Windows detected a hard disk problem

"Back up your files immediately to prevent information loss, and then contact the computer manufacturer to determine if you need to repair or replace the disk."

That's the message popping up on my old Dell Inspiron E1505. So, I did a disk cleanup, deleted a few old programs I never use anymore, then used the Windows utility to perform error checking. No flaws were reported, either in the file system or the physical disk. Still, the message pops up again.

I'm going to use this an an excuse to upgrade (been hankerin' to do it) but I can't help wondering exactly what's going on.

What do think, tfp techies? Is my hard drive getting ready to crash or is Windows 7 glitching on me?

It's 3-4 years old WD600BEVS in the Inspiron, 2gb ram and the W7 install was about a year ago, when the computer was gifted to me. I've got a 320GB Hitachi drive I'm planning on installing tomorrow.

 

And go offline? /gasp!/

 

Gonna have to get one of those.

No problems found with chkdsk /f.

 

Western Digital model WD600BEVS. It was original with the laptop and I've been wanting to go bigger.

 

Yeah, I've got an external drive and the software to snapshot this drive at work. I'll do the deed at the store if business is slow tomorrow. Otherwise, that'll be my "exciting" Saturday night.

 

I had so many issues with WD hard disks.. I will never buy another one again. I had rather similar behavior on two WD hard drives, replace them problem solved. But in my case I know on one of them I was able to find disk errors when I checked for them. I would just swap it out if I were you, especially since you are all set to do it anyway.

 

It is possible that the warning comes from the disk queue being too long, ie. too much going on for the disk system to keep up. If the machine is slow/sluggish when you get that error then it can indicate that the disk queue is the problem. Reasons for long disk queues can be many, it's expected if you are doing things that require much disk access like file encoding but can also be caused by hardware issues.
To be sure on the state of your hard drive you need some software that will read S.M.A.R.T and other data from drive. The controller on the hd may not report underlying problems back to tools like chkdsk but will try to correct some issues like bad sectors behind the scenes.
Hiren's BootCD is a good source for many handy utilities.
But like the others I vote for replacing that drive, your machine will benefit from a faster hd (or sdd), I'm typing this on a similar machine that I put a SSD in.
Wiping everything from the hd and do a clean install of the OS might also be a improvement.

 

I'm using Hirens. Used DriveImage XML to image the drive. I'm at the point of swapping the HDDs. Should I use HDD Scan before I tear things apart?

 

*doesn't understand most of what has been talked about so far*

Data storage space is good.

The remaining memory on my hard drive is getting pretty small, and my four external hard drives are already full. I'd like to delete the Windows folder to make space, but am iffy on whether it is actually of importance. What do you guys think?

(On a sidenote, I've had 2 Western Digital external hard drives so far. One 1TB and the other 2TB. They work like a charm and I've never had issues with them.)

 

I've had good and bad luck with drives from every manufacturer.

and.... as long as you have a good, recent backup, go ahead and delete that pesky old Windows folder

(KIDDING!!!!)

 

It will not hurt but I don't think it will make any difference. I would do a clean install on a new drive if possible instead of hd cloning/imaging. Windows collects lots of garbage over time in registry and files that will slow it down.

 

Actually WD external hard drives are a different matter. They have always been really reliable from what I know, it is the internal hard drives that seem to have gone downhill.

I would hesitate deleting the windows folder, I think you may want to keep your operating system.

 

You do realize that internal and external hard drives don't really differ from each other? The external hard drive is simply an internal hard drive with a plastic casing around it with a piece of extra-hardware that lets a PC/notebook access its memory via USB/whathaveyou. If you remove the plastic casing and put the hard drive into a computer, it's the same thing.

Reliability differences between a manufacturer's external and internal HDDs should really not be possible. At least, that's what I think.

As grumpy hopefully noticed, I was being a sarcastic asshole.

 

Ahhhh... THERE's the rub! This unit was gifted to QW with a fresh W7 installation, and no install disks.
--- merged: May 12, 2012 at 3:26 PM ---

Captain Obvious!

 

I am not immune to sarcasm