[Solved]Is my hdd failing? pic of task manager and chkdsk inside

[bbhaag]

See post #18 for final update and resolution.

I have a quick question about the hdd from my wifes Lenovo laptop. The laptop started running very slowly a few days ago so I though she had some malware but after closer inspection it appears to be a failing hdd.
I'm in the process of trying to copy any important files off the drive and have been about 95% successful but I'm suspicious after running chkdsk /f/r and then looking at the task manager.

As you can see from the pic task manager claims the drive is pegged at maximum but yet the speed is at 0kb-1kb/s also the command line completion ETA keeps climbing and the percent complete remains at zero. Anyway, here is the pic let me know what you guys think.

 

[UsandThem]

Have you tried running CrystalDiskInfo, and see what kind of health report it returns? But yeah, my first guess from what you show is that drive is in trouble.

https://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

 

[Amol S.]

I suggest that you back up the data on the hdd regardless, to an external storage device.

Also a write speed of 1.0kbps is low, very low to be exact. You should do what I stated in the previous sentence as fast as possible.

After backing up the data, you should copy the file that you wanted from the back up data.

Now about what to do with the HDD. First go to ms disk defragmentor, and start the defragmentation process ( do this even if it says 0% fragmented).

Also, the amount of data stored in HDD also affects speed. As a HDD gets almost full, its speed decreases, especially when there are many fragmented files. I suggest removing any cookies or temporary internet files stored on the computer, as well as, speak to your wife about removing unnecessary stuff that is on the HDD.

After all this try to restart the laptop, and check to see if there is any difference in speed.

 

[bbhaag]

Thanks for the fast responses and suggestions. I appreciate it. I used the program UsandThem suggested and it returned a health report of bad for the drive. Major bummer because this laptop is only six months old.... I recovered as many files as I could off the drive and then backed them up to another thumb drive.
I will now begin the process of RMA'ing the laptop to Lenovo so they can replace the drive under warranty.

 

[VirtualLarry]

This is one reason why I generally DONT DO HDDs in laptops. They get bumped, jostled, dropped, banged-about, and generally rough-housed in a laptop, that actually travels. SSDs are pretty-much shock-proof. Even if you have to install it yourself, do yourself a favor and go SSD-only in laptops. Then your consumer-class laptops can hold up like tanks.

 

[Amol S.]

.... SSDs are pretty-much shock-proof. Even if you have to install it yourself, do yourself a favor and go SSD-only in laptops. Then your consumer-class laptops can hold up like tanks.....

However... you do realize there are many people... like me who use more than 512 GB. I actually have only 490GB left on my hard drive, and I do use flash drives, even DVD's to store data. I still end up with this.

NOTE: My actual remaining storage should be around 600-700GB right now, however I used Diskdrill for Windows sometime around May, to get back a few files that I had deleted in the past and needed back again. Thus a lot of space on my hard drive got filled. I haven't had time to shuffle around the other extra files that have been recovered to see what else I want to keep. I actually was surprised by what can get recovered

 

[UsandThem]

However... you do realize there are many people... like me who use more than 512 GB. I actually have only 490GB left on my hard drive, and I do use flash drives, even DVD's to store data. I still end up with this.

Then it's a good thing many manufacturers offer SSDs larger than that. Take for example the 1TB Crucial MX300, which is still on sale at Newegg right now

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820156152

 

[Amol S.]

Then it's a good thing many manufacturers offer SSDs larger than that. Take for example the 1TB Crucial MX300, which is still on sale at Newegg right now

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820156152

I never replace or upgrade laptop parts, I only use laptops as it comes. I have never seen a laptop on sale with 1TB SSD that is not Dell, HP, or MSI, that has a price under $1500.

 

[Shmee]

I avoid HDDs as boot drives these days. Especially for laptops, like Larry said.

 

[UsandThem]

I never replace or upgrade laptop parts, I only use laptops as it comes. I have never seen a laptop on sale with 1TB SSD that is not Dell, HP, or MSI, that has a price under $1500.

You'v never added RAM or changed a drive in a laptop? PC makers charge you 3x the price for a part you could install yourself. For example, when I bought my Dell, to upgrade the RAM from 8GB to 16GB, and replace the HDD to a SSD, they wanted another $350. I did it myself for $125. Gotta save that money.

 

[Amol S.]

You'v never added RAM or changed a drive in a laptop? PC makers charge you 3x the price for a part you could install yourself. For example, when I bought my Dell, to upgrade the RAM from 8GB to 16GB, and replace the HDD to a SSD, they wanted another $350. I did it myself for $125. Gotta save that money.

Yah, but... that voids the warranty. Also, I'm afraid to open up my laptop, since if I screw up some where, its a expensive trash now.

 

[Amol S.]

I avoid HDDs as boot drives these days. Especially for laptops, like Larry said.

Using HDD as a boot drive has actually one benefit.... you see the signs of failing Hard Drives much earlier, than when not using them as boot drive.

 

[UsandThem]

Yah, but... that voids the warranty. Also, I'm afraid to open up my laptop, since if I screw up some where, its a expensive trash now.

I understand if a person is not comfortable doing it, but in the U.S. at least, they can't void your warranty from upgrading a computer (unless you physically damage it). They even give you directions on how to do it in the owner's manual (at least with my Dell and HP laptops).

 

[Amol S.]

I understand if a person is not comfortable doing it, but in the U.S. at least, they can't void your warranty from upgrading a computer (unless you physically damage it). They even give you directions on how to do it in the owner's manual (at least with my Dell and HP laptops).

Well they don't do it for Asus, or Toshiba as far as I know. Also, I am never going to by a HP or Dell laptop or desktop in my life.

 

[UsandThem]

Well they don't do it for Asus, or Toshiba as far as I know.

I owned a Asus and Toshiba laptop back around 2007 or so (wasn't overly impressed with either one to be honest), and they didn't have any type of seal that had to be broken to update them. I can't remember if they had upgrade info in the manual or not, but I upgraded both of them as well. My youngest son still has the Toshiba laptop, but it hardly works at this point and is largely something him to tinker with.

Also, I am never going to by a HP or Dell laptop or desktop in my life.

I'm not even going to ask why on that one

 

[mxnerd]

Usually HDDs & memories are very easy to access for laptops. Not difficult at all.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I never replace or upgrade laptop parts, I only use laptops as it comes. I have never seen a laptop on sale with 1TB SSD that is not Dell, HP, or MSI, that has a price under $1500.

kinda foolish to not upgrade as time goes on.

for example. i purchased a brand new Lenovo edge 14" in 2010, got the slow 5400 spinner and 4gb ram. cpuple years later, tossed in a 70 dollar 64gb ssd, which it still has, then a year later 2x4gb ram cause it was dirt cheap....and recently upgraded to win10.

laptop is almost 8 years old, run like a champ. the only problem is the battery is deader than a door nail.

its the only way to really get your moneys worth over time.

I do steer clear of spinners for any OS drive, just kills the speed.

 

[bbhaag]

Just a quick update. After my initial suspicions that the drive was failing and then confirmed by the program UsandThem recommended I sent the laptop back to Lenovo. There rma service also confirmed the disk was bad and replaced it under warranty. The replacement was a new Seagate drive with a little better specs than the original Toshiba drive that failed.
Lenovos rma process was painless and relatively quick. After USPS lost the laptop in transit and then found it the turn around from Lenovo was just over five days.

 

[ch33zw1z]

not bad, sometimes youre licky they even have the part!

 

[mxnerd]

When a drive is failing, besides S.M.A.R.T. info, you usually will see a lot of disk error in Windows Event Viewer, Administrative Events.