How to tell if hard drive is failing

WD Internal Drives Desktop & Mobile Drives
1

I currently have a Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5 TB and I would like to find out if its failing or not. The problems I am currently experiencing are:

-When the drive is being scanned by the antivirus, it makes a strange noise

-There are times when I try to play some music or a video from the drive, sometimes it just doesn’t load. The player will open up, but the file is not being played.

Anyone know whats going on?

2

Hi you need to run a test on the drive you can use WD data lifeguard tools here.  http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=613&lang=en . Or you can download a copy of Hard Drive Sentinel to test it, I find it works well.

3

I just did a Quick Test using the WD data lifeguard tools. It passed. 

4

Hi you should do a full test, but try Hard Disk Sentinel it will find any problems and also give you a time for how long the drive will last.

5

Hammey wrote:

Hi you should do a full test, but try Hard Disk Sentinel it will find any problems and also give you a time for how long the drive will last.

Do you know where I can get Hard Disk Sentinel? And is the scan or tests quick or does it take hours? 

6

Hi you can get the Trial version here http://www.hdsentinel.com/download.php   and it only takes a min or so to test the drive and give results.

7

Hammey wrote:

Hi you can get the Trial version here http://www.hdsentinel.com/download.php   and it only takes a min or so to test the drive and give results.

Which version should I download? 

8

Hi you need to get the Trial version go here http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sentinel_trial.php   on the left side you will see download click that . I will check back in a hour ok. Also it may not be the drive do you know what msconfig is if so run it and tell me how many check marks are there.

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9

How do I use it? Seems kinda complicated to use. Maybe you can direct me on how to test it. 

10

Hi once you start it it will read your main drive and list a report on the right hand side, to choose your black drive if you look on the left you will see it listed just click it and the results will come up on the right hand side for that drive. At the top it will show a graph for performance and health. Next click the smart tab at the top and see if there are any warnings there and that’s it. You do not need to run a test it will do it automatically when you select the drive.

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1 Like
11

Looks like no problems at all. 

Should I do anything else? 

12

Hi well it seems as the drive is ok. Does it say estimated remaing lifetime over 1000 days if so I would just keep a eye on it. So apart from running free malwarebytes to check for malware and making sure you dont have to many startup programs thats about all I can suggest. Hope you get it working ok

13

Thanks mate. I’ll be getting the PRO version of Malwarebytes this week but currently have the trial version for now,  And yes it says more than 1000 days. 

I just don’t want anything to happen to it unexpectedly.