too many bad sectors

vectisitch

vectisitch

vectisitch

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Joined
14 Apr 2010
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swanley,kent
ok,i have 2 wd black 640gb drives in raid 0.lately my pc has been locking up and firefox and outlook express close down on their own.so i downloaded wd's data lifeguard diagnostics utility and it says that there are too many bad sectors detected.are one or both drives dying on me?what can i do.i have made an acronis backup image so i'm covered.can i format and reinstall the image or should i rma 1 or both drives?thanks for any help

also,if i have a failing disc,how can i know which of the 2 discs is faulty as they are in raid 0
 
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You'd need to disable the RAID to run the diagnostics on each HD separately. I'd expect it to just be 1 disk and it might be possible that the diagnostic software can remap the faulty sectors to another part of the platter. Be doubly sure you have a backup as I did this once on an Intel ICH9R and when I put it back into RAID mode it had lost the RAID config. I had to recreate the array and use TestDisk to save the day.

Btw. I'd run the WD diagnostics by booting from CD. Also, with 2 identical disks you should be able to earmark which one it is from the serial# via the software.
 
i tested both drives individualy in my sons pc and each one passed.so can i erase the raid array and format each drive then remake the raid array and install the backup image.or would that just put it back as it was.i don't get why it said too many bad sectors when it was in the raid array
 
At least you've eliminated the hard drives. Maybe the firmware has handled the faulty sectors? I'd change the SATA cables and put them back into your RAID PC. If the RAID array isn't picked up you'll need to recreate and clone. Then, as a test you could try a chkdsk /R on the whole RAID array.
 
done chkdsk.all ok.i'm going to format and reinstall new.my outlook express has started to close on it's own and firefox closes on it's own.it also refuses to open even though it's running in task manager.i've uninstalled firefox and tried to install an earlier version buit it won't let me.so i think i have a virus or malware somewhere.now,if i get another wd 640gb drive and do a 3 disc raid 0 instead of the 2.will i see a difference in performance?i don't want to get an ssd.i had 2 intel x-25m 160gb .i tried raiding the 2 and 1 on it's own and i was'nt that impressed.so i'm going to wait till they come down in price.
 
my spyware doctor keeps closing too.also i tried to back up with acronis using the image a created.acronis just hangs,so i'll be happier doing a clean install
 
Just RMA them. WD do an advance RMA so they'll send you a replacement drive before you send the faulty one back.

I've had to do it twice in the past month because of bad sectors and lock ups! :(

Download HdTune and run a full scan of the sectors to see how many are damaged too.
 
ok,i formatted and did a clean install.i am still getting random progs opening then closing straight away.it can't be a virus as i did a clean install?outlook,firefox,newsleecher so far have closed themselves.i did save my profiles for outlook and firefox and reinstalled them to keep my emails and passwords/bookmarks.can this still be a hard drive problem?thinking about it this first happened when i was playing bc2 and the game crashed and restarted my pc which then had a black screen for a while.i had to restart a few times to get my screen back,and i think i noticed some clicking noises inside the case but not since.
 
done memory test.it passed that so i'm stumped.i don't want to rma the drives because they tested ok and i'll get charged for the new ones.but somethings not right.rocket dock keeps closing now.it sounds like a virus but it can't be on a clean install surely
 
right,this time i have deleted the raid array and tested each drive using lifeguard diagnostic cd from boot.both passed so i have done a full erase on both drives.then i'll setup a new raid array from scratch and try again.i'll let you know how it goes.got a feeling it might be something to do with a windows update.so i'll test it before i let it update windows files first.

p.s should i do a clean install or maybe try the backup image i created???
 
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done a clean install of windows and kept my firefox bookmarks.all seemed ok.i then let windows update itself and the bloody thing started closing outlook again so i think it's one of the windows updates
 
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