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Failing hard drive?

S

Stringfellow

n00b
Joined
Dec 20, 2011
Messages
23
Someone asked me to look at their Gateway NV53 that takes a long, long time to boot up. Startup and login take a while, as long as 15 minutes for the machine to become useable. The hard drive light is solid the entire time it is booting, and remains that way until it has settled down. I have scanned it for viruses, and run CHKDSK to look for bad sectors. Thus far, nothing has worked. I used a Kaspersky Rescue CD to boot the machine, and it also has a hard time mounting the drive. Also noticed that the machine does not start up every time you manually power it off. It requires 2 or 3 power off, then restart, cycles to boot. The drive is a Hitachi 0A70425, but a SMART test did not detect any problems. I am considering purchase of a new hard drive, and cloning the old one, but am not sure if this will help. Any suggestions?

P.S. I did see a '0211: Keyboard error', but was able to clear that by removing all power.
 
sounds like more of a mobo/controller issue because if the power problems, or just a "loading 20,000 startup programs" issue? I dont see anything to indicate hard drive though.
 
What happens when you boot up the computer in Safe Mode? Is the boot time still long?
 
This thread needs more walls of cryptic parameter names and hexadecimal values. Can you post raw SMART data?

If the Kaspersky CD has problems as well, I'd lean towards the controller theory.

SMART may or may not have those logged as UDMA CRC errors.
 
I downloaded GSmartControl, but I won't have access to the machine until the weekend. Will it provide the raw SMART data?

The other thing I was going to try is to get a USB enclosure, mount the drive in it, and try to boot it that way. That should take the original hard drive controller out of the picture.
 
I've just downloaded it too.

Looks like a front-end for the smartmontools package from Linux, which is pretty good.

You have to highlight your drive's icon and from the upper menu select Device->View Details, and from there the 'Attributes tab'.


The problem with enclosures is that they might affect communication between the drive and host due to a glitch or bad USB connection.
 
Last edited:
Just a follow-up on this thread. I ran GSmartControl and looked a the SMART Error log. The software said that only the last 11 errors were recorded. Among them were multiple "pre-failure" messages for issues with reading the drive, and at least one over temperature warning. I picked up a new hard drive for $50, and put the old one in an enclosure. Booted up an old Knoppix DVD, and am in the process of using dd to copy the contents to the new drive. Hopefully, I got the order correct for if= and of=. :eek:

Thank you to everyone for their help!
 
Well, since you got as far as dd, could you post the SMART part of the output of
Code: 
smartctl -s on -a /dev/whateveryourdriveis

If dd fails for some reason, ddrescue is still an option. Beware though, no of/if there! it's EVEN DIFFERENT.
 
dd did fail, but I was not around to see what had happened. I thought it worked completely, but rebooting the machine told another story; Windows was prompting to run Start Recovery. I tried it a few times, but no luck. Put the original/bad drive back in the machine, and ran Start Recovery to get it to boot. After logging in, I put the new drive in the enclosure, and started an Acronis cloning of the drive. The progress bar said there were 7 more hours to go. After the clone is done, I will try swapping the drives again. Won't be until Saturday, though.
 
I would re-try dd.
When dd is done it returns the amount of data it had moved and how long it took.
So, try to recall if it claimed it had copied the expected amount of Mega/Gigabytes.
You might need to add the flag 'conv=noerror' so it doesn't give up when it comes across damage.

Also, it's a good idea to have something like

Code: 
watch -n 10 "kill -USR1 <pid of dd process>"

going so that you can monitor its progress. This sends the USR1 signal which dd is programmed to pick up and thus prompted dump its statistics to console.
-n is how often to refresh. Feel free to try '1'.

ddrescue is tailored for reading whatever it can from a damaged drive. Might want to check it out.

BTW do consider the possibility that it's a completely different cause. A computer starting properly shouldn't take 2-3 tries. It might as well be a RAM thing.
 
Last edited:
The Startup Recovery 3 times was Windows trying to repair the failed cloning. The original drive booted when I put it back in the laptop. I was not around when dd failed, so I did not get the information. Right now, the original drive is back in the laptop with the hard drive branded Acronis True Image installed. The new drive was placed in the enclosure, and Acronis run to clone the original drive. I will have to swap the drives when I get back in that area.
 
Here is the error information I saved from the old drive:

Code: 
smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [i686-w64-mingw32-win7(64)-sp1] (sf-5.43-1)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, [url]http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net[/url]

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Hitachi Travelstar 5K500.B
Device Model:     Hitachi HTS545050B9A300
Serial Number:    091210PB4400Q7JVR35A
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 597e853a0
Firmware Version: PB4OC60F
User Capacity:    500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 6
Local Time is:    Sat Dec 12 10:45:03 2015 EST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00)	Offline data collection activity
					was never started.
					Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)	The previous self-test routine completed
					without error or no self-test has ever 
					been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection: 		(  645) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: 			 (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
					Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
					Suspend Offline collection upon new
					command.
					Offline surface scan supported.
					Self-test supported.
					No Conveyance Self-test supported.
					Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)	Saves SMART data before entering
					power-saving mode.
					Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)	Error logging supported.
					General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time: 	 (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 ( 158) minutes.
SCT capabilities: 	       (0x003d)	SCT Status supported.
					SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
					SCT Feature Control supported.
					SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000b   087   087   062    Pre-fail  Always       -       1048650
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   205   205   033    Pre-fail  Always       -       2
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   092   092   000    Old_age   Always       -       14140
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   096   096   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   088   088   000    Old_age   Always       -       5434
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       3999
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       45
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   084   084   000    Old_age   Always       -       161905
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   166   166   000    Old_age   Always       -       33 (Min/Max 14/55)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       609
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       13
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
223 Load_Retry_Count        0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 11 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
	CR = Command Register [HEX]
	FR = Features Register [HEX]
	SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
	SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
	CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
	CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
	DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
	DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
	ER = Error register [HEX]
	ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 11 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5396 hours (224 days + 20 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 b0 28 ef 83 ef  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0f83ef28 = 260304680

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  42 00 00 d8 ee 83 e0 00      10:09:17.200  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 d8 ed 83 e0 00      10:09:14.900  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 40 98 ed 83 e0 00      10:09:14.100  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 98 ec 83 e0 00      10:09:12.800  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 98 eb 83 e0 00      10:09:11.700  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT

Error 10 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5395 hours (224 days + 19 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 0a ce a1 56 ef  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0f56a1ce = 257335758

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  42 00 00 d8 a0 56 e0 00      09:37:21.000  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 d8 9f 56 e0 00      09:37:19.900  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 d8 9e 56 e0 00      09:37:19.100  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 d8 9d 56 e0 00      09:37:18.700  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 d8 9c 56 e0 00      09:37:18.400  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT

Error 9 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5395 hours (224 days + 19 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 37 21 7a 3c ef  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0f3c7a21 = 255621665

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  42 00 80 d8 79 3c e0 00      09:23:51.700  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 80 58 79 3c e0 00      09:23:51.600  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 40 58 84 3c e0 00      09:23:51.500  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 83 3c e0 00      09:23:50.800  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 82 3c e0 00      09:23:50.600  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT

Error 8 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5395 hours (224 days + 19 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 37 21 7a 3c ef  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0f3c7a21 = 255621665

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  42 00 00 58 79 3c e0 00      09:23:39.900  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 78 3c e0 00      09:23:39.600  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 77 3c e0 00      09:23:39.300  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 76 3c e0 00      09:23:38.800  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 75 3c e0 00      09:23:37.300  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT

Error 7 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5395 hours (224 days + 19 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 95 c3 ec 3b ef  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0f3becc3 = 255585475

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  42 00 00 58 ec 3b e0 00      09:20:30.100  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 eb 3b e0 00      09:20:29.000  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 ea 3b e0 00      09:20:28.400  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 e9 3b e0 00      09:20:27.700  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT
  42 00 00 58 e8 3b e0 00      09:20:27.100  READ VERIFY SECTOR(S) EXT

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5186         -
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5174         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
 
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