Is my harddrive likely to cause CRC errors in rar + other files?

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Sometimes when I extract large files from a multi file rar archive I get CRC errors. Thing is if I retry a couple of times the CRC error goes away and it seems to work fine. Similar thing when trying to install from the EVE online installer, and I downloaded the damn thing three times for different places. Is this likely to be related to my harddrive(s) (RAID0 volume) or something else? But what's the best way to scan for hd errors? chkdsk doesn't seem to find any problems.

(Hmm.. just thinking about it now, guess it might be worth checking my memory... will do that, but the above question still stands too.)
 
CRC error's are most likely due to corruption of data be it from the source you download the files from, the transition from them to your HD or a problem with your HD though if it's only affecting your downloads i'd be highly surprised.. If possible check the sfv or the md5's if whatever it is comes with, it's not unknown for a download to be broken at source though it's highly unlikely if the source is reputable.
 
Sometimes when I extract large files from a multi file rar archive I get CRC errors. Thing is if I retry a couple of times the CRC error goes away and it seems to work fine.

That could be indicative of something in your system making/errors failing, but the basic data on the drive is probably fine. (This assumes the HDD is not struggling to read/you noticing such.) One way I've seen that exact behaviour occur (of sometimes having CRC errors in archives which then goes away on retry) was on a PC where the motherboard was not set to supply the proper voltage to the RAM DIMM's and they were actually being undervolted and thus causing the errors. The problem in that case was fixed by correcting the memory voltage in the BIOS. (This was a case of the RAM wanting 1.9V or 2.0V and the motherboard supplying 1.8V by default, a not entirely uncommon issue on some motherboard/RAM combinations today.) It could have course be another component causing the errors - CPU (overclocked/undervolted), HDD controller chipset etc.
 
Yeah, doh, looks like it's not the drive but memory. memtest finds a hell of a lot of errors pretty fast... oh well. /me heads over to the memory section.
 
Remember, finding errors does not mean the memory is neccesarily broken. Make sure the voltage is correct/high enough for the RAM to run properly.

Also note, if you installed with that RAM, you may need to reinstall Windows eventually to ensure everything is well, as there's no telling what might currently be subtly corrupted as a result of your RAM not working properly.
 
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