Laptop HDD keeps breaking down

[martinu]

So I own a Dell Inspiron M5010, which came equipped with a 320GB, 5400 RPM Samsung Spinpoint M7 (HM321HI) HDD. After about 3 months, the HDD became unusable due to a high count of bad sectors (>500). I've replaced the broken HDD with a brand new, identical HDD which reached a bad sector count of over 250 in ~1 month. I have then upgraded the HDD to a 500GB, 7200 RPM Samsung Spinpoint M7 (HM500JI); at the moment it has 166 bad sectors in about 2 months of usage. I did not use the laptop under harsh conditions, it is not filled with dust, it did not suffer mechanical shocks. What should I be on the lookout for?

The current HDD temperature varries from 42-45 when idling to ~52-54 when playing a video game or using it extensively and the CPU temperature is always above 59 degrees Celsius, even when first booting up the laptop.

Also, the original power supply stopped working after 4 months since I purchased the laptop and I have replaced it with another 90W power supply.

Fun fact: a few (1-8) sectors were being marked as "bad" almost every time the song changed in an Youtube playlist; not always, but most of the time.

Current read test results:
http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/8728/read.jpg

Current SMART values:
http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/626/healthl.jpg

 

[Harvey]

Did you replace the original drive with another Samsung? User reviews report eight DOA's and short term failures for that drive on Newegg.

If that's happening to you, I'd recommend a different brand of drive.

Make that two drives, one external for backup, and use Acronis True Image to clone your working drive.

Acronis True Image is a program that can "clone" your hard drive. That is, it makes an exact, running duplicate of your hard drive. If your main drive fails, the cloned image can directly replace the old drive, or it can be used to reload everything, including your operating files, on a new drive without re-installing the system or your programs. If your hard drive fails or becomes irreparably infected, it WILL save your butt.

If you want to be able to install the backup drive, it will have to be the same kind of drive. That is, a 2.5" notebook drive you can mount in your laptop. If you use an external drive, you can still clone back to a replacement drive in the notebook, and it will work.

If you make the new drive Seagate or Western Digital, both companies offer free versions of True Image that are restricted only in that at least one of the drives in the chain must be from the manufacturer whose version you're using.

 

[martinu]

Yes, this is my third Samsung HDD. Could it be that the motherboard sends out wrong voltages to the HDD and the laser lens shocks or burns the physical platters? If so, how can I measure/check the voltages supplied by the motherboard? Not the voltages that should be received by the HDD, but the actual ones that it receives.


Also, thank you for the back up suggestion but the original HDD has more than 500 bad sectors and I doubt it will be useful as a "back up" HDD.

 

[exdeath]

Laser lens? D: HDD are magnetic.

More likely you are rougher with your laptop than you think you are, or it's just a poor design that allows a lot of heat build up in the location of the HDD. 54 C is A LOT for just a HDD. The cooling loop in my desktop with two overclocked GPUs doesn't even exceed 41 C at max load. Maybe you should check your power management settings, that is way too hot, more so for a confined space like a laptop.

Laptops are a pretty crappy environment for a mechanical disk to begin with, and 2.5" form factor HDD are delicate as wet paper on their own.

Maybe it's time for an SSD?

 

[martinu]

I meant the reading/writing head, sorry. I'm aware that the temperature is high but it's a confined space, I have a cooling pad with a 220mm fan, there isn't much more that I could do.

During the last month I barely used the laptop and it only got 1 more bad sector when it recovered from sleep mode. I would still want to know if there is a way to check the voltages received by the HDD.

 

[Emulex]

just get an SSD can be done with the rugged also remember some laptops require a driver for the motion sensor. Older laptops had their own sensors and modern drives have their own sensor - best of both worlds maybe a combo of both. or just go ssd and fuggedaboutit.