Hard drive failures.

[Euphytose]

Hello,

For a couple of months, my main HDD ( C, where Windows is installed ) have had some errors, I just ignored but until I restarted the computer it would keep coming back.

But today it appeared when I was playing, I just did the restart trick, didn't work. Stopped the whole computer, didn't work.

And now an error pops-up as soon as Windows boots ( you can hear the sound before entering the desktop )

So I'll just unplug my main HDD and format another one and reinstall Windows on it, but for now I'd like to play without being annoyed every 5 mn so I'd like to turn off the notifications that keep coming up.

If anyone knows how to do that, even by manipulating the registry...

Thanks in advance.

[madpistol]

Use your windows disk and repair the OS registry files. That's my only suggestion.

[Euphytose]

Mmmhh I didn't mention any damaged file you didn't read my post.

I just want to disable the failures notifications.

[skoops]

Depending on your mobo but have a look in your Bios anyway I'm sure there's something in there to disable error notifications or dump files...worth a look.

[Euphytose]

Well problem " solved ", a third choice appeared for the first time: " Don't ask me about this problem anymore ( not recommended ) ".

I'm backing-up everything anyway, right now.

[madpistol]

I did read your post, but it was a little hard to understand what you were asking. Not sure why anyone would want to disable notifications on a failing hard drive. I assumed there was something wrong with the registry files, and that's what you wanted to fix. My fault.

[Euphytose]

Well I've had those notifications for months and my hard drive hasn't exploded yet so it's all ok. It's just that it goes back to the desktop and when I'm playing it's annoying.

I tried a checkdisk thing but it was too long, I'll do it when I'm sleeping, right now I'm backing things up and tomorrow I'll be probably formating my D drive, it should work.

[Setarcos]

Well I've had those notifications for months and my hard drive hasn't exploded yet so it's all ok. It's just that it goes back to the desktop and when I'm playing it's annoying.

I tried a checkdisk thing but it was too long, I'll do it when I'm sleeping, right now I'm backing things up and tomorrow I'll be probably formating my D drive, it should work.

It's not necessarily "all OK". You could very well be backing up corrupted data. Depending on the type of hard drive failure your having, checkdisk could help you quite a bit by mapping bad sectors as such an not using them.

[Euphytose]

Well I'm only backing up movies, music, game saves, game mods, and such things, if anything happened to them it wouldn't be really important, but yes I'll do a checkdisk this night.

Also, once mapped as " not usable ", will it delete my files or move them somewhere else?

Should I really back it up once again?

Since I'll be sleeping, where can I find a report of what checkdisk found?

[madef224]

Also, once mapped as " not usable ", will it delete my files or move them somewhere else? If a sector is found "bad" by chkdsk, it will attempt to move the file to a good sector and mark the sector as bad so it won't be used again.

Since I'll be sleeping, where can I find a report of what checkdisk found?You'll find it under the system event log (look for a "winlogon" entry around the same time you ran chkdsk.
To get to the system log:

1. press windows key + r
2. Type eventvwr.msc in the run box, press enter.
3. Expand the windows logs entry (left pane)
4. select system
5. Look for correct entry in the top center pane.

[Setarcos]

I'm not sure if checkdisk can really rescue any files once they've been damaged so there won't really be a need to backup a second time. I was just thinking that checkdisk first might make the backup a little safer as any shuffling around of files on that drive would be done on known good sectors. Not sure if there is a way to output it's results to a log.

Or, what madef224 said, just less informative than their post.:(

[madef224]

Something I omited, when using chkdsk, if you want it to check for bad sectors and attempt to recover corrupted files, you need to use the repair switch. so the syntax would be: chkdsk /r.

[Euphytose]

Well I didn't use any command like this, I just right clicked my C drive, ticked the two boxes ( one said that it would attempt to repair bad sectors and that I had to plan it for the next reboot ).

I'm looking for the logs now.


Edit: Well... I have an error listed at 6 of the morning ( a disk failure one ), probably when it finished since I started it at 3am, now it's almost 12am and since I passworded my computer it was waiting at the sessions window. It looks like it didn't repair the bad sector.

Edit: I just did another reboot and no trace of a disk error in the log.

Even though I have turned off the notifications it should be there right? Well if it's not it might have repaired something, so my computer will be usable a couple more weeks I hope. :)

Edit: Finally there was an error in the log a few minutes ago, so it didn't solve anything. This disk is definitely dead and soon I'll have to format another one because of a crash.

Edit: Ok I finally found the checkdisk report section, and it mentions a " S.M.A.R.T. " error type, and says that I have to replace the disk etc... However the first report of this type of error started January 11th...

[madef224]

It's not a matter of if, but when the drive is going to fail. If you replace the disk now, you should be able to clone the drive over to a new one with a minimum of hassles. If you wait until the errors get worse or the drive fails completely, you'll end up doing a complete reinstall of the the OS and programs. Either way, back up any files you don't want to lose asap.

[Euphytose]

I've already backed up everything that should be, but I don't understand about the cloning thing.

I have 2 HDD on my machine, the second one is bigger but slower, however I don't care I want to reinstall my OS on the second one.

Is it possible to just " clone " it by doing the classic ctrl+C ctrl+V?

[madef224]

Is it possible to just " clone " it by doing the classic ctrl+C ctrl+V? I wish it were that easy. there are files that can't be manipulated while the OS is running, the MBR (master boot record) contains disk and partition information, MFT (master file table) contains an index of files on the drive. Then there are files that can't be "locked" because the OS needs them to run. This is why you have to reboot when adding or removing programs and hardware. It's not difficult to do anymore. most of your disk manufacterer's provide free utilities and instructions to clone your old drive to a new one. If you learn how to do it (and it really isn't difficult if you can read and follow instructions) it will save time and aggravation.

I Have a 120gb SSD, it contains OS, some programs, and files that haven't been backed up yet. I other drives that also contain installed programs, and other files (media, docs, etc). I can clone the SSD to a new drive in 2-3 hrs and be up and running as if nothing ever happened. whereas if I did a clean install on a new drive, It would take me a minimum of 1.5-2 days to reinstall and reconfigure the OS and programs.