HELLO, MY HARD DRIVE RECENTLY STARTED SHUTTING DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORK. PROBLEM HAPPENS WHEN I ATTEMPT TO READ LARGER AMOUNTS OF DATA FROM IT. HARD DISK SIMPLY SHUTS DOWN. IT STOPS SPINNING AND VANISHES AT THE SOFTWARE LEVEL. AFTER SHUTDOWN OCCURS, ALL APPLICATIONS (INCLUDING WINDOWS EXPLORER) WHICH WERE ACCESSING THE HARD DRIVE AT THAT MOMENT FREEZE AND I HAVE TO KILL THEM. AFTER REINCARNATION OF THE KILLED WINDOWS EXPLORER, THE DRIVE WHICH SHUTTED DOWN IS NO LONGER VISIBLE. IT IS NO LONGER DISPLAYED IN THIS PC IN WINDOWS. IT IS NOT VISIBLE IN OTHER PROGRAMS AS WELL INCLUDING THE DISK MANAGEMENT SNAP IN FOR MICROSOFT MANAGEMENT CONSOLE PROGRAM. IN DEVICE MANAGER SNAP IN FOR MICROSOFT MANAGEMENT CONSOLE PROGRAM THIS DRIVE IS HIDDEN, BUT ITS ENTRY CAN BE ACCESSED IF I SELECT 'SHOW HIDDEN DEVICES' OPTION. WHEN I GO TO PROPERTIES IT SAYS THAT DEVICE IS DISCONNECTED WITH CODE 45. SO IT LOOKS LIKE THIS IS NOT A SOFTWARE SHUTDOWN, BUT RATHER SHUTDOWN AT HARDWARE LEVEL, OR, THAT IS, SHUTDOWN INITIATED BY THE HARD DRIVE CONTROLLER CHIP SINCE AFTER THIS HARD DRIVE IS COMPLETELY DETACHED FROM THE SYSTEM. DEVICE MANAGER SUGGESTS ME TO RECONNECT THE DRIVE. SINCE DRIVE IS CONNECTED, RECONNECTING WOULD MEAN UNPLUGGING THE POWER CABLE FROM THE DRIVE AND PLUGGING IT BACK IN, BUT, SINCE IT IS SATA INTERNAL DRIVE, REPLUGGING IT WHILE COMPUTER IS RUNNING IS A BAD IDEA. THE PROBLEM IS NOT JUST LIMITED TO WINDOWS. IF I GO AND RESTART MY COMPUTER AFTER THIS HAPPENS, EVEN BIOS (BASIC INPUT OUTPUT SYSTEM WHICH STARTS BEFORE WINDOWS) DOES NOT SEE IT. NOT JUST THAT, BIOS COMPLETELY FREEZES AFTER RESTART. IT FREEZES JUST AT THE POINT WHEN IT IS DETECTING HARD DRIVES. SO IT LOOKS LIKE HARD DRIVE SHUTTED DOWN SO MUCH THAT NOT EVEN BIOS IS CAPABLE OF WAKING IT UP, AND NOT EVEN BIOS SEAS IT. IN ORDER FOR ME TO RESTART MY HARD DRIVE I HAVE TO CUT POWER TO IT AND AFTER BRINGING POWER BACK, HARD DRIVE RESTARTS AND SPINS UP AGAIN. I DO THIS BY SWITCHING COMPUTER POWER BUTTON TO OFF POSITION, AND SWITCHING IT BACK TO ON POSITION AFTER SEVERAL SECONDS (WHEN POWER WHICH IS LEFT IN CAPACITORS IN COMPUTER PSU [POWER SUPPLY UNIT] RUNS OUT). THIS IS THE ONLY WAY WHICH I FIGURED OUT TO RESTART MY HARD DRIVE. SIMPLY POWERING DOWN COMPUTER WITH POWER BUTTON DOES NOT WORK, SINCE EVEN WHEN COMPUTER IS SHUTTED DOWN, POWER IS PRESENT AT HARD DRIVE AND IT KEEPS IT FROM RESETTING. SO, JUST MECHANICAL POWER SWITCH WORKS, BUT ONLY AFTER POWER IS COMPLETELY DRAINED FROM CAPACITORS. FAST OFF-ON ON THE SWITCH ALSO DOES NOT WORK SINCE POWER IS LEFT IN CAPACITORS WHICH IS ENOUGH TO KEEP COMPUTER POWERED FOR ABOUT 5 SECONDS AFTER POWER IS DISCONNECTED.
AFTER I MANAGE TO RESTART IT, HARD DRIVE WORKS WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS IN BOTH BIOS AND WINDOWS AS LONG AS I DO NOT TRY TO READ LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA FROM IT. WHEN I DO, IT SHUTS DOWN AGAIN.
SO, WHAT I AM TRYING TO ASK YOU, ALTHOUGH I KNOW THAT IT IS PROBABLY HOPELESS, IS, IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY OF WHICH YOU KNOW TO RESTART A HARD DRIVE WITHOUT RESTARTING MY COMPUTER?
JUST TO MENTION, THIS HARD DRIVE IS SECONDARY, SO, I CAN WORK IN WINDOWS EVEN AFTER SUDDEN SHUTDOWN OF THIS HARD DRIVE OCCURS.
PROBLEM WITH ME RESTARTING A HARD DRIVE ON THIS WAY IS THAT I HAVE TO SHUT DOWN AND START UP MY WINDOWS. BUT THE PROBLEM IS THAT ON MY COMPUTER IT TAKES 40 MINUTES TO START UP WINDOWS AND FULL 12 HOURS TO SHUT IT DOWN. SO, IN ORDER FOR ME TO RESTART MY HARD DRIVE I NEED TO WAIT MORE THAN 12 HOURS FOR WINDOWS (OR JUST 40 MINUTES IF I SIMPLY UNPLUG MY COMPUTER FROM POWER WHENEVER I NEED TO RESTART IT, BUT THAT IS ALSO A VERY BAD IDEA).
I KNOW THAT IT LOOKS LIKE MY HARD DRIVE IS DYING BECAUSE MANY SIMPTOMS HAVE MANIFESTED: - READ AND WRITE SPEEDS ARE FALLEN TO AROUND 5-10 MB/S. - FILES AND EVEN WHOLE FOLDERS (WITH THOUSANDS OF FILES IN THEM) KEEP DISAPPEARING FROM MY HARD DRIVE. - EVERY 2-5 DAYS MY HARD DRIVE BECOMES INACCESSIBLE AND AFTER REPAIR WITH CHKDSK PROGRAM IN WINDOWS NEW 5-20 BAD CLUSTERS APPEAR ON MY HARD DRIVE. - EVERY FEW MONTHS $MFT (MASTER FILE TABLE) GETS CORRUPTED AND CHKDSK PROGRAM CAN NOT REPAIR MY HARD DRIVE SO I HAVE TO REFORMAT IT. - AND, AS I SAID, MY HARD DRIVE SHUTS DOWN WHEN LARGER AMOUNTS OF DATA ARE READ OFF IT.
WHAT IS FUNNY IS THAT DESPITE ALL THESE PROBLEMS AND SYMPTOMS SMART (SELF MONITORING AND REPORTING TECHNOLOGY) SAYS THAT THE DRIVE IS OK, THAT IS, IN GOOD CONDITION. NEITHER BIOS, NOR WINDOWS NOR SEVERAL OTHER HARD DISK DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAMS GIVE ME ANY SMART ERRORS.
BUT, THE LAST SYMPTOM DID NOT EXIST UNTIL RECENTLY. IT ONLY MANIFESTED ITSELF SEVERAL DAYS AGO.
AND BEFORE IT MANIFESTED ITSELF I WAS ABLE TO KEEP ISOLATING BAD CLUSTERS AS THEY APPEARED AND KEEP USING MY HARD DRIVE. BUT NOW WITH THIS HARD SHUTDOWNS IT IS BECOMMING IMPOSSIBLE TO REPAIR MY HARD DRIVE. THE PROBLEM IS THAT SECTOR BY SECTOR SCAN WHICH IS REQUIRED TO FIND BAD SECTORS TAKES ABOUT 6 HOURS ON MY HARD DRIVE AND READS HUNDREDS OF GIGABYTES OF DATA FROM IT. BUT, SINCE, AS I SAID, WHEN LARGE AMOUTNS OF DATA ARE READ FROM IT, IT SHUTS DOWN, I AM UNABLE TO COMPLETE THE SECTOR-BY-SECTOR SCAN AND REMAP BAD CLUSTERS. SO I CAN NO LONGER REPAIR MY HARD DRIVE.
SO, WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DO IS TO ISOLATE BAD SECTORS AND REMAP THEM, BUT I CAN NOT DO THAT WITHOUT FULL DRIVE SCAN, AND I CAN NOT DO FULL DRIVE SCAN BECAUSE THE DRIVE WILL SHUT DOWN, AND I CAN NOT RESTART IT WITHOUT RESTARTING WINDOWS, AND THAT TAKES MORE THAN 12 HOURS TO COMPLETE. SO, I AM UNABLE TO REPAIR IT ANYMORE.
SINCE MY HARD DRIVE IS FROM 2007. AND HAS BEEN IN USE EVERY DAY SINCE THEN FOR ABOUT 12 HOURS PER DAY IN AVERAGE, I KNOW THAT IT LOOKS LIKE IT HAS PASSED ITS LIFETIME AND THAT IT IS JUST FAILING, WHAT IS NATURAL PROCESS FOR A HARD DRIVE; WE ALL GET OLD AND DIE EVENTUALLY. BUT DESPITE THAT, IN THEORY, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO ISOLATE ALL BAD CLUSTES AS THEY APPEAR, NO MATTER HOW MANY OF THEM IS. AS NEW BAD CLUSTERS KEEP APPEARING ONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO JUST KEEP ISOLATING THEM. EVEN IF GIGABYTES AND GIGABYTES OF HARD DRIVE ARE ISOLATED, IN THEORY, REMAINING PARTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE USED. AND I HAVE JUST ABOUT 250 KB OF BAD CLUSTERS, AND THAT IS NOT THAT MUCH. STIL 99.9999% OF MY HARD DRIVE IS GOOD. SO, THERE IS NO REASON TO STOP USING THE WHOLE DRIVE, JUST TO ISOLATE BAD SECTORS. AND AS LONG AS HARD DRIVE IS POWERED ON I CAN DO THAT.
SO, MY QUESTION HERE IS NOT 'WHAT IS GOING ON WITH MY HARD DRIVE', I KNOW THAT SINCE IT IS IN USE FOR 14 YEARS WITHOUT STOPPING THE ANSWER IS ABOUT 90% SURE THAT IT IS LONG PASSED ITS LIFETIME. MY QUESTION HERE IS:
HOW TO START HARD DRIVE AGAIN AFTER IT EXPERIENCED HARD SHUT DOWN WITHOUT SHUTTING DOWN MY COMPUTER, OR, EVEN BETTER, HOW TO PREVENT IT TO SHUT DOWN BY ITSELF?
FOR ANYONE WHO RESPONDS, THANK YOU.
_________________ YBY
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