down after spin-up and repeated disc failure with resultant multiple rebootings; 2-3 reviewers mentioned apparent incompatibility with Macs, but as a PC user I didn't think the latter were relevant. Nevertheless, I'm still considering whether to return the Hitachi and ordering the Seagate hybrid instead. For those who are experienced with or have used the Seagate 500GB Momentous Hybrid, what do you think of it? Is its performance advantage significant over a HD like the Hitachi? Have you experienced or heard about the issues above or other reliability/performance aspects?

Thanks again for reading and any information.

 

I have both the 7K500 and the Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid. The XT is in a class of its own.

The link you provided must be the 7K500 (going by the specs on that drive...) but the price is pretty amazing @ $60 shipped.


If you're willing to risk RMA'ing XT's until you get a good one (not that I had to) then you should be more than happy with your purchase - but considering the price of the Hitachi - you are getting more performance per dollar with the Hitachi than you will be with the XT at (I'm assuming) almost 3 x the price.

 

Yes, that looks like the new packaging for the 7K500. The price is comparable to what I've seen for it on sale recently as well. As tilleroftheearth has mentioned, the initial releases of the XT (as has seemed to be the case for almost all Seagate initial releases, sadly) were often plagued with some problems, which mostly seemed to be a quality control issue, but if you can get a good one, it's supposed to be quite nice, given fairly regular habits that it can anticipate. Also, you can pick up an XT for about double the price (of the hitachi) here in the US, I've been seeing the XT sold for about $120-$130 recently.

 

Oh there was having with the win 32 . Have you done safe mode? It will not give you the normal view but you can back up your files.


floor tape

 

Thanks for the information and opinions about the Hitachi and Seagate hard drives, they helped me form a firm decision between the drives (see below). When I ordered the Hitachi 2 days ago from Amazon, the price was $73.33 and apparently Amazon dropped it to $59.99 the day after I ordered it! . Two days ago and yesterday, Amazon was selling the Seagate 500GB XT hybrid for $115 and apparently increased it to $130 today.

I'll keep the Hitachi hard drive and forgo the Seagate hybrid for now. If the Hitachi proves defective, I'll re-evaluate whether to exchange it for another Hitachi or upgrade to the Seagate or see if I can find a 3rd option. The Seagate's initial shaky out-of-the-box reliability is a little daunting, but perhaps by now or soon it has stabilized.

Thanks again,

 

I wanted to provide an update to my inaccessible hard drive (HD) situation. Initially my brother-in-law, H, placed the errant HD in an external enclosure and attempted to browse it in both Windows and Linux. Interestingly the HD could/can be browsed, but he found only a few folders which had scant data and none of my folders and files. On Tilleroftheearth's (Tote) advice, H tried browsing the HD in Windows safe mode but with no change. I read somewhere that freezing a HD overnight sometimes helps improve data accession and H tried that, also with no effect. Finally, again, on Tote's suggestion, H performed a chkdsk repair and interestingly my folders reappeared. However, in Windows mode, H received error messages when he tried to open the folders. Although the data is apparently scrambled, at least in Windows mode, H thinks browsing the chkdsk-repaired HD in Linux may retrieve the data and stated he was very encouraged with the re-appearance of my folders. He'll try the Linux browse in 1-2 days. If anyone has additional advice/suggestions in the event the Linux browse does not work or for a "better" suggestion than using Linux, I'd appreciate them.

On a related topic, Amazon raised the price of the Hitachi HD today from the fire-sale price of $59.99 to $74.99 (see previous posts for HD description). As I mentioned previously, when I ordered the HD on 10-20-2010, Amazon priced it at $73.33 and apparently dropped the price to $59.99 on 10-21. I considered buying a 2nd one as a spare for the latter price, but apparently Amazon felt the $59.99 price was untenable and raised it again.

Thanks,

 

My brother-in-law, H, was able to copy about 5% of the files from the errant hard drive (HD) browsing in Linux. When he tried probing the HD in Windows Vista safe mode, he simply received an error. Here's what he emailed me this morning:

With respect to getting files, I was able to copy some of the files off of the drive, but on some of them, Linux just said it couldn't. Some kind of insurmountable i/o error on those files. Also, for a large percentage of files that I did copy off, the files were empty, i.e. 0 bytes. I haven't done any kind of formal counting, but I'd say at this point we'd be lucky to have gotten 5% of the files. That's better than nothing, but that's a pretty heavy data loss. I'm going to snoop a bit more to see if there's anything else that can be done on the files that are not I/O errored.

I'm resigned to the files being lost, but would appreciate any last-ditch suggestions or ideas for recovering the files. Thanks much for your help, past, present, and future.