Bad sectors on hard drive.. need help

Dazarath · #1 05-27-2006, 09:07 AM

My hard drive has started getting bad sectors. I think I'm just going to toss it and get a new one. So right now, I'm in the process of saving all the data that I want to keep. First, a bad sector is an actual problem with the hard disk itself, right? Not just some bad data? If I don't need to toss my drive, I'd rather keep it. Here's my problem. I have two Western Digital Raptors in a RAID 0 setup. I think it's likely that only one of the hard drives has an actual problem. How would I go about figuring out which one is faulty?

greenage · #2 05-27-2006, 12:14 PM

Check out Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Tools

Dazarath · #3 05-27-2006, 07:28 PM

I do have that software, thanks. That's not the issue, though. My hard drive is actually getting more and more bad sectors over time. I have no option but to trash it. But, it's in a raid setup, so I'm thinking one of the drives is still salvagable. I'm wondering how do I figure out which one that is.

greenage · #4 05-27-2006, 08:03 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I do have that software, thanks. That's not the issue, though. My hard drive is actually getting more and more bad sectors over time. I have no option but to trash it. But, it's in a raid setup, so I'm thinking one of the drives is still salvagable. I'm wondering how do I figure out which one that is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you break the RAID set-up and then run the diagnostics from a floppy? I think you’ll lose everything if you do that, but oh well.

RAID 0 is not so hot for a poker computer because you have no redundancy, it just stripes data (splits it) across the two drives. Losing one drive means you lose ALL your data.

Dazarath · #5 05-27-2006, 09:45 PM

Yeah, I'm thinking that's my only option at the moment. I was hoping to avoid that, but I haven't found a way around it. I don't mind losing everything, as I've already backed up the files I need. I'll just get another drive and install Windows on it again.

poopeyhed2 · #6 05-27-2006, 11:21 PM

Don't forget that the Raptors have a 5 year warranty, and chances are it's still under warranty so you do'nt really need to buy one to replace the failing one.

tinhat · #7 05-28-2006, 12:23 AM

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Don't forget that the Raptors have a 5 year warranty, and chances are it's still under warranty so you do'nt really need to buy one to replace the failing one.

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Uh, maybe you do want to buy a brand-new drive - WD wty replacement is a REFURBISHED drive. IOW they're sending you crap ppl have already returned to them as your replacement for something you bought as "new".

I'd buy a different brand; I've had a shitpile of trouble w/WD the past few years and the POS dying on me now is my last...

Mike

Dazarath · #8 05-28-2006, 06:08 AM

Tinhat, do you have any suggestions for another brand? I like having hard drives that are faster than 7200 RPM. I guess I could look into SCSI drives, but someone told me that they're loud.

tinhat · #9 05-28-2006, 11:58 AM

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Tinhat, do you have any suggestions for another brand? I like having hard drives that are faster than 7200 RPM. I guess I could look into SCSI drives, but someone told me that they're loud.

[/ QUOTE ]
No, sorry but I really don't. The last drive I bought was 18+ months ago and have not kept up w/mfgr reps. So your best bet is to check places like extremetech, Tom's, cnet, etc. IIRC I'd always been satisfied w/Seagate for ~15 years prior to that and expected my next to be Seagate.

My WD troubles have spanned 5 years. I understand mfgrs can go through bad spells, Maxtor did 10+ years ago, Conner, etc. and maybe WD is/was in this spot. I think even Seagate had a bad stretch quite awhile back.

WD may even be exacerbating a small problem by sending these [censored] used drives for wty replacement, giving the false impression their products are worse than they are.

Mike