Possible, intermittent hard drive failure?

I'm actually posting on behalf of my wife, who can't get to a computer this instant; She's making use of a Compaq Presario PC SR5350F, which contains a Seagate 360 gig, model number ST3360320AS, Barracuda 7200.10 PATA, hard drive. Recently, while operating her computer as per normal, she was suddenly given a blue screen which informed her that her hard drive was going to fail. After some fiddling on her part, her computer began making use of the hard drive as if it were factory-fresh, with just a Vista OS on it; Now, however, it has taken to displaying the following message on bootup:

"Primary master hard disk failure is imminent, please backup your hard disk and have it replaced. Ultra DMA mode five, S.M.A.R.T. Capable, Status: Bad"

While I realize what it's telling her to do, money is tight and not having to buy a new hard drive this instant would be a big help. How long could she have before the drive fails? Is there any way to prevent it from failing? What all can be done about this issue?

Edited by Ssinerrdegahr, 23 July 2010 - 02:01 AM.

Hi...

does any importantant data on the drive...if yes please consider do some back up data just in case something bad happen...

first...open the case of your pc and unplug you hardrive data and power cable then plug it again (dont know why but sometime this work)...if you have data cable you can change it...if not just do unplug and plug it again...after that see what happen...
if still like that...you cant read this
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen...t=3644737#N1083
and do some test....

about how long the drive will fails....only GOD knows...
but if there no sound clicking on your hardrive...I think it will last long...

Edited by abauw, 23 July 2010 - 02:42 AM.

Hi...

does any importantant data on the drive...if yes please consider do some back up data just in case something bad happen...

first...open the case of your pc and unplug you hardrive data and power cable then plug it again (dont know why but sometime this work)...if you have data cable you can change it...if not just do unplug and plug it again...after that see what happen...
if still like that...you cant read this
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen...t=3644737#N1083
and do some test....

about how long the drive will fails....only GOD knows...
but if there no sound clicking on your hardrive...I think it will last long...

Hi, this is Ssin's wife. Right now, I am on a laptop and have been checking on my husband's post from time to time. Your post reminded me that I did, in fact, disconnect my hard disk from it's cables to check for any damages to the pins within the cables/plugs. You know, things like missing pins or pins that had been jarred loose, or even debris on the pins or the cables or hard disk itself. After doing such a check, I ran the computer in safe mode to see if the problem persisted. Upon restart of the computer, the problem was suddenly gone. I wasn't getting the disk failure warning upon boot up, but I did get auto-routed through disk recovery. Sadly, the only thing that was in the recovery files was the factory image of my hard disk.. (I am also wondering why it is that drive D, my recovery drive, is so @#$%! full and it only has factory settings on it.) All of my artwork, all paperwork, all programs were lost.

As for clicking sounds, my computer has always done such, ever since I pulled it from it's pretty box and set it up. I simply thought it to be the fan. (I took the time to clean the fan while I was routing around in the tower trying to unbolt my hard disk which is apparently soldered, super glued, and cemented into place.) Clicking has always been a sound that came from my tower. Always. I simply brushed it off.. Guess I shouldn't have.

I had been going through issues with my computer for a long, long while and simply chalked them up to being the inequities of the Vista OS. I guess they could have been indicative of eventual hard disk failure. If anyone likes, I can list some of the issues. Right now, it's already embedded within my mind that I must purchase a new drive. I was hoping that there was something I could do to possibly make the original hard drive last a bit longer. Money is tight, as my husband has said, and I want to be able to keep my computer for as long as, or longer than, all of it's predecessors. I have been known to hold onto computers for 10+ years, of course to the expense of being technologically efficient or up to date. But a little PC TLC saves a lot of money.

If anyone needs more info on my computer, or knows of a way to save this apparently old goat from kicking the bucket, your advice is welcome.

Thank you, Abauw, for answering.

nice to hear you problem almost solved...
as I mentioned earlier...just unplug and plug it again is enough...not need to check any broken pin if you never or unplug before...but cleaning some dust is a good idea...

before you read what I says...I want you to know that I only give advice...if you want to do my advice...please proceed with your own risk...any wrong step cant make something burn...

about clicking sounds you cant do some trick...try change you hardrive power cable...sometime loosen power cable or plug the cable and not fit enough can make that sound...just try another cable (you must have a couple of power cable in your PSU)...and the fact you use SATA hardrive...its sometime making some trouble if the cable not good enough...but please very becarefully while you swap the power cable...wrong step/plug cant make you drive burn...proceed with your own RISK...

about the data....you cant use external drive case or use Linux live cd...just to back up your data...or if you have another desktop computer and have SATA connector...you cant attached it on that desktop...or if you cant go to safe mode and copy some data to you flash drive (if you have it)...or if you cant burn some CD...you cant back up some data to cd...it will take some time but I think it worth enough...in fact you need the data...as your information...in backup/recovery data...a couple of hours is short enough...

about why your D partition (recover partition) is full...you cant read this...
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen...product=3644737
please read "Caution if you decide deleting something on that partition...just to make sure that you still use the recovery method...

Generally speaking...when you get a SMART warning about pending hard drive failure...it's best to heed the warning.

If you want a second opinion...download/run the appropriate hard drive diagnostic which is available at the website of the respective hard drive manufacturer (in your case, Seagate).

The SeaTools for Windows utility will work for such.

Louis

I am going to jump in and assist here by providing a link to the Sea tools diagnostic hard drive utilities here for easy access at the link I am providing below.

