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Hard Disk Problem and SMART Value Questions

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by keven_alberto_yoesup

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I've seen a thread:
https://www.techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=101&threadID=265144&messageID=2512253

My friend also has similar problem as her (Melina). So I want to help him by asking in this site.

It is easy to said that he just have to replace his HD. But I want to ask some question first to make him feel safe. Now he's paranoid because this was the First Bad Blocks problem that he has and my other friends seems also never has Bad Blocks problem on their HD. I'm also worried if this could suddenly happened to me.

1.Some questions about SMART Value:

a.Some people said that if Bad Blocks remapped then RAW Value of Reallocated Sector Count increased (not 0 anymore).

However, in my friend HD the Bad Blocks not remapped but stays as "Current Pending Sector" and "Offline Uncorrectable" because both of them has same RAW Value (186) so I think the Bad Blocks not remapped/or cannot be remapped.

Could someone tell me why the Bad Blocks doesn't automatically remapped by the HD or the OS?

b.What is the meaning of Attribute 187 (Reported Uncorrectable Error) and Attribute 189 (High Fly Writes)? Sometimes they list as Unknown attribute 187 and 189.

My friends HD RAW Value of 187 is 1443 (Reported Uncorrectable Error) and RAW Value of 189 is 2(High Fly Writes).

What is the cause of them?

c.Before he know his HD has Bad Blocks -> The HD which has Bad Blocks is not where Windows installed, Windows always has slow startup and Windows always do CHKDSK at startup. Is this normal? However, the progress of CHKDSK is really slow, he said he estimate it could take about 14 hours to finish the CHKDSK so he always skip it. Is this normal too? His HD is about 160GB Seagate.

d.Then he used CHKDSK /r in his HD (it also took about 14 hours like the CHKDSK at startup), it removes the annoying CHKDSK at startup, but Windows still has slow startup.
What caused this?

e.He assume that the Bad Blocks mostly in Free Space of his HD, because when he add files to it, it worked fine but when he try to move the same file to another HD it gave him CRC Error meaning the file was placed in the Bad Blocks.

What caused the Bad Blocks appear in the Free Space of HD and why did Windows still placed the file in the Bad Blocks even though my friends already used CHKDSK /r?

2.About the Hard Disk problem, in question number 1 I write that my Friends HD has a Bad Blocks.

a.How could I know a HD is failing or not other than Event Viewer (Showing Paging Error or HD has Bad Blocks),SMART Test, or I heard Clicking sounds?

SMART Test sometimes doesn't help like in my Friend case and I don't want to check Event Viewer and doing SMART Test and HD Test everyday.

b.My friends has made a backup to an External HD, but he still worried about it because some people said that after some use the External HD doesn't get detected by the OS(Windows).

What caused it? And Why sometimes people said Their External HD get Bad Blocks after it hasn't been used for a while (months/years) even though it was placed in Cool place (not Overheat), rarely moved(doesn't had any vibration), and in a clean place. What caused the Bad Blocks in the External HD that sometimes appeared even though it is not been used for some time?

c.My other friend also has another problem after he add a new Seagate SATA HD to his PC, this is the first SATA HD that he has. The SATA HD shows as SCSI HD in Device Manager and SeaTools (so he couldn't test the HD using SeaTools). He also has slower Windows startups after the new HD installed. He used Windows XP SP2.
What caused it and what should he do?

d.Why sometimes people saying they had Bad Blocks in their CD/DVD? What caused it?

e.Does a sudden power outage harm a HD? What should I do if it happened?

Edit: I also have same problem as question 2c, but I wonder this is related about my other problem, deleting folder when I seeing folders in Zip Files using Right Click->Compressed (Zipped) Folders is really slow. My File System is NTFS, I'm also using Window XP SP2.

Sorry if someone think most of these questions have been answered in thread started by Melina.

Thanks for reading and answering.

