Laptop hard drive failing or not?

[Shephard]

320gb Scorpio Blue my friend's laptop HD.

You turn on the computer and it hangs at the MSI post screen. Cannot enter bios. One time I could enter recovery and Windows recovery told me the hard disk was failing.

Ran Crystaldiskinfo and HD Tune both say Health Status 'Bad' with Reallocated Sector Count

138 Current
138 Worst
140 Threshold
Data 490

FAILED

I put it in another computer as a secondary drive and it said

IDE Channel 5 Hard Disk - S.M.A.R.T. status bad. Failure may be imminent.

It's actually a SATA 2 drive but I have seen that error before so I know it means both. Pressed f1 booted normally from regular hard drive.

Interesting enough I can see the hard drive in My Computer. I started backing up the setuff

So why on the MSI laptop can I NOT boot Windows, but on another computer using it as a secondary drive I can see it?

Is it failing or not?

 

[Shephard]

Ran Windows Error Checking on the first partition (it's split 172gb and 115gb - although that shouldn't matter).

'Your device or disk was successfully scanned'

No problems were on the device or disk. It is ready to use.

So what is going on here?

 

[ch33zw1z]

Give it a full test with WDC Lifeguard for DOS.

 

[C1]

Can you access MSI BIOS with no HDD connected? If not, something is wrong with the MSI system.

Also, if this is the case, I wouldnt mess with the original HDD on line as the MSI (until it is fixed) might fubar data/partition(s) on the HDD.

 

[Elixer]

Replace the HD, it is going bad.
Window's chkdsk don't pick up on those reallocated sectors.
The SMART info that crystaldiskinfo show it telling you the threshold for those has been reached.

 

[Shephard]

I went out for a bit. I ran the 115gb partition.

Windows detected a hard disk problem.

Which is the disk failing

DIsk Name: WDC ATA drive blah blah it's the Scorpio blue.
Volume: F: and G:

but the actual ERROR Checking of volume G: says no bad sectors found.

So what program do I trust? HD Tune and Crystaldiskinfo or Windows Error checking. Both partitions are still there in My Computer.

I should also add this computer had a ton of malware and 2 trojans the other day. Some adware as well from conduit toolbar and some other crap. I removed it all for him.

But maybe this malware made it look like the disk is failing?

edit* also yes I can activate MSI Bios with no hard drive.

that Windows detected a hard disk problem just came up again. So it had nothing to do with Error Checking, I guess it just happened to come up a minute after I started the Error Checking.

So what's the verdict here? Is it failing or is this from malware or is it fine?

Bought a 500gb Scorpio Blue for him and I am currently installing Windows 7 back on the laptop.

 

[Matt1970]

It absolutely is failing. You have 4 tests say it is failing and only 1 say it isn't.

 

[Shephard]

It absolutely is failing. You have 4 tests say it is failing and only 1 say it isn't.

So Windows Error Checking isn't a viable test. Good to know.

Anymore tests I can do?

Is it possible the Malware screwed up the firmware or something? Anyway to check this?

Kind of strange it was working no problem a week ago. Then he got some malware now failling hard drive.

The warranty just expired 2 months ago imagine that.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Did you run WDC Lifeguard for DOS? It's Western Digital's disk testing program. That's the one to trust.

 

[Matt1970]

I don't know what else to tell you. 4 tests telling you your hard drive is bad is definitive. It is rare that a drive fails a single test and it be ok. Very rare. You have 4 tests telling you it is bad. Back up your data, the drive is dying.

 

[Elixer]

So Windows Error Checking isn't a viable test. Good to know.

As I already said, windows error checker is ONLY for file system, nothing else.
The other programs read the drive's SMART table, and it is telling you backup now before the drive dies.

 

[WilliamM2]

Kind of strange it was working no problem a week ago. Then he got some malware now failling hard drive.

Why? It's no different than anything that breaks. My microwave broke a month ago, kinda strange, just the day before it was working fine.

 

[corkyg]

The fact that you were unable to enter BIOS does suggest malware. Have you run a full scan for that?

 

[Elixer]

The fact that you were unable to enter BIOS does suggest malware. Have you run a full scan for that?

Hmm ?
More like the BIOS locked up/crashed because of the faulty device.
Even malware can't prevent you from going into BIOS screen, since the POST routine is started first.

 

[Shephard]

Did you run WDC Lifeguard for DOS? It's Western Digital's disk testing program. That's the one to trust.

Nope but I will run it because I am curious.

Why? It's no different than anything that breaks. My microwave broke a month ago, kinda strange, just the day before it was working fine.

This is my friends computer. He never saw the Bios message, which even though he isn't tech savvy it would have prevented him from booting. He also did not see the Windows error warning the disk was failing.

Those 2 errors only showed when I plugged the drive into ANOTHER computer.

Yes originally I couldn't enter Bios even with the hard drive out. But there was wireless mouse USB connector in a port which was preventing from entering bios. It happens.

The new hard drive seems to be working just fine.