No purchase is needed, just register for the download by providing your email address and the download will begin.

The first tool is run from with-in the Windows OS.

The second download is to be placed on a boot disk and booted to and ran from the boot disk.

Instructions are also provided on this web page as well.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?loca...000dd04090aRCRD

Kind regards.

Bruce.

Edited by MrBruce1959, 23 July 2010 - 01:16 PM.

I found Seagate drives to be sensitive to heat, as well. Most of them are warranteed to handle up to 60 degrees C. At 61 degrees C, they come to a complete stop. I have since gone to better cooling, and to Western Digital drives. Speedfan is a very nice utility for checking heat and drive health.

http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

FWIW: There are many CPUs...where 62 Celsius exceeds the operating range. Why would a hard drive be expected to tolerate more? I believe a typical range for a hard drive is anything under 50 Celsius, I'd be concerned about anything higher.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/12/h...-be-afraid.html

Louis

The suggestion I am providing is mostly possible for desktop computers because they provide enough space to accomplish this suggestion.

Desktop computer cases usually, but not always, have a fan mounting bracket or a hole with 4 screw holes around it where a cooling fan can be placed, this bracket or hole is located in the general area of the hard drive mounting brackets and is located just inside, behind the front panel of the computer tower.

Placing a cooling fan into this bracket blowing in-wards at the hard drives helps keep the drives cool. I have such a setup in all my desktop computer cases and have added the same to other systems I have built or did any modifications to.

I have had computers brought to me where I ran Sea Tools on them and the diagnostic software has in a lot of cases reported hard drives that were subject to over heating at one point or another. In systems such as this, I have found only two fans in the whole system, the processor cooling fan and one fan found inside of the PSU!

This is not enough and is their cheap answer to proper cooling solutions! They sell you a computer at a cheap price, but do not include a proper means of keeping things cool. For that you have to add that hardware yourself.

This is common practice in pre-built systems bought at retail stores with such brand names as Dell and eMachines computer systems.

The price of a cooling fan for a tower is less than $20.00 US dollars, some cooling fans come with cool looking blue LEDS. The cost of that fan can extend the life of your hard drives and is worth the investment you put into it!

Bruce.

Edited by MrBruce1959, 23 July 2010 - 02:52 PM.

honestly...
HP have hardware diagnostic test during the startup process...why dont use it before use another diagnostic test...not to good but better than nothing...
and I dont comfort with sea tools...prefer use MHDD...or another diagnostic test or method...
but lets get focus to the problem...

Thanks, all of you, for replying.

For some reason, the hardware diagnostic tool doesn't find anything wrong. I have considered that heat may very well have killed my cruddy little seagate. No air conditioning in an apartment that faces west gets it's fair share of direct sunshine. I am actually pretty afraid to even start up my computer until I have purchased a replacement drive and it's associated cords.. But here is the problem, I am not finding any additional ports for the extra cords to go into. Transferring what is on my original drive may very well be impossible, from my point of view, if I do not get an external drive. I really do not want to purchase another OS...

I have spoken to HP about the issue, and found that the 'tech team' I was speaking to was nothing more than a lone woman floundering for answers. All she said to me, repeatedly, was: "Hard disk failure means your hard drive is going to go out." I knew that... That was pretty much self explanatory. It would seem that it was all she knew, and would know nothing more until I had paid her a sum of $40 USD. Really, that is a good chunk of money toward a new drive. After about two hours of precious time wasted, I got nothing from her other than "Your hard drive is going out, your hard drive is going out". After a drawn out argument, I was told to talk to the company that sold me the Desktop.. I had to laugh, I bought the desktop at Circuit City.

When it comes to an extra fan, I myself have been victim to the shock of noting that the fans within the tower are nowhere near the drive. One is literally pointed outward, positioned at the opposite end of the hard drive, giving the removable portion of the casing a weak blast of air. Brilliant! I will be, however, looking into getting a fan for the drive, itself.. But wouldn't it be better to allow passage of air by removing the seemingly embedded, original drive?

Backing up my computer is an impossibility, for the moment. I cannot back up my system on the only available option (The Network) as Vista has decided that XP is not compatible? I have no blank CDs, I do not have a USB drive large enough to handle the load. All of that must be purchased. The only other drive around at the moment is an ATA 40 gig... Seagate, of course.

Ech.. Thank you, all, for the links. I will be saving them in an email and putting them to the test.

So, a question here; She doesn't seem to have an additional set of cables available, meaning her computer doesn't seem to support a slot for an additional hard drive.. But apparently her DVD Lightscribe burner uses the same cable as her hard drive; Is is possible for her to hook up the new hard drive, once she's purchased it, to the cables currently connecting the DVD drive, clone her old hard drive, and then put the new drive into the cables of the old drive and give the DVD drive its cables back?

off course she cant do it...
even she cant attached that 2 hardrive (the new and the old hardrive) and that DVD drive...

<<But apparently her DVD Lightscribe burner uses the same cable as her hard drive;>>

The specs for that system...indicate that it uses a SATA hard drive...in which case your statement regarding it being on the same cable...cannot be true unless the hard drive was changed.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/ho/WF...9-81573818.html

What O/S is installed? Vista is the only O/S supported by HP for this system.

Louis

Edited by hamluis, 25 July 2010 - 05:01 PM.

I think you correct louis...
sorry for that wrong statement...
didnt noticied that DVD drive is SATA not IDE...