Replacing MBR with GPT to rescue my Hard Disk?

[dangim2000]

Hi there!

I'm Dan, this is my first post on this Forum, and am seeking somo Help (Not shure if this is the right Forum); anyway, this is what happened:

3 years ago I bought a WD ears15 (1.5tb) HDD, it worked flawlessly 'til this year, when it started making strange (and later on loud) noises while booting Win7 ultimate X64 (but this happens mostly during cold times). Strangely enough some Days it boots silently and some rather loud...
but my concern is not the noise (I know, read about it beeing bad symptom), I'm more woried about repetitive failure to boot normally from scratch (pc completely off) or not beeing able to return from hibernation (it allways displays error codes or BSOD) so I am forced to re-install the OS again (and again) to start using Windows normally (Until I shut down the PC or put it to Hibernate) then it all starts again...
Could the MBR of the HDD be damaged? If so:

QUESTION: If I swap the disk from MBR to GPT (asuming the MBR is indeed damaged) could I rescue the HDD and return to normality? I read somewhere GPT doesn't use the first sector of the HDD to boot (where the MBR resides) because GPT has a different Partitioning Scheme.

Any input highly appreciated!
Dan

[HaQue]

Hi,
The SECOND the drive started to do anything different than normal - you should have made sure your backups were good, and you have a recent backup.
Drives are VERY precise. they don't some days sound good and some days sound bad, they don't have bad moods, they don't have any reason to drastically change unless there is a fault.

If you have no data on the disk that you need - get a new disk.
if you have data - get it off there, or take to DR firm to recover.

Don't mess around with a dying disk.

Other things to check are the motherboard capacitors (google bad caps motherboard) and your power supply. A faulty power supply causes all sorts of issues.

[digitalferret]

Hi Dan,
maybe grab a hard disk test program, such as MHDD or Victoria, that boots and runs from CD (ie before Win starts up).
You can d/l from the files section of this website or check google for multi-tool utilities like Hirens boot CD or UBCD.

Use with care.

If you start to see multiple errors close the program and take appropriate action to get data back, if needed, as HaQue mentioned.

Kern

Attachments

[dangim2000]

...Other things to check are the motherboard capacitors (google bad caps motherboard) and your power supply. A faulty power supply causes all sorts of issues.

Didn't know MB capacitors or a faulty power supply could be the cause! THANKS!

Hi Dan, maybe grab a hard disk test program, such as MHDD or Victoria, that boots and runs from CD (ie before Win starts up)....Kern

Will try those programs, thank You!

[dangim2000]

Anyone having SPECIFIC experience with GPT disks?
Could I save an HDD w/ damaged MBR if I convert it to GPT?
Thanks in advance!
Dan

[dangim2000]

Also: I apologize for not including this Info before:

Suspecting a Virus could be one possible cause, I scanned the HDD (but nothing showed up);
Secondly, I researched how to fix MBR through command prompt, but this did not help either, because the moment I shut down the PC, the MBR "disappears" (meaning, trying to start again resolves in a neverending "Starting Windows" screen... If I go to hibernate, Windows can't come back, resulting many times in a BSOD
And i forgot (again) to add that all my valuable Data is backed up

So, my only Hope is the MBR to GPT conversion could be the Fix I need to continue using my HDD...hopefully I can avoid buying another one.

[falther]

You allready got best advice. Check the hard disk status and get data if its important off of the drive.

Infact your drive ( i.e. the invironment where your data is stored on) seems to be faulty.
"Reorganising" how your data is stored on the drive (MBR or GPT) does not "repair" the drive - or
.... reorganising the goods loaded into a truck will not repair the defect motor of the truck.

Get a new drive - and clone / image / copy important data to it - dont touch the drive to reorganise
(convert) partitions - I bet you will lose all data

+++

[hhddrec]

hola Dan,

Como te han comentado lo mejor que puedes hacer es salvar la informacion mas importante, por que por lo que nos indicas tus discos tienen algún problema y pueden terminar fallado definitivamente.

olvida el temas de MBR, GPT, ..., este no es el problema, el problema esta en el propio disco que mal funciona en ocasiones.

Si lo deseas prueba la herramienta MHDD, e indícanos aquí el reporte de la misma.

Por lo demás no puedo decir mas que intenta hacer una copia de tus datos y olvida los discos ya que es posible que estos a futuro fallen.

Si la Informacion no es importante compra otro disco duro y olvida estos. y si la informacion es importante copia los datos y cambia de disco. si no puedes copiar los datos y estos son importantes contacta con un profesional, si lo deseas yo te puedo ayudar.

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Hello [b] Dan [/ b]

As tehy have said the best thing to do is to save more importatnte info, because your drives have a problem and can end definitely failed.

forget the issues MBR, GPT, ..., this is not the problem, the problem is on the drive that works badly.

If you want, you can test with MHDD tool and let us know here report here.

Otherwise I can not say more than try to backup your data and forget the disks because it's possible that this divers fails will fail.

If the information is not important purchase another hard drive and forget them. and if the information is important try to copy the data and disk change. if you can not copy the data and these are important to contact a professional if you want I can help you.