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Thread ID: 28333 2002-12-16 22:29:00 My Harddrives Last Days...I Think? Pete O'Neil (250) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
106657 2002-12-16 22:29:00 i've recently started hearing strange noises from my harddrive, windows has become slower and more unresponsive. Recently the drive wasn't detected on startup, but i've fixed it.

The drive is a cheap 20gb 5400rpm Fujitsu harddrive, its about 1 1/2 yrs old. It really gives me the feeling its about to die. Wot do you guys reckon? Are there any other possiabilities?

I'm off to backup my drive just incase.
Pete O'Neil (250)
106658 2002-12-16 22:33:00 Check the HDD Cables, IDE and Power. Also, as I recently learned, enable S.M.A.R.T. in the BIOS!

Backing up is good too....
Chilling_Silence (9)
106659 2002-12-16 22:48:00 Enabling SMART as suggested may not help.
Many of the parameters rely on historical data, to be able to detect when things are degrading.
With no history, you could be lulled into a false sense of security as SMART may not recognise that the drive is failing, having nothing to compare it to.
godfather (25)
106660 2002-12-16 22:53:00 > Enabling SMART as suggested may not help.
> Many of the parameters rely on historical data, to be
> able to detect when things are degrading.
> With no history, you could be lulled into a false
> sense of security as SMART may not recognise that the
> drive is failing, having nothing to compare it to.

Where is all this "Historical" informatin stored then? On the HDD? If so, does that mean that when transferring HDD's betweeen PC's that it'll remember the historical data (That it was working fine or whatever) on the new one?
Chilling_Silence (9)
106661 2002-12-16 23:28:00 There was a batch of 10 & 20GB Fujitsu HDD's that were apparantly dodgey (Faulty Cirrus Logic chip) so I would take it back to the store where purchased and get a replacement.
Should be covered by a 3 year warranty.

I have seen heaps of these! All Fujitsu!
CYaBro (73)
106662 2002-12-16 23:31:00 Forgot to add, if the store say it only has a 1 year warranty, kick up a stink as this is a known problem with that batch of Fujitsu HDD's

Doing a search in Google on 'Faulty Fujitsu Hard Drives' brings up heaps of links.
CYaBro (73)
106663 2002-12-16 23:53:00 SMART requires a hard disk that supports the feature and some sort of software to check the status of the drive .

>Where is all this "Historical" informatin stored then? On the HDD? If so, >does that mean that when transferring HDD's betweeen PC's that it'll >remember the historical data (That it was working fine or whatever) on >the new one?

What software package are you using to monitor? That will determine the location . If you are only using Windows to monitor, I guess its in a system file somewhere, which would make it difficult to transfer?

All major drive manufacturers now incorporate the SMART feature into their drives, and most newer PC systems and motherboards have BIOS routines that will check the SMART status of the drive .

So do operating systems such as Windows .

This is an important point to remember: the hard disk doesn't generate SMART alerts, it just makes available status information . That status data must be checked regularly for this feature to be of any value .
godfather (25)
106664 2002-12-16 23:56:00 >
> This is an important point to remember: the hard
> disk doesn't generate SMART alerts, it just makes
> available status information . That status data must
> be checked regularly for this feature to be of any
> value . [/i]
>

Oh! *A light goes on in Chilling_Silence's head* That makes more sense now!
Thanks
Chilling_Silence (9)
106665 2002-12-17 00:10:00 > Forgot to add, if the store say it only has a 1 year
> warranty, kick up a stink as this is a known problem
> with that batch of Fujitsu HDD's
>
> Doing a search in Google on 'Faulty Fujitsu Hard
> Drives' brings up heaps of links.

I agree. I know its nothing to do with computers, but recently I returned the power-head off a vacumn cleaner to be repaired. It was about 4 years old. Although it was waaaaaaaay out of its warranty period, it was replaced with a new one by Panasonic absolutely free, as the original had a design fault.
Baldy (26)
106666 2002-12-17 01:55:00 Active smart monitor (here (http://www.panterasoft.com/)) will tell you if any of the SMART attributes have passed their threshold values. bmason (508)
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