How can I tell for sure my Hard Drive is dead?

[Cawchy87]

What my hard drive does do:

-Recognized when it searches for IDE devices at the beginning of the boot but takes a LOOOOOOONG time.

-Recognized in bios (product number, sized, etc.)

-Recognized cpu and ram


What my hard drive doesn't do:

-Boot into windows (Atapi boot disk error)

-I put my hand on it to feel if it is spinning and I can feel some vibration, but not sure if it is spinning.

System specs

AMD xp-m 2500 @ 3200 (Yes, I tried downclocking and fail safe defaults)
2x 512mb pc3200
Western Digital 120 gig 7200rpm 8mb
ATI 9800 pro
Aspire 500 watt power supply
Audigy 2
NEC 2510a DVD-RW


Please post any help you can give me. Because I have a lan party tomorrow and was hoping to attend.

Thanks for your replies!

 

[mrbass]

easy..just need patience...download ubcd (free) and load your hd manufacturers diagnosis utility and run it through a "through" sufarce disk scan..those quick ones of a few minutes don't cut it.

 

[JBDan]

Hd's most often die a "slow painful" death. They rarely just go "kaput." Any funny noises? Its prob on its last leg.

 

[Cawchy87]

Originally posted by: mrbass
easy..just need patience...download ubcd (free) and load your hd manufacturers diagnosis utility and run it through a "through" sufarce disk scan..those quick ones of a few minutes don't cut it.

Unfotunitally I am unable to get into windows

Originally posted by: JBDan
Hd's most often die a "slow painful" death. They rarely just go "kaput." Any funny noises? Its prob on its last leg.

I sure hope so, it worked fine yesterday. No noise comeing from it, even the normal hard drive sounds.

I hear a beep when it is booting up so there is no connection problems.

 

[JBDan]

My 120GB WD 7200 went bad after 3 years. Probably not typical, but does happen.

 

[Cawchy87]

I already had one WD crap out on me and I haven't had this one 3 months!

 

[mrbass]

ubcd 3.1 is a bootable cd...windows not required

these are just a fraction is what is on the cd but you need to use just one of these:

Hard Disk Diagnosis
Drive Fitness Test (IBM/Hitachi) 4.00
PowerMax (Maxtor/Quantum) 4.09
DLG Diagnostic (Western Digital) 4.15
DLG Diagnostic (Western Digital) 5.04c
Data Lifeguard (Western Digital) 11.0
SeaTools Desktop (Seagate) 1.06.02
SeaTools Desktop (Seagate) 3.00.07en
Diagnostic Tool (Fujitsu) 6.20
SHDIAG (Samsung) 1.25
HUTIL (Samsung) 1.19
GWSCAN (Gateway) 3.15
GWSCAN (Gateway) 5.09
Salvation HDD Scan and Repair 3.0