Is my hard drive taking a crap, or is it something else?

[Kalmado]

Over the past month I've had a few BSOD. Had two playing FC3 BD which I thought were due to heat from my gpus. Today while playing Borderlands I get another. Check the dump file and it points to dxgmms1.sys and watchdog.sys. I run system file checker and it stated it fixed some crap.

I go to do a chkdsk and it states I can't because disk is in use. I go to: computer>F:>Properties>Errors and start running the check. It was taking forever so I ran crystal disk which said things were good. I download memtest86 and go to open my burning software when all the sudden I can't go into F:. Says access denied. This happened last week as well. I haven't ran memtest yet. Will shortly as I'm going to run some errands.

If it helps, I have a Seagate 3tb hdd part number ST3000DM001. I was thinking of going back a gpu driver version as well. Any ideas what's going on?

[Melena]

See if you can find an old version of Hiren's that comes with PC doctor and run the hdd test. Used to use that all the time at Fry's and it was pretty solid on letting me know if a drive was about to or has shit the bed.

[Kalmado]

I found it and have been trying everything to get it running but it says my version of windows isn't compatible to run pcdr.exe.

edit: ran HD Tune and it reported 100% healthy on the hard drive. I forgot to run memtest. Will run it later tonight. I guess possibly it's the gpu driver then?

[Melena]

Boot off of hirens and run it that way, don't run from Windows.

[Kalmado]

How do I do that? It's in .uha file format. Sorry, I'm not the brightest on this side of things.

[Melena]

hmm, it's been a long time. I just downloaded an iso (mind you, i haven't used hirens since i think 8.1) and burned to cd and booted off of the cd.

[Kalmado]

i think i got 9.5. it requests you to browse. when i do that, i get the .aha file.

[orinthia]

The last version of hiren's is 15.2, as it says on their website, though it's from 2012. Here's a link to the iso: http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

You would open the iso with any cd burning program and burn it. The result should be a cd with a load of files and stuff on it. You would then set your computer's bios to boot off your cd drive and then boot off this disc. A boot menu should appear telling you what you can start up. If you don't spot something in the boot menu, it's inside the windows xp bootup option. It's a great utility, just wish it was updated (since it's 3 years old, it might not recognize everything anymore, especially in its stripped down windows xp environment).


Honestly though, I would just go ahead and backup your stuff right now. Not much point in taking that risk if you have stuff you want to keep. Backup your files and then use hdd tools if you still want to try and use that drive. If you want a full drive image, Paragon Backup and Recovery is pretty decent with its free version http://www.paragon-software.com/home.../download.html .

[Kalmado]

The last version of hiren's is 15.2, as it says on their website, though it's from 2012. Here's a link to the iso: http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

You would open the iso with any cd burning program and burn it. The result should be a cd with a load of files and stuff on it. You would then set your computer's bios to boot off your cd drive and then boot off this disc. A boot menu should appear telling you what you can start up. If you don't spot something in the boot menu, it's inside the windows xp bootup option. It's a great utility, just wish it was updated (since it's 3 years old, it might not recognize everything anymore, especially in its stripped down windows xp environment).


Honestly though, I would just go ahead and backup your stuff right now. Not much point in taking that risk if you have stuff you want to keep. Backup your files and then use hdd tools if you still want to try and use that drive. If you want a full drive image, Paragon Backup and Recovery is pretty decent with its free version http://www.paragon-software.com/home.../download.html .

Looks like the newest version does not have PC Doctor. The problem I ran into with the older versions is it stating I need to be on a x32 system. I burned 3 copies and none would load from startup. My burned ISO of memtest86 I made yesterday did start from boot so BIOS is correct.

Let's just go ahead and assume the drive is taking a shit. I'd really like to keep with a 3tb hdd. What should I be looking at that won't cost an arm and a leg? Toshiba?

[orinthia]

Not sure what you need pc doctor for when hiren's already includes several dozen utilities that probably accomplish similar tasks. Though if you still wanted to try 9.5 (which was from 2008), you can find a clean iso of it here: http://www.hirensbootcd.org/hbcd-v95/ (if this wasn't where you got it already) I would try making a usb-key drive bootable with it (there's some instructions on that site and others) so you don't keep burning cds trying to find something that works. A working copy of hiren's is nice to have and tinker with though. There are other rescue discs in the same order as hiren's, and actually current, with hiren's having some non-freeware in it while others have all freeware.

Look at newegg and amazon for reviews on hdds and choose something in your budget. Everyone has been burned at one point or another by seagate, western digital, toshiba deskstars, etc, and will probably love to share their story heh. I use 1tb WD blue drives for storage at the moment (I don't really need huge storage yet).

[Kalmado]

I was only going off of Melina's suggestion for pc doctor. I'll give it a try later. I'm about to shut down as I just got down building my new desk. Also, ran memtest for an hour. No faults. Will run again overnight just to make sure.

[Melena]

I just suggested PC Doctor as that's the one I'm most fluent with. Haven't mucked around with Hiren's in ages sadly.

[Gredival]

I can't contribute much other than to say that I had stuttering and lag issues due to a Raptor that passed every disk check program known to man with 100% health reports. I checked everything else, but the problem only got resolved when I upgraded drives. So I am convinced from my uneducated experience that even if a drive isn't about to shit the bed (said Raptor still works; I use it as a secondary Steam drive just not as the Windows drive) it can definitely have and cause issues.

[Kalmado]

Let me ask this, if I attempt to RMA this drive will they send me a refurbished, or will it be brand new? Also, I purchased it from Tigerdirect and on their page it states one year warranty, but the same product on Newegg states two year...

[Gredival]

I've heard of people getting refurbs back from Seagate. Don't know if that policy has changed recently.

[Kalmado]

Over the weekend I started up Skyrim (which is on the 3tb) and the load times were horrendous. I downloaded crystaldiskmark and the 4k read times are terrible. Anandtech marks my hdd to have 1.2mb 4k read times. On the bench I received .33. Now debating on what to get as a replacement. WD Blacks are so expensive so I'll probably look at either a Toshiba or Hitachi.