24 replies

by older mycroft

It does seem exceptionally odd that a second post appears 8 days after the first, from a different first-time poster, with a specific interest in RAW Read specs and Fly Write specs, also being fixated with the chances that disaster will befall them, formatting a single post with many multiples of specific technically-detailed questions, written in a similar 'hand-writing', both Students and both from Indonesia.

If you have read the previous post FULLY you will find that most of your points have already been addressed and answered.

Either these two posts come from two individuals who are abnormally interested in the complexities of an identical hard drive state, or this is an advanced STUDY question, like [u][b]HOMEWORK![/u][/b]

Something just doesn't seem right here although I have become rather suspicious in my [i]older[/i] age.

I was taken with your line of "[i]Maybe I will write some more questions later, but I'm going to stop for now because I have a headache and still has to do my [u]assignment.[/u][/i]"

Perhaps you could edit your post to the parts that have not been previously addressed because it is not just you that is getting a headache trying to keep up.

by keven_alberto_yoesup

I will try editing my first post so it only lists the questions that I'm still don't understand and/or hasn't been answered yet.

By the way, I'm getting a headache because I have short semester and not getting enough sleep, my assignment/Homework is not about Hard Drive, it is about SQL and Oracle.

Well, I found thread that started by Melina when I was searching in Google so I though I could post my questions here too.

by older mycroft

So rather than using Melina's appearance in Google as a jumping off point to dive straight in and post on TR with the identical questions, it would have been a better idea to READ the entire post that initially brought you here from Google.

That is the whole point of the exercise.

Not so that we can spend another 6 days answering the same questions all over again. ;)

by the master2

Enable SMART in BIOS and when you see a Warning about [b]Imminent Drive Failure[/b] when you start the Computer replace the failing HDD.

If you want to know the design details of a HDD I suggest that you ask the maker of this Drive for a full explanation of how their products are made and how they work or learn what makes a HDD a HDD.

If you think you have a headache now just think what the people who where trying to your friend Melina have.

People can only say the same thing so many ways before they loose interest and as they are doing this on a volunteer basis here they have no incentive to continue as it's time consuming for no result for anyone.

If you even read some of the thread that you have referred to you will see that everything is dependent on the software used to test the thing and as this has not been mentioned your entire series of questions are unanswerable in any meaningful manner.

by keven_alberto_yoesup

In first post, I said that SMART aren't really helping in my Friend case.

SMART Value using many different diagnostic tools only shows "Current Pending Sector" and "Offline Uncorrectable" as Warning so my friend HD still Passed SMART Test even though it has many Bad Blocks in it.

I've search Google the causes of Bad Blocks and Hard Drive Failure,but I also want to know opinions and suggestions from people themselves and sometimes I couldn't find good answer in Google.

Like what causes "Raw Read Error Rate" attribute on SMART go down on startup or accessing that HD ,why the Bad Blocks in my friend HD doesn't remapped automatically, or why sometimes External Hard Drive not detected or even getting Bad Blocks even though it hasn't been used for some time and was place in Cool,Not Vibrating and Clean place.

By the way, Melina is not my friend, I've only found her thread in this website when searching in Google.

by the master2

There is a Old Saying [b]Sh1t Happens[/b] accept it and get on with your life.

Any mechanical device will fail saying that it's working OK is like saying My girlfriend is only a little bit pregnant she either is or she isn't pregnant there are no areas of In Between there. The same with a Failing HDD it is in the failing condition and is failing. Saying that it's working properly when it is failing is just plain stupid but this person can not comprehend that and this is where the problems arise.

Do you know till that person posted the What Causes Raw Read Errors I had never heard anyone ask such an obvious question and I never paid any attention to tests like that. You do not need to test a HDD every 2 seconds and constantly doing so is more likely to cause problems that just using the thing as you need it.

