Seagate drive corrupts continually

[pnb263]

I have a 250GB Seagate drive (ST3250823AS) that I have been working with over the past months. I have come across a rather unusual problem of the disk coming up corrupt in windows on a rather regular basis. All the tests I have run on it come up fine (seagate tests), but the damned thing wont hold data for more than about 48 hours before registering as corrupt when I try to access it.

Any ideas as to what the problem might be? it is a SATA drive.

AFAIK, it has only been subject to intense heat (no cooling) once, and the problem seems to have cropped up after that happened (my fan broke that was blowing over it).

None of the other HDDs that I have do this (including the ones that were next to it when the fan stopped working).

Thanks.

 

[LED]

If you are using the NF3 Mobo with it plug in the wrong SATA port and OCing then there in lies your problem...

 

[pnb263]

I am using the NF3 mobo, but it has been on the same SATA port since I picked up the drive, and I have been trouble free for months now...

would this be something that could crop up over time or would it be something that I should have seen from the start?

Oh, and on the NF3 mobo, which is the right SATA port to plug into (just to make sure...)

thanks

 

[LED]

I think on the Epox it's SATA ports 3&4 which are unlocked as it varies from each Manu...when did you start OCing?

 

[pnb263]

i overclocked from minute one.

The drive WAS in the Sempron mobo (K8ns PRO) and started came up corrupt after the fan failed. I reformatted and installed windows on it in that machine. While working around in windows, it came up with the corrupt message and then I couldnt do anything but shut down (trying to access the drive came up with corrupt message). I then transfered it over to the A64 machine running the 9NDA3+ mobo. once in there, I reformatted (for the second time) and started to use it again thinking that more cooling would help in case that it was just too suffocated in the other case. Well, I have two fans blowing on it now (so I know it is cool) and it keeps corrupting over in the A64 machine as well.

i am in the middle of reformatting the drive again and will try to see what it does. I will not put any critical information on it as I have already lost three projects worth of material during the initial corruption (about 180GB) and have lost another project on it since moving it over (about 60GB worth).

I am thinking of RMAing it, but all the tests come back as the drive being OK according to the diagnostic tools from seagate...

thanks

 

[BFG10K]

i overclocked from minute one.

I assume you've tried everything at stock speeds then?

 

[pnb263]

I havent tried running the machine at stock speeds (and I guess i should try that before anything else), but if I have been overclocking since I got the machine, and have had no problems until now, should that make a difference? I would asume that if it were going to have problems with overclocking then it would shop up in the initial few days/weeks of use rather than months later... or would that be asuming too much?

 

[BFG10K]

The nature of overclocking is random and not guaranteed by any stretch of the imagination. If you run hardware out of spec anything can go wrong at any time.

So yes, I'd definitely try running at stock speeds. At worst nothing will change but at best you'll solve your problem.

 

[pnb263]

alright... rebooting now to go back to default settings. I also just double checked, and I am using sata port 2 (which is locked according to most places I can find on the internet...). I will also try to change it over to sata1 in case it is something with port 2 that is causing it. I will also format the drive (again) after going back to stock speeds and run it until it either corrupts (then i will know it is the drive) or until it doesnt (then I know it is the overclocking.).

I guess another way to solve it if it is the overclocking would be to get a PCI card, because i know they are locked as i wouldnt be able to run at all with my ATI AIW overclocked to 289...

 

[pnb263]

ok.. thats wierd. I went into the computer management after rebooting. I deleted the partition, and now it is only showing up as a 128GB drive instead of a 250GB drive.

I have win2k and SP4 installed.... hmmmmmmmmm

thoughts?

 

[BFG10K]

Loose cables? Also try auto-detecting from the BIOS again.

 

[pnb263]

im double checking the mobo drivers first. I just dug up the cd with them on it. if that fails, ill check cables and then bios settings...

 

[pnb263]

ok... 232.88GB after mobo driver install (reinstall?) and reboot... formatting now, I just hope it holds!

 

[furballi]

Try another HDD (clean install windows). This should isolate the problem to the HDD.

 

[pnb263]

well, originally, the drive didnt have any OS information on it at all. I only put the OS on it after it became corrupt and took windows with it (when I would boot into windows, it would display an error and stated it was shutting down in 60 seconds). Anyhow, when I reinstalled the os, that drive came up reading as corrupt. That is when my problem actually started. SO. it really was the OS that had a problem originally. But now, without it being an OS (main) drive, it still has this problem. Right now the drive is formatted and i have some stuff that I copied over to it. I will let it sit there for a good week or more before I go back to using it for any kind of system critical or buisness critical information.

Thanks guys. Ill let you know if there are any more problems with the drive itself. as for the original problem of the OS acting up like that, any thoughts? I had norton AV and internet security installed and running at that time with all of the latest updates... Just confusing is all...