Is my hard drive done for?

[DND]

So hey guys iv'e been experiencing massive stuttering in games even with a clean install of windows and i experience sudden freezes on my pc and i think i have found the reason. I downloaded HD sentinel to check my storage drives health and iv'e found out that my hard disk health is very low so just wanna ask is my hard drive really done for? Is there no other ways to save my hard drive? 

[-rascal-]

3 minutes ago, DND said:

So hey guys iv'e been experiencing massive stuttering in games even with a clean install of windows and i experience sudden freezes on my pc and i think i have found the reason. I downloaded HD sentinel to check my storage drives health and iv'e found out that my hard disk health is very low so just wanna ask is my hard drive really done for? Is there no other ways to save my hard drive? 

 

Not much you can do to save a HDD if it is showing signs of failing / bad sectors.

I would not use the PC / HDD much until you can get a replacement HDD.

 

At 5% health, I don't know if it will survive a full data mirror / back-up / copy -- hard to say.

[DND]

Just now, -rascal- said:

 

Not much you can do to save a HDD if it is showing signs of failing / bad sectors.

I would not use the PC / HDD much until you can get a replacement HDD.

 

At 5% health, I don't know if it will survive a full data mirror / back-up / copy -- hard to say.

I see, I think Iv'e solved the stuttering on one of my games by moving it to my SSD to see if the stuttering was gone and so far so good. I don't that much important files other than my games are on this hd.

[MrChemistryCow9]

6 minutes ago, DND said:

I see, I think Iv'e solved the stuttering on one of my games by moving it to my SSD to see if the stuttering was gone and so far so good. I don't that much important files other than my games are on this hd.

Alot of games have saved content that are created when you play the game. Check a "saved" folder for anything you might want or google it. I know with ARK: Survival Evolved the whole map is a save thing and it can take hours to refill it in.

[Pickles von Brine]

Yeah drive is in really rough shape. I would try to copy off data you need/want. Use something like Unstoppable Copier by Roadkil. It works really good. Point source then destination and go. If it hits a bad sector it just skips and gives you a log afterward. 

 

Only go after the most important data. If you have games but they can be reinstalled ignore them and only go after the save files. 

 

Same for important documents and stuff like that. Go after what is important then replace the disk. You could also attempt a clone of the drive but only AFTER you have grabbed the most important data to you. 

 

Keep in mind that even after a clone you could have damaged files, system may not boot right etc if it is a boot drive. 

 

Edit:

 

I really should expand on why the drive cannot be saved:

 

 

When a hard drive experiences a bad sector that is an area of the platter that is no longer readable. This can be caused by many things but for whatever reason that area is no longer holding a charge. In regards to the weak sectors these are areas that hold one but have a substantially less of a charge than the surrounding sectors. They will still hold onto data but only just barely. The drive during a reallocation event will attempt to read the data from the weak sectors, put those offline then remap the data to a stock of set-aside sectors given at factory. 

 

Unless you have the ability to force the drive to take those bad sectors and update its G-List (list of bad sectors from factory that are ignored. All drives have them due to platters not being perfect to begin with) there is no way to save the drive. Even if you could I would NEVER trust that drive for anything. This is why I don't buy refurbished drives from Seagate, WD, or any other manufacturer. 

 

Your best bet is to try to get the data off the failing drive you need and replace it. If you have to reinstall the OS it is what it is. Same for downloading any games. 

 

@DND Hope this clears things up. 

 

[DND]

On 10/8/2018 at 10:05 AM, Lord Xeb said:

Yeah drive is in really rough shape. I would try to copy off data you need/want. Use something like Unstoppable Copier by Roadkil. It works really good. Point source then destination and go. If it hits a bad sector it just skips and gives you a log afterward. 

 

Only go after the most important data. If you have games but they can be reinstalled ignore them and only go after the save files. 

 

Same for important documents and stuff like that. Go after what is important then replace the disk. You could also attempt a clone of the drive but only AFTER you have grabbed the most important data to you. 

 

Keep in mind that even after a clone you could have damaged files, system may not boot right etc if it is a boot drive. 

 

Edit:

 

I really should expand on why the drive cannot be saved:

 

 

When a hard drive experiences a bad sector that is an area of the platter that is no longer readable. This can be caused by many things but for whatever reason that area is no longer holding a charge. In regards to the weak sectors these are areas that hold one but have a substantially less of a charge than the surrounding sectors. They will still hold onto data but only just barely. The drive during a reallocation event will attempt to read the data from the weak sectors, put those offline then remap the data to a stock of set-aside sectors given at factory. 

 

Unless you have the ability to force the drive to take those bad sectors and update its G-List (list of bad sectors from factory that are ignored. All drives have them due to platters not being perfect to begin with) there is no way to save the drive. Even if you could I would NEVER trust that drive for anything. This is why I don't buy refurbished drives from Seagate, WD, or any other manufacturer. 

 

Your best bet is to try to get the data off the failing drive you need and replace it. If you have to reinstall the OS it is what it is. Same for downloading any games. 

 

@DND Hope this clears things up. 

 

Thanks for the detailed explanation. The drive is only for mass storage and for games cause i don't have money to buy a large ssd. I'll just try and copy the needed files and replace it maybe in a week or two i'll buy a new drive I might get a 2TB WD black. Hopefully i can copy all the needed files before it really gives in. For now I'll just use my laptop to play games and do school works don't want to keep using the pc and risk the drive dying on me before i copy all my important files.

 

Edit: BTW can you give any advice/tips on preserving my disk's health?

[Pickles von Brine]

5 hours ago, DND said:

Thanks for the detailed explanation. The drive is only for mass storage and for games cause i don't have money to buy a large ssd. I'll just try and copy the needed files and replace it maybe in a week or two i'll buy a new drive I might get a 2TB WD black. Hopefully i can copy all the needed files before it really gives in. For now I'll just use my laptop to play games and do school works don't want to keep using the pc and risk the drive dying on me before i copy all my important files.

 

Edit: BTW can you give any advice/tips on preserving my disk's health?

There really is not much you can do other than getting your data off. Think of it this way. If your engine is knocking and smoking can you stop it from getting worse? Generally not. You have to get your car where you need to go and stop using it. 

[DND]

4 hours ago, Lord Xeb said:

There really is not much you can do other than getting your data off. Think of it this way. If your engine is knocking and smoking can you stop it from getting worse? Generally not. You have to get your car where you need to go and stop using it. 

I see , Thanks again mate.