Do these symptons indicate HDD RMA time..?

jmp_78 · 4 Dec 2010 at 10:06

Had a Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB for 3 months, and am now finding the following:

- HDTune cannot complete a bench due to 'Read Error' 9 times out of 10.
- HDTune reads lowest read speeds as 0.1MB.
- CHKDSK reveals that 'Windows replaced bad clusters in file xxxxx'
- My Dirt2 savegame files have become corrupt and will not open any longer.

So...

Q1 - is this the point where I RMA?

Q2 - would you remove all data before sending back, and if so, how?

95thrifles · 4 Dec 2010 at 10:17

1) Could try a reformat first, prob wont work but wont hurt, if no joy then yeah RMA
2) Definitely, if its just normal stuff (i.e. no bank details or the like stored) then just delete partition/format will be enough

RJC · 4 Dec 2010 at 10:32

If you purchased from Overclockers post a note in the customer forum below:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=116

Edit: is it possible to try another SATA cable.

jmp_78 · 4 Dec 2010 at 12:55

Just formatting the drive now - unlikely to solve, but you never know I guess :rolleyes:

kae2 · 4 Dec 2010 at 15:27

Run ESTool from the samsung website. Theyll tell you to do that anyway.

roger_37 · 4 Dec 2010 at 15:44

kae2 said:
Run ESTool from the samsung website. Theyll tell you to do that anyway.

+1

jmp_78 · 4 Dec 2010 at 18:05

kae2 said:
Run ESTool from the samsung website. Theyll tell you to do that anyway.

Formatting the drive - okay.
Windows ChkDsk - ERROR FOUND.
ESTool - ERROR FOUND.

RMA it is then I guess!

MikeHunt79 · 4 Dec 2010 at 18:14

kae2 said:
Run ESTool from the samsung website. Theyll tell you to do that anyway.

ESTool is what you need, then you can be sure before you send it off.

jmp_78 · 4 Dec 2010 at 18:23

MikeHunt79 said:
ESTool is what you need, then you can be sure before you send it off.

jmp_78 said:
Windows ChkDsk - ERROR FOUND.
ESTool - ERROR FOUND.

Already done