Question:
Windows says my Hard Drive is going to fail?
Kyle
2013-02-20 09:21:23 UTC
My laptop is an Alienware M14x R1 so it's about 2 1/2 years old, recently my hard drive died and I got it replaced with a new one, but windows keeps saying that it's going to fail soon and to back up my data, this is apparently a S.M.A.R.T message, the Hard Drive is a brand new 500gb 5400rpm from Western Digital, I'm not crazy about the downgrade from my last hard drive (a 7200rpm Segate) but I don't really want to spend another 70 bucks so any help would be superb.
Four answers:
Yudy Yunardy
2013-02-20 09:50:02 UTC
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology; often written as SMART) is a monitoring system for computer hard disk drives to detect and report on various indicators of reliability, in the hope of anticipating failures.



When a failure is anticipated by S.M.A.R.T., the user may choose to replace the drive to avoid unexpected outage and data loss.



The purpose of S.M.A.R.T. is to warn a user of impending drive failure while there is still time to take action, such as copying the data to a replacement device.



Hard disk failures fall into one of two basic classes:

* Predictable failures: These failures result from slow processes such as mechanical wear and gradual degradation of storage surfaces. Monitoring can determine when such failures are becoming more likely.

* Unpredictable failures: These failures happen suddenly and without warning. They range from electronic components becoming defective to a sudden mechanical failure (perhaps due to improper handling).

To read more go to 1st link below.



The best thing to do right now is to back up your data, because the warning from S.M.A.R.T system is not meant to be ignored. If you say your hard drive is brand new, usually they come with a warranty (either one month or one year). You should go back to the store and ask (even if they gave you no warranty) why this is happening? Because brand new hard drive not suppose to have failure at least one year under normal usage. That's for the store warranty.



There is another warranty within your rights, that is manufacture warranty, go to 2nd link and input your country and serial number of your hard drive and find your type of warranty. That website also offer product replacement and RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) status.



PS: I have three years and five years old desktop hard drive (both Seagate) that is still 95% healthy reported by S.M.A.R.T, also my 10 years old IBM/Hitachi Notebook hard drive is still 70% healthy. Both still usable without any warning from S.M.A.R.T. So yeah, those brand new hard drive of yours should not give that warning, if not a sign of defect from manufacture.



I hate to inform you but my friend had similar experience with WD hard drive (Desktop hard drive) and I accompany him to the store where he got the replacement (store's warranty is 1 month and the error occurred before 1 month).



There's also small possibilities that the culprit is not your hard drive but some TPM chip in your notebook, my advise ask for replacement first because it's within your rights. If after replacement the problem still occur then it's time to visit the store where you bought the notebook, or directly to Alienware service center if it's conveniently available near your home.



Hope this helps.
fout
2016-08-06 16:54:46 UTC
That you can most commonly order restoration disks from the company, for a nominal fee, of direction. There are a couple of circumstances the place the C: pressure portion of the disk can fail but the restore partition remains to be readable and can also be recovered. That is an individual challenge, nonetheless. A good, commonplace backup is invariably the correct factor to have.
tim
2013-02-20 09:27:16 UTC
Try testing it with 3rd party software(anything but windows). Although your new drive is not Seagate, Seatools from Seagate is a great program for testing HDDs.



http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/



Unfortunately, new drives fail sometimes though.
PJ (PAPA JOE)
2013-02-20 10:03:11 UTC
wd has a diagnostic program. run it & test again


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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