Something wrong with Hard drive?

[imported_Xavier]

I have a Maxtor 40GB 7200RPM HDD that is 4 or 5 years old now. Lately is has been slowing down a little bit, even locking up my PC, which it never used to do.

The main problem is that it is getting bad fragmentation. I have Diskeeper and I will run it at a certain time, and 2 hours later it will be heavily fragmented again, which it never used to do.

Im guessing my HDD is just starting to kick the bucket. ANyone have any ideas on what it could be?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

First of all, a failing hard drive will NEVER cause fragmentation. That's entirely a seperate issue. Fragmentation is caused by deleting large numbers of files. Are you running any kind of application that creates and deletes a LOT of files?

Of course if your drive is failing and there's lots of new bad sectors, scandisk may be moving things around to avoid the bad sectors and fragmenting the drive in the process.

As to whether or not your drive is failing, be on the alert for loud clicking or clunking noises - especially if they're associated with the computer pausing.

To be certain, go to Maxtor's website and download their hard drive diagnostic and run the "Advanced" diagnostic on the drive. This will either certify the drive or fail it. This diagnostic will take a couple of hours.

Hope this helps...

 

[pkypkypky]

Do you work with large files constantly? I am doubting it from the size of your HDD. If not, I would ease up on the defragging. With newer hard drives and I believe xp/NFTS you will not need to defrag as often. And IMO there is just absolutely no need for an 3rd party defragger. Trust me, it's just not as important anymore to most users as it used to be. If you want a speed boost, you're probably wasting your time if you're so focused on this.

edit: also check your xp defrag analysis to see if your 3rd party app is reporting correctly. And make sure you don't fill your drive close to capacity as that will hinder performance. If you want a boost, think about upgrading ur HDD to with a bigger buffer size 2mb->8mb if that applies to you. I heard that can help out....plus drives are going so cheap these days.

 

[imported_Xavier]

There have really been no signs of noises coming from it. It does freeze up for a second or two every once and while though.

I will look into getting a bigger HDD though.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

As pkypkypky said, there's really no need to be so aggressive with defragging. Unless you're a power user you could get away with never defragging. All you're doing is increasing wear and tear on the drive.

Have you checked the Event log for system errors. May indicate the source of the problem. You should definately run the HHD manufacturer's diagnostic on the drive to be sure it's not in danger of imminent failure.