Linux said H.D. is failing but not Windows

[Magnum]

Linux is telling me my hard drive is failing, but Windows doesn't see any major problems.

I have not lost any info or had any software problems.

I used HDD tune for the windows h.d. info.

The reallocated sector count is a little disturbing though.

The drive is considered the middle lower end of hard drives in terms of reliability.

(05) Reallocated Sector Count    79       79       24       32901304    Ok

HD Tune: FUJITSU MJA2250BH G2 Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 1.6 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 84.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 62.9 MB/sec
Access Time           : 18.8 ms
Burst Rate            : 117.0 MB/sec
CPU Usage             : 3.0%

[Adamanteus]

I suppose you have S.M.A.R.T error log warning on Linux, so some parameters could be differ on systems that to give warning or on Windows, this type of warnings turned off, but it is at all - so will be suggest to archive you disk

[Gunther]

Hi Andy,

Adamanteus is right: don't hesitate to backup your disk. Urgent.

Gunther

[Vortex]

Hi Magnum,

Windows does not provide built-in hard disk diagnostic tools like Linux. The reallocated sector count warning can be serious.

[Magnum]

I have run the following H.D. diagnostic programs.

Fujitsu

HDDTune

Seagates Sea Tools

S.M.A.R.T. has not been tripped.

All came up negative.

I am still monitoring.

[hutch--]

It has been my experience that with modern hard drives, the diagnostics are of little use, when they start to fail, its already too late and sector remapping simply does not matter. Over time I have had the odd disk fail and even though I have tried to back them up as soon as they show problems, most of the data is already trashed or at least has serious holes in it that cannot be recovered.

You extend disk life by keeping the whole assembly cool and that means a 5 inch fan in front of your disk stack. I routinely build 4 disk computers for redundancy but stick them in from of a large fan at the front of the case and i have rarely ever had a problem since. Most of my disks run near cold and reduced thermal cycling means far greater life for a hard disk.

[Magnum]

Hutch,

You are a pretty smart fellow.

You have learned that heat decreases time before failure and lower temperatures slows down the reaction, whether it be bacterial growth or equipment failure.

Up to 6 months ago, I had limited experience with laptops.

But I did notice that the charger for them stayed hot as well as the bottom of the laptop.

So I added this to keep the temp down.

Andy

[CommonTater]

Linux is telling me my hard drive is failing, but Windows doesn't see any major problems.

I have not lost any info or had any software problems.

I used HDD tune for the windows h.d. info.

The reallocated sector count is a little disturbing though.

The drive is considered the middle lower end of hard drives in terms of reliability.

(05) Reallocated Sector Count    79       79       24       32901304    Ok

HD Tune: FUJITSU MJA2250BH G2 Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 1.6 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 84.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 62.9 MB/sec
Access Time           : 18.8 ms
Burst Rate            : 117.0 MB/sec
CPU Usage             : 3.0%

Backup the hard disk to another disk of equal or larger size.

Open a command window and give it the following command... (I'm assuming drive C: ... substitute drive letters as appropriate)....

chkdsk /f /r /x C:

If there are any problems on the disk, this will find them.

Sector re-mapping is not a problem. In fact 79 is pretty typical for a brand new drive.

[MichaelW]

If the drive starts showing any bad sectors, then it has run out of spare sectors and it's past time for a new drive.

[Magnum]

The hard drive is NOT showing any bad sectors.

So, what I consider is, do I trust Linux or Windows who has has been around for little while longer than Linux.

Linux has many versions.

I will leave it at that.

[CommonTater]

The hard drive is NOT showing any bad sectors.

So, what I consider is, do I trust Linux or Windows who has has been around for little while longer than Linux.

Linux has many versions.

I will leave it at that.

Have you run the factory diagnostic for the drive?
It's entirely possible there are problems other than bad sectors. A poor power connection or bad data cable is going to trigger some warnings as might temperature or a failing drive motor. 

[dedndave]

i have wondered about how the RTC memory is used differently between linux and windows
and how the OS's "fix" the issues when switching at boot-time

perhaps there is a "flag" bit set in there that makes linux think there has been an error

[Magnum]

I don't know if this is related, but I have been getting a message on every bootup about some LXE cable is loose or disconnected.

Since I wasn't have any problems, I just ignored it.

I took out the hard drive and reseated it and haven't seen the message again.

I ran every HP diagnostics they had, everything was ok except the extensive H.D. test.

It stops at 20%, tried it several times.

Compared to desktop systems, laptops are a whole new ball of wax.

[dedndave]

it sounds like you fixed the LXE problem

as for the 20%.....
laptops have a "broader" bunch of power settings to conserve battery life
perhaps one of these settings is interfering with the test

[CommonTater]

I ran every HP diagnostics they had, everything was ok except the extensive H.D. test.
It stops at 20%, tried it several times.

What's the error message? 
Unuseable sectors?
Seek errors?
Read/Write errors?

If so, you need a new disk drive.

Laptops are indeed a whole different ball of wax... for one thing they get bashed around and dropped which simply isn't good for the hard disk (or the rest of it for that matter).