As for this it is a JOKE! [i]or why sometimes External Hard Drive not detected or even getting Bad Blocks even though it hasn't been used for some time and was place in Cool,Not Vibrating and Clean place.[/i]

[b]Sh1t Happens[/b]

The HDD doesn't need to be in a cool place and it was failing before it was stopped but they never knew it was happening so who cares? The main things that causes failures to occur with modern HDD's is that they are allowed to get too Hot while working which causes damage to happen to either the Platter or the Electronics that drive the HDD so they degrade or it get some form of Vibration. A modern HDD stopped with the heads parked can suffer a 30 G load and not suffer any Damage to the Platter or Heads but if it gets a small amount of vibration while running damage can occur and I have yet to see a place that a HDD is mounted that doesn't suffer from some vibration but your friend insists that the drive in question is Cool doesn't have any vibration at all and is failing. Well get over it [b]Sh1t Happens[/b] there is nothing you can do to prevent it from happening you just need to accept that it happens and if you are only using a small number of drives as the comparison base anything that does happen is going to represent a high % of the drives that you have so the results are skewed drastically.

SMART Doesn't have anything at all to do with Mapping the Surface of the Platter it only monitors the Physical Parameters of the HDD and it reports any imminent failures you don't need to mess with it at all it is a [b]Set & Forget Thing[/b] nothing more nothing less.

Every test that you can throw at a HDD is only a test it is not the Definitive answer to Life The Universe and Everything it is just a Test that will tell you if there are problems you do not need to diagnose every result to the Atomic Level trying to understand why [b]Sh1t Happens[/b]

I want to know why my car stopped and needed to be repaired and what do I have to do to stop this happening again. I know have it serviced. But expecting it to happen just because a Radiator Hose has failed. So if I constantly pull off the 1 radiator hose that blew and check it every 3 minutes I will know that it will never give me any problems again. So as that was the one problem that I had previously it must mean it is the only problem that I could possibly have. That reasoning is ridiculous and you are unable to help anyone who thinks like that.

With a HDD it is a set and forget till it gives problems and then pull out throw away and replace when it does. Nothing more is required Plain & Simple.

Set the BIOS to enable the SMART and when you see a Message warning you of Imminent Drive Failure you replace the HDD immediately. Nothing more is required. What is so hard to understand about that?

by keven_alberto_yoesup

I think some of the question is almost the same as Melina asked,but I try to just asked some new questions or questions that in Melina thread that only get short answer/not yet answered.

I think the new questions is:
1a,1b,1c,2a,2b,2d,2e.

Maybe 1d and 1e is answered in Melina thread but I'm still wondering it is normal or not having CHKDSK /r for about 14 hours in 160GB HD and why Windows still has slow startup after running CHKDSK /r -> Maybe because The HD that was used CHKDSK /r still has some Bad Blocks but shouldn't CHKDSK /r remapped the Bad Blocks to Spare Sectors or not using the Bad Blocks anymore? I also though doesn't the HD should internally remapping Bad Blocks by itself using Spare Sectors, in my friend case it doesn't.

About 2d,it was posted in Melina thread but not getting any answer even though my other friend also has same problem, so I think I'm going to posted it here too.

Sorry about this.

by older mycroft

I doubt if you would be asking these questions.

Apart from being a repository for files (a place to keep them until you need them), the hard drive is also used constantly while the computer is running.

Computers run at speeds that can be termed in MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second). As and when the CPU is in possession of data that it does not need immediately, but that it might need very soon, it has to do TWO things

#1 It has to make space for the data that it need right away
#2 It must get rid of what it is holding but keep it somewhere that can be retrieved quickly.

To achieve both these things it saves the data to the hard drive and then repeats the operation again in a microsecond when it does the whole operation again. So, if you accept that the computer is doing this all the time you get to understand just HOW MUCH the hard drive is used. Some of the data is placed in the Pagefile, some is put in Temporary folders that are specific to individual programs.

Now: CHKDSK is a utility that scans the hard drive when the computer has had difficulty in retrieving data from it. Chkdsk examines the entire disk to find out what is Readable, Retrievable, and Unreadable/Unretrievable.

If the hard disk has only a small amount of errors then the CHKDSK scan will proceed quite quickly because each bit of data is easily read by the program except the ones that are difficult. However, if the hard drive has lots and lots and lots of BAD BLOCKS - each time the program encounters a BAD read, it repeats the process (trying to read the bad area again) and will repeat until it decides the block is unreadable.

Sometimes most of the bad area is readable, so CHKDSK spends time on the remaining bits of that area until hopefully it can find all the data, then it moves all that data to a good area of the hard drive.

[u]PLEASE NOTE:[/u]

CHKDSK does not FIX the bad blocks - it only attempts to save the data that is on the bad blocks, and move it somewhere else. It's main function is to save your data so that you can transfer it to another storage medium (hard drive, optical drive, thumb drive).

In the old days, when hard drives were a lot smaller than they are today, the utility programs would mark the bad block as 'Out Of Bounds' and the hard drive would not use them anymore. That doesn't happen anymore - CHKDSK is only for retrieval NOT FOR HARD DRIVE REPAIR.
------------------------

I am still trying to figure out how TWO students from The Philippines seem to be so fixated with the internal intricacies of a hard drive. Most users would just be grateful to get their data safely transferred to another hard drive.

Can you perhaps answer that for me? ;)

by thumbsup2

If the "friend" has been canceling CHKDSK because it was estimated to take 14 hours, it has never been allowed to complete and will continue to ask every time the computer is turned on.

Since 14 hours is not unreasonable for checking a 160GB hard drive, I would suggest you tell the "friend" to allow the danged thing to complete. Even if it takes 36 hours, let it run.

by keven_alberto_yoesup

I was never paid any attention to any test like SMART too before my friend has Bad Blocks in his HD.

I don't test it every seconds ,but I wonder the "Raw Read Error Rate" on my HD is still 62 before last shut down few hours ago,now it dropped into 60. If this continues then it will be more near into Threshold value.

So I would like to know, what should I do and what could caused this?

by Former member

I generally do not have luck with Spinrite, but it can save an HD. I find it less time intensive to replace the failing drive.

by keven_alberto_yoesup

Thanks for the link. It was also posted in Melina thread, but I still has some question unanswered.

1.Some people said that faulty cable/Motherboard could cause damage to the HD. How this is possible?

Maybe that is the cause that my other HD that was previously fine now get lower "Raw Read Error Rate" on SMART Value every time I shut down or restarted my PC. I just change my other HD that previously also has Bad Blocks two days ago with a new HD. Both of them (the one which has Bad Blocks and my other HD that now has lower SMART Value)was used same IDE Cable. So I'm thinking the cable is faulty even though maybe the HD itself is failing.

But,I don't want to hear people say like "You've got a fever so you must have got a influenza".What I mean is don't just said "the HD now failing because it SMART Values strangely lowered so replace it now". I think a doctor make diagnostics first before telling what is the sickness people has.

2.Why after my Friend installed new SATA Drive, he always got slower startup on Windows? His other HDs is IDE HD/ATA ->This his first SATA HD. This question still remain unanswered.

3.The SATA HD doesn't appear as Master and Slave on both Primary and Secondary. Is this normal?

4a.Why some people said that their External HD gets Bad Blocks after not used for some time? I understand if it already has Bad Blocks in the last usage, but they said the Bad Blocks appear out of nowhere.Don't answer this question with answer like "They unlucky","Something unexpected happened sometimes". Everything that happened in this world always had a cause so I want to know what could caused it.
b.What caused Bad Blocks in CD/DVD?
These two still remained unanswered.

Sorry if my post offends people here.
By the way, thanks for reading my questions and answering them even it not the answers that I really want.

by thumbsup2

I'll answer your questions, to the best of my ability, one at a time below (in bold).

[i]1.Some people said that faulty cable/Motherboard could cause damage to the HD. How this is possible?[/i] [b]Electricity spikes[/b]

[i]Maybe that is the cause that my other HD that was previously fine now get lower "Raw Read Error Rate" on SMART Value every time I shut down or restarted my PC. I just change my other HD that previously also has Bad Blocks two days ago with a new HD. Both of them (the one which has Bad Blocks and my other HD that now has lower SMART Value)was used same IDE Cable. So I'm thinking the cable is faulty even though maybe the HD itself is failing.[/i] [b]Perhaps the controler on the motherboard is defective due to POWER SPIKES[/b]

[i]But,I don't want to hear people say like "You've got a fever so you must have got a influenza".What I mean is don't just said "the HD now failing because it SMART Values strangely lowered so replace it now". I think a doctor make diagnostics first before telling what is the sickness people has. [/i] [b]And, your point is? We've diagnosed the problem and told you the disease that it has is terminal. But, you don't want to hear that, do you?[/b]

[i]2.Why after my Friend installed new SATA Drive, he always got slower startup on Windows? His other HDs is IDE HD/ATA ->This his first SATA HD. This question still remain unanswered.[/i] [b]Not enough power to run the SATA drive[/b]

[i]3.The SATA HD doesn't appear as Master and Slave on both Primary and Secondary. Is this normal?[/i] [b]Yes, SATA drives are not configured primary/slave. They are numbered.[/b]

[i]4a.Why some people said that their External HD gets Bad Blocks after not used for some time? I understand if it already has Bad Blocks in the last usage, but they said the Bad Blocks appear out of nowhere.Don't answer this question with answer like "They unlucky","Something unexpected happened sometimes". Everything that happened in this world always had a cause so I want to know what could caused it.
b.What caused Bad Blocks in CD/DVD?
These two still remained unanswered.[/i] [b]Power spikes. All it takes is one spike or fall while it is spinning to damage the drive. Also, static in your body while you're handling the drive, before it has been installed back into the computer, can damage it.[/b]

[i]Sorry if my post offends people here.
By the way, thanks for reading my questions and answering them even it not the answers that I really want. [/i] [b]Your posts don't offend us. We're just getting tired of trying to give you a FULL COLLEGE DEGREE PROGRAM ON ELECTRONICS through this forum. What you're asking us to do is not possible. If you want to know more about how electronics work, get yourself enrolled in a degree program. AND, by the way, your last statement says it all. You don't [u]want to hear[/u] what it is we have to tell you.[/b]

by keven_alberto_yoesup

My friend has finish the CHKDSK, but his computer has still slow startup. He found that the Bad Blocks still remain and CHKDSK doesn't even mark these sectors as bad because when he add files into it, the files was placed in the Bad Blocks -> It gave him CRC Errors when trying to move/copy the files to another HD.

by older mycroft

I've already told you. CHKDSK only retrieves data, it DOES NOT FIX the Bad Blocks.

The next time you boot the system, the computer is just as likely to write data to the Bad Blocks again.

The warnings given by SMART are not to be taken lightly - SMART only appears when your hard drive is approaching imminent death. The more time you or your "friend" spend examining what SMART is saying the closer the drive is to death, and the more likely you both are to losing your data completely.

There is no FIX for a dying drive, other than replacement as soon as possible.

by keven_alberto_yoesup

Sorry if you think I don't understand.

My Friends SMART Value still Passed even though in reality he has Bad Blocks in his HD.

So he didn't know it for some time, he only know there is two SMART Value attributes that shows as Warning which is "Current Pending Sector" and "Offline Uncorrectable". But he doesn't really understand why it still only warning, he think the SMART Test on his HD should be failed because he has Bad Blocks in his HD. It also appears the Bad Blocks in his HD doesn't remapped with Spare Sectors like most people said, instead it seems the Bad Blocks became "Current Pending Sectors" and "Offline Uncorrectable".

So I'm wondering are there any other way to know there is Bad Blocks on HD beside SMART and Event Viewer? Or any other way to detect the HD is failing or not? Even though, sometimes a HD could failed without warning.

by older mycroft

[i]My Friends SMART Value still Passed even though in reality he has Bad Blocks in his HD.[/i]

The hard drive has PASSED because the drive can still be read from. The warning is that there is no longer 100% readability.

[i]So he didn't know it for some time, he only know there is two SMART Value attributes that shows as Warning which is "Current Pending Sector" and "Offline Uncorrectable". But he doesn't really understand why it still only warning, he think the SMART Test on his HD should be failed because he has Bad Blocks in his HD. It also appears the Bad Blocks in his HD doesn't remapped with Spare Sectors like most people said, instead it seems the Bad Blocks became "Current Pending Sectors" and "Offline Uncorrectable".[/i]

How can I get this across to you so that you will understand??

[b]A warning is just that - a WARNING! When you don't get a warning it's because the hard drive is dead! Because the warning has already appeared, at some point in the near future the drive will stop working altogether - end of life - finished - NO WARNING - NOT PASSED - FAILED.[/b]

Do you understand? You can't FAIL the SMART test. When a hard drive fails the SMART test it is already DEAD.

The SMART exists to warn you that failure is about to happen.

[i]So I'm wondering are there any other way to know there is Bad Blocks on HD beside SMART and Event Viewer? Or any other way to detect the HD is failing or not? Even though, sometimes a HD could failed without warning.[/i]

How many ways do you have to know that the hard drive is failing before you know that it is failing?

by melina_soemanto_putri

[i]How many ways do you have to know that the hard drive is failing before you know that it is failing?,.[/i]

I'm also want to know other way to detect a failing Hard Drive other than from SMART Test and Event Viewer because most people I know and my friends never do SMART Test to their HD including Enabling SMART at Startup and seeing Event Viewer. Almost all of them don't even know what SMART Test is and what is Event Viewer.

I'm also wondering about this too:

[i]I've already told you. CHKDSK only retrieves data, it DOES NOT FIX the Bad Blocks.

The next time you boot the system, the computer is just as likely to write data to the Bad Blocks again.[/i]

Some people said that CHKDSK mark the Bad Blocks as Bad so the Bad Blocks won't be used again. So they are wrong about this?

By the way, does a faulty cable which is being connected to a Hard Drive can damage that Hard Drive?

Sorry if I post this in other member thread.

by older mycroft

[i]I'm also want to know other way to detect a failing Hard Drive other than from SMART Test and Event Viewer because most people I know and my friends never do SMART Test to their HD including Enabling SMART at Startup and seeing Event Viewer. Almost all of them don't even know what SMART Test is and what is Event Viewer.[/i]

As far as I am aware, SMART is the ONLY hard drive health check that runs by default inside any Microsoft environment. The capability for SMART to work is either built-in to the drive or it's not (some drives don't support SMART).

Using another hard drive testing utility won't make any difference - you might end up with different results, but it won't make the drive any healthier. If you want to kid yourself, go ahead and use another testing program but the drive will still die sometime soon.

As to the people that are telling you that CHKDSK marks the Bad Blocks so they won't be used again - THEY ARE WRONG!!

Many years ago, when hard drives were small and expensive, there were 2 HDD programs CHKDSK and SCANDSK: SCANDSK would mark the Bad Blocks as out of bounds and the hard drive avoided using them from then on. However, Microsoft abandoned the use of SCANDSK, leaving only CHKDSK available for file retrieval.

THIS happened because drives became much BIGGER and also became much CHEAPER.

You can now buy TWO 500GB hard drives for the price I once paid for an 800 MEGABYTE hard drive. The Western World now exists in a 'throw-away' consumer state - if it breaks down, throw it away and buy a new one.

If in The Philippines you still tend to fix things when they stop working, I have some bad new for you: you CANNOT FIX a dying hard drive - it just isn't possible, and as I've already told you - if you continue to check and double-check and re-check a failing hard drive it will DIE and you'll be left with nothing.

If you then insist on retrieving the data it will cost you many thousands of Dollars to send the drive to a Data Recovery Company - to do what you could have done yourself if you weren't so fixated to find a way to stop it dying.

This is my last word on the subject! ;)

by keven_alberto_yoesup

Thanks for your answer about this... I'm really sorry if you feel like that you are lecturing me about electronics.

[i]1.Some people said that faulty cable/Motherboard could cause damage to the HD. How this is possible? [b]Electricity spikes[/b]

Maybe that is the cause that my other HD that was previously fine now get lower "Raw Read Error Rate" on SMART Value every time I shut down or restarted my PC. I just change my other HD that previously also has Bad Blocks two days ago with a new HD. Both of them (the one which has Bad Blocks and my other HD that now has lower SMART Value)was used same IDE Cable. So I'm thinking the cable is faulty even though maybe the HD itself is failing. [b]Perhaps the controler on the motherboard is defective due to POWER SPIKES.[/b][/i]

You may be right about this, but I used a stabilizer to power up my PC and this problem suddenly happened after I installed a new SATA HD two days ago. And the weird thing the change in SMART Value happen after startup, maybe the new SATA HD stressing my other HD on Startup. Some more info in number 2.

[i]2.Why after my Friend installed new SATA Drive, he always got slower startup on Windows? His other HDs is IDE HD/ATA ->This his first SATA HD. This question still remain unanswered. [b]Not enough power to run the SATA drive[/b][/i]

He just change his power supply and I'm also getting this problem too -> Slow Windows Startup.Both he and me used SCSI/RAID Controller and VIA SATA RAID Controller.
Someone also said it was driver issues. Is this true?

Once again, I'm really sorry about this. This happened when I and my friend have had so much assignments (about Database and Information System, [b]not about Hardware[/b]) in my College now.

by keven_alberto_yoesup

Thanks for clearing this... but I still needs some things to be cleared.

[i]As far as I am aware, SMART is the ONLY hard drive health check that runs by default inside any Microsoft environment. The capability for SMART to work is either built-in to the drive or it's not (some drives don't support SMART).

Using another hard drive testing utility won't make any difference - you might end up with different results, but it won't make the drive any healthier. If you want to kid yourself, go ahead and use another testing program but the drive will still die sometime soon.
[/i]

Could another Hardware affects another Hardware like a HD affect another HD (and affecting its SMART Values)?

In my case, one of my HD which Windows was installed experiences lower "Raw Read Error Rate" Current Value after startup (this afternoon) than before last shutdown (this morning)(before:62 after:60). This happened after I installed new SATA HD in my PC. I'm also always get slower Windows startup after the new SATA HD installed two days ago.

Maybe the new HD stressing my other HD on startup and affects(decreases) the other HD SMART Values in startup. Does this is true or could another Hardware cause this?

[i]You can now buy TWO 500GB hard drives for the price I once paid for an 800 MEGABYTE hard drive. The Western World now exists in a 'throw-away' consumer state - if it breaks down, throw it away and buy a new one.[/i]

Well, in my country a new HD is still considered expensive, so I'm trying to avoid changing my HD if possible.

Because I think there is still possibilities that the faulty wasn't the HD.
Example:Now I change my HD to a new HD because the one is failing,after few days the new HD seems failing too. In this case I think there is at least 2 possibilites:
1.The new HD is faulty.
2.Another Hardware caused my HD failing (this new one and the old one)->If you answer true in my first question about another Hardware could affect a HD in SMART Status and other things in that HD.

[i]
If in The Philippines you still tend to fix things when they stop working, I have some bad new for you: you CANNOT FIX a dying hard drive - it just isn't possible, and as I've already told you - if you continue to check and double-check and re-check a failing hard drive it will DIE and you'll be left with nothing.[/i]

I'm not trying to fix a dying HD,but first I'm trying to find cause of it first ASAP. Maybe another Hardware could caused it (does this true?) so what I need to is just changing that Hardware (that could be cheaper that the HD) to prevent the HD dying even further,not changing the HD itself.

[i]If you then insist on retrieving the data it will cost you many thousands of Dollars to send the drive to a Data Recovery Company - to do what you could have done yourself if you weren't so fixated to find a way to stop it dying.[/i]

At least in my country, I think there is almost none Data Recovery Company.So I'm making a backup but I'm always thinking what if the Backup media fails too.

Maybe I'm too paranoid about this, sorry about this because this is my first HD problem after using Computer about 4-5years.

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