I have a Dell XPS420 and have been through hard drives like underwear (and that's alot - lol). For the life of me, I can not figure out why this is so. I've even installed I8kFanGUI to manually control the internal fan and run it on high constantly to keep it cool. Currently my system runs for a while and then locks. The little circle whirls around like its thinking and then I can't even get taskmanager to pop up to close out programs or restart. I installed AVG to be sure the system was clean (and it was). Then I got CrystalDiskInfo and the program says CAUTION. Can anyone understand what this program says below? Am I due another HDD now?


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 3.8.0 (C) 2008-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

OS : Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP2 [6.0 Build 6002] (x86)
Date : 2011/02/22 20:07:18

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
+ Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R SATA RAID Controller [SCSI]
- ST3500320AS
- Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5170S
- Microsoft iSCSI Initiator [SCSI]

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
(1) ST3500320AS : 500.1 GB [0-0-0, pd1]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) ST3500320AS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : ST3500320AS
Firmware : SD15
Serial Number : 9QMAS168
Disk Size : 500.1 GB (8.4/137.4/500.1)
Buffer Size : Unknown
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 976773168
Rotation Rate : 7200 RPM
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 4
Transfer Mode : SATA/300
Power On Hours : 9743 hours
Power On Count : 608 count
Temparature : 33 C (91 F)
Health Status : Caution
Features : S.M.A.R.T., 48bit LBA, NCQ
APM Level : ----
AAM Level : ----

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 _97 _87 __6 00000ACF066B Read Error Rate
03 _95 _91 __0 000000000000 Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 _20 000000000292 Start/Stop Count
05 100 100 _36 000000000487 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 _75 _60 _30 0004099ED97E Seek Error Rate
09 _89 _89 __0 00000000260F Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 _97 000000000006 Spin Retry Count
0C 100 _37 _20 000000000260 Power Cycle Count
B8 100 100 _99 000000000000 End-to-End Error
BB __1 __1 __0 0000000001B2 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 _99 __0 000000000014 Command Timeout
BD __1 __1 __0 00000000008E High Fly Writes
BE _67 _60 _45 0000211E0021 Airflow Temperature
C2 _33 _40 __0 001200000021 Temperature
C3 _39 _19 __0 00000ACF066B Hardware ECC recovered
C5 100 100 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 5A 0C FF 3F 37 C8 10 00 00 00 00 00 3F 00 00 00 Z..?7.......?...
010: 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ....
020: 51 39 41 4D 31 53 38 36 00 00 00 00 04 00 44 53 Q9AM1S86......DS
030: 35 31 20 20 20 20 54 53 35 33 30 30 32 33 41 30 51 TS530023A0
040: 20 53 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 S
050: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 80 ..
060: 00 00 00 2F 00 40 00 02 00 02 07 00 FF 3F 10 00 .../.@.......?..
070: 3F 00 10 FC FB 00 10 01 FF FF FF 0F 00 00 07 00 ?...............
080: 03 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ..x.x.x.x.......
090: 00 00 00 00 00 00 1F 00 06 05 00 00 40 00 40 00 ............@.@.
0A0: F0 01 29 00 6B 34 01 7D 23 41 69 34 01 BC 23 41 ..).k4.}#Ai4..#A
0B0: 7F 40 33 00 33 00 FE FE FE FF 00 00 00 FE 00 00 .@3.3...........
0C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 30 60 38 3A 00 00 00 00 ........0`8:....
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 50 00 C5 FA 10 79 F0 .........P....y.
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0E 40 ...............@
0F0: 0E 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .@..............
100: 29 00 30 60 38 3A 30 60 38 3A 00 00 02 00 40 01 ).0`8:0`8:....@.
110: 00 01 00 50 06 3C 0A 3C 00 00 3C 00 00 00 08 00 ...P.<.<..<.....
120: 00 00 00 00 0F 00 80 02 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 ................
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 27 00 80 .............'..
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3B 10 00 00 ............;...
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1B0: 00 00 20 1C 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 10 10 00 00 .. .............
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 A5 C6 ................

-- SMART_READ_DATA ---------------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 0A 00 01 0F 00 61 57 6B 06 CF 0A 00 00 00 03 03 .....aWk........
010: 00 5F 5B 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 32 00 64 64 92 ._[........2.dd.
020: 02 00 00 00 00 00 05 33 00 64 64 87 04 00 00 00 .......3.dd.....
030: 00 00 07 0F 00 4B 3C 7E D9 9E 09 04 00 00 09 32 .....K<~.......2
040: 00 59 59 0F 26 00 00 00 00 00 0A 13 00 64 64 06 .YY.&........dd.
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 32 00 64 25 60 02 00 00 00 .......2.d%`....
060: 00 00 B8 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BB 32 ...2.dd........2
070: 00 01 01 B2 01 00 00 00 00 00 BC 32 00 64 63 14 ...........2.dc.
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 BD 3A 00 01 01 8E 00 00 00 00 .......:........
090: 00 00 BE 22 00 43 3C 21 00 1E 21 00 00 00 C2 22 ...".C<!..!...."
0A0: 00 21 28 21 00 00 00 12 00 00 C3 1A 00 27 13 6B .!(!.........'.k
0B0: 06 CF 0A 00 00 00 C5 12 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 .........dd.....
0C0: 00 00 C6 10 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 3E .....dd........>
0D0: 00 C8 C8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 82 00 7A 02 00 7B ............z..{
170: 03 00 01 00 01 75 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .....u..........
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 06 06 06 04 03 06 ................
190: 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 00 9D 77 DC 4E E7 1F 00 00 ......U..w.N....
1B0: 00 00 00 00 01 00 FF FF D5 56 A7 7A 5F 5A 03 00 .........V.z_Z..
1C0: 63 7B B6 7B 5C 5C 12 00 00 00 00 00 08 C6 5C 05 c{.{\\........\.
1D0: 00 00 00 00 77 00 00 00 4F 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....w...O.......
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1F0: 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 A6 ................

