My Windows 7 is reporting that one of my disk drives is developing a fault.
How do I find out which drive is causing the problem ?
How do I find out which drive is causing the problem ?
Try running,
CHKDSK
In the task bar type the above and run as administrator.
Other info..
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee872425.aspx
To get a run command:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/enable-run-command-on-windows-vista-start-menu/
In the command box type chkdsk /f C: or whatever drive you want to check.
Regards
M. Gregg
CHKDSK
In the task bar type the above and run as administrator.
Other info..
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee872425.aspx
To get a run command:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/enable-run-command-on-windows-vista-start-menu/
In the command box type chkdsk /f C: or whatever drive you want to check.
Regards
M. Gregg
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If you do indeed have more than one drive.. Google search windlg (WD HHD test Windows) and test the second non boot drive. If it passes the short and long tests.. It's the boot disk.
Or seagate seatools, it can be a windows app or a bootupable cd.
Run a long generic test on each hdd
It's what we use at work, works with most brands of hdd's.
Run a long generic test on each hdd
It's what we use at work, works with most brands of hdd's.
You can look in the Event Viewer. The disk fault will indicate which disk it is. Disk 0 is the boot disk. Disk 1 is the first "other"disk, etc.
Looking at the disk drives under Windows there is nothing wrong. If I try to run CHKDSK it tells me that I need to be in elevated mode ???
You can let Windows handle most of chkdsk.
Go into Windows explorer. Select a drive, right click, and select "properties".
in the new window, select "tools"
in that, select "Check now". It may start checking immediately, but if there are any files open, it'll give you an option to do the scan on next reboot.
Do this for all your drives.
Reboot....
Go into Windows explorer. Select a drive, right click, and select "properties".
in the new window, select "tools"
in that, select "Check now". It may start checking immediately, but if there are any files open, it'll give you an option to do the scan on next reboot.
Do this for all your drives.
Reboot....
The fault is probably being reported by the HDD's built in S.M.A.R.T reporting mechanism. Its possible Win 7 has built in utilities to report the current smart status , I'm not sure on that though.
Here is one option SpeedFan this can show the current SMART status of all disks. There are many other similar utilities out there I just happen to use this one.
If the disk is breaking down then this will show it, provided the problem is in the SMART remit.
Alan
Here is one option SpeedFan this can show the current SMART status of all disks. There are many other similar utilities out there I just happen to use this one.
If the disk is breaking down then this will show it, provided the problem is in the SMART remit.
Alan
It could be simply a high volume of CRC error checks which is telling Windows to freak out. Which to me indicate a faulty SATA cable. SATA cables are notoriously unreliable, far more unreliable than the PATA cables that they replaced.
If symptoms persist after replacing the affected SATA cable then it could be a faulty hard drive controller card (you would then need to replace the entire hdd after backing up its contents.
Aside from a fatal failure like a click of death I've never had any issues with other hard drives in the past that I couldn't fix by replacing a SATA/PATA cable. Even just unplugging the cable and plugging it back in can sometimes fix the issue permanently.
Its either that or your ATX power supply which may/could have cheap chinese capacitors which leak inside of it. Usually if the power supply is 12 months old or more that is when cheaply and badly made power supplies start to act up and the first symptom is hard drives failing to spin-up during POST. If none of the hard drives fail to spin-up during POST (Power-On Self-Test) time then I would bet my money on the SATA/PATA cable.
You can get high quality power supplies nowdays fairly easily but it wasn't always the case, as a result of this I've set a rule to only recommend Seasonic PSU's, and I use nothing but throughout every system that I own. Except for Delta which is also a good manufacturer.
Good luck!
If symptoms persist after replacing the affected SATA cable then it could be a faulty hard drive controller card (you would then need to replace the entire hdd after backing up its contents.
Aside from a fatal failure like a click of death I've never had any issues with other hard drives in the past that I couldn't fix by replacing a SATA/PATA cable. Even just unplugging the cable and plugging it back in can sometimes fix the issue permanently.
Its either that or your ATX power supply which may/could have cheap chinese capacitors which leak inside of it. Usually if the power supply is 12 months old or more that is when cheaply and badly made power supplies start to act up and the first symptom is hard drives failing to spin-up during POST. If none of the hard drives fail to spin-up during POST (Power-On Self-Test) time then I would bet my money on the SATA/PATA cable.
You can get high quality power supplies nowdays fairly easily but it wasn't always the case, as a result of this I've set a rule to only recommend Seasonic PSU's, and I use nothing but throughout every system that I own. Except for Delta which is also a good manufacturer.
Good luck!
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