Dying Velociraptor...?

[allthatisman]

Of late my 150gb VR has been giving me issues(I think). I have had random BSOD's on shutdown of Vista... some random programs and services stop working for no reason... and last night when playing co-op Red Alert 3(the way it should be done btw) with my buddy, he was loading every map waayyyy faster than me, and I normally am waiting for him.

After we finish playing for the night, my computer just feels sluggish when surfing the internet, so I decided to run HD Tune just to see if the drive is still working correctly. The readings were ALL over the place, I mean really, really all over the place. I didn't let it finish and decided to restart and see if that corrected the issue.

Upon restart, Vista wouldn't start saying that it needed to be repaired. Safe mode wouldn't work, command prompt wouldn't work, etc. After enough messing around and reboots. it somehow managed to startup... don't ask me how. I backed up my iTunes and files that I needed on the VR, and ran HDTune again. Slower results than my last 2 tests, but the drive is about 5 months older now than the last test. The results were at least typical though...

My question: Is this typical behavior of a hard drive going bad? I have never had one die on me so I don't know. I really want to get an Intel or Indilix SSD, but I was sort of waiting for the drives to get bigger, and possibly, cheaper. If my VR is going out though, this is all the excuse that I need.

Thoughts?

 

[Elixer]

It does sound like HD issues. At least you got lucky, and got your data off, I would suggest you backup things, and yes, even SSDs need to have backups.

 

[aequasi]

OCZ is a good brand for SSD too, if ur looking for more options.

 

[allthatisman]

Well I have held off up until this point because I got burned by a Gskill Titan, which is why I bought the VR... I have heard nothing but GREAT things about the old and new Intel drives, which makes me feel like that would be the best bet for me... only thing is that I need something larger than 80gb, and the 160gb is at or over $500 at most e-tailers. For 40gb less space and $150 less I could get a Vertex 120gb.

Now the burning question:

Which one will I be happier with? I am almost ready to say F-it and buy the Intel, because I know that drive will not dissapoint. Is this the smart move?

 

[hclarkjr]

i suggest you go here and download datalifeguard and run it to see if the drive is bad. it should be under warranty if it is only 6 months old

 

[hclarkjr]

WD is very good about warranties and should be able to help you out if the drive is bad.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

What about possible computer infections

 

[allthatisman]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
What about possible computer infections

I thought about this as well, but would a virus/spyware cause the OS to crash on shutdown and not allow it to even startup? I have had my share of virus's, none with Vista, but I haven't had one that worked so randomly. Usually they have some sort of behavior pattern...

I just looked it up, I have had this drive since April 4th. I have heard that these drives have a higher than usual failure rate. I will download that tool and run it when I get home to check the "health" of the drive and make sure that is it.

For the money though, I am thinking the Vertex might be what I decide to got with, seeing that they have such a strong support base...

 

[allthatisman]

Well... I downloaded the Data Lifeguard tools and ran all the tests, and the VR passed all of them. So I downloaded the new Housecall to check for viruses, and I had one minor trojan, which had a low threat level according to Trend Micro's site. I am sort of at an impase... I know vista said that the drive was corrupted last night, yet after a dozen restarts and choosing different options, Vista worked... in fact I'm using it now. The prices on SSD's are not very awesome right now, but at the moment, if I had to buy one, it would be a 128gb Vertex, but after tax and shipping I am looking at just about $400... I could almost buy a WD black and 5870 for that... man I am a little lost. If this drive isn't broken, that would be awesome. Am I missing something here?

 

[aequasi]

haha yeah, when a drive is running twice as fast as a normal drive, the failure rate at least doubles. you could have a bad cable or something thats being tempermental

 

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: aequasi
haha yeah, when a drive is running twice as fast as a normal drive, the failure rate at least doubles. you could have a bad cable or something thats being tempermental

There have been a few instances where I thought a drive was dying/dead but it turned out to be a bad cable. I have a 36gig raptor here which went through the phase twice yet still works fine (has about >1000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count in SMART ) .

So i'd try a different sata port/cable to see if it could be the problem.

Regarding SSDs, any of the Vertex (or equivalent) or Intel SSDs will be a lot better than the vraptor. So if you have the spair cash they are well worth it, otherwise see if you can revive the vraptor or rma it.

 

[Ben90]

After we finish playing for the night, my computer just feels sluggish when surfing the internet

That doesnt sound like a harddrive problem at all

 

[aequasi]

Originally posted by: Ben90

After we finish playing for the night, my computer just feels sluggish when surfing the internet

That doesnt sound like a harddrive problem at all

sounds like a pron problem

 

[TheInfernal]

Originally posted by: allthatisman
Dying Velociratptor

Just eat it.

 

[allthatisman]

Originally posted by: aequasi

Originally posted by: Ben90

After we finish playing for the night, my computer just feels sluggish when surfing the internet

That doesnt sound like a harddrive problem at all

sounds like a pron problem

lol, SIR, I would NEVER...

I am going to try replacing the SATA cable, see if that works. I was on the computer all night last night and it ran without incident. I think I will just stay on top of backing up my important files and ride it out and see if it dies. I think I might install Windows 7 on it this weekend, at least I would rule out the virus option...