-- SMART_READ_THRESHOLD ----------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 01 00 01 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 ................
010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 14 00 00 00 00 ................
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 24 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .......$........
030: 00 00 07 1E 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 00 ................
040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 61 00 00 00 00 ...........a....
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 14 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
060: 00 00 B8 63 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BB 00 ...c............
070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BC 00 00 00 00 00 ................
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 BD 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
090: 00 00 BE 2D 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C2 00 ...-............
0A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C3 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0C0: 00 00 C6 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 00 ................
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 EA ................

Values of SMART attributes - Seek Error Rate, Read Error Rate, Hardware ECC recovered and Reported Uncorrectable Errors - prompt that you have a hardware problem with your disk. If I were you I would backup and buy new HDD.

_________________
Vitaliy Mokosiy
CTO, Atola Technology
Maker of MultiDrive

Be aware that SD15 firmware is afflicted with the 7200.11 BSY bug, as explained in the following bulletin.

Urgent Field Update. Topic: Drive Hang after Power Cycle:
http://www.expreview.com/img/topic/seag ... Update.pdf

You need to apply a firmware update ASAP.

Firmware Update for ST3500320AS, ST3500620AS, ST3500820AS, ST3640330AS, ST3640530AS, ST3750330AS, ST3750630AS, ST31000340AS [207951]:
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/s ... cId=207951

As for your SMART data, the following attributes are of concern.

05 100 100 _36 000000000487 Reallocated Sectors Count
BB __1 __1 __0 0000000001B2 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BD __1 __1 __0 00000000008E High Fly Writes

The drive has replaced 1159 (= 0x487) bad sectors with spares. Normally one would expect that the normalised value of the attribute would be reduced by 1 point for each 40 reallocations. Instead the normalised value has remained at 100. Perhaps this is an additional SMART bug.

In short, I believe it's time to backup and replace your drive.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Yes! Your drive is failing, and could deteriorate further at any time. My experiences with drives from that Seagate family has not been good - IMHO you just got a Seagate "lemon" model.

Personally I would not attempt doing the f/w update which fzabkar kindly explained to you, since in my experience, on such a sick drive, then the drive can fail during the update process itself (i.e. there is a risk in doing the f/w update on a sick drive), and then you are into a world of pain But that's just my view, based on my experiences

In order to minimise the risk of hitting the f/w bug, then keep the PC powered-on (since the drive f/w bug can be triggered only when the drive resets); get an external USB disk of at least 500GB now; read about "cloning" software by searching this forum or elsewhere (that does not mean using image backup s/w like Acronis True Image & Symantec Ghost - it means cloning s/w which understands to skip unreadable sectors and, optionally, to retry them and perhaps be successful reading some, after the readable data has been copied); clone that drive to the USB external drive, capturing all readable sectors first followed by retrying any unreadable ones; then dispose of that drive in an environmentally-sound way, whilst remembering that someone may be able to read data from the drive (your bank records or whetever else is on that disk) if they get hold of it, even if you can't do so.

Depending on how successful that cloning process is, you may then need to perform some logical data recovery on the clone to recover access to all the files, if the filesystem metadata was not all readable (i.e. not all able to be cloned from the original disk).

Sorry for the brief details, but that would be my approach YMMV

fzabkar, Vulcan - thanks so much for the reply each of you made. It's pretty sad that I have this problem. I thought Seagate made better drives and that is why I bought this one.

By the way, which drive - in your opinion - is the fastest, most reliable Serial ATA 500gig or higher drive I could buy for my Dell XPS420? I'd like to avoid another lemon. After all, this drive is not even 2 years old!

Would a solid state drive just for the OS and a data HDD be a better idea?

Thanks again!

You're welcome


IMHO that specific Seagate drive family is unusually bad; each manufacturer could produce lemons, at some point, not just Seagate. For example, I remember another manufacturer with an interesting production issue, which only showed itself after the drives had been in use for a while - if it did occur, the drives dropped like flies at around the same time, losing data in the process. Not good when an end-user has got 100s of them


I don't care about speed (I'd much rather have reliability). I made a comment about recommendations in this thread, although that was for an external case, so you can ignore my concern about an external case needing a fan, when you're using it internally - assuming (as seems to be the situation with your drive above) that it gets a reasonable airflow:

external-hdd-internal-hdd-ide-sata-usb-adapter-t18580.html


I don't have time to keep up with the fast-moving changes in models of SSDs, so I won't offer an opinion on this point.

Great advice on the drive guys. Since this computer has a history of going through drives I would be very suspicious of the power supply. Best swap it for a QUALITY power supply.

Vulcan - thanks again. Maybe a Hitachi would be the ticket. I will check them out. I do believe my case has warmed up too much. The fan has always run at idle and never spun up and sounded like a hair dryer until I forced it with the software mentioned above - and that was recently too.

Warnerr - if the PS has fluctuated power to the drive sporadically, I've not seen it. It appears to be clean and consistent but I will take a look at it again. That was the first thing I suspected.

Thanks for the replies - this has been of great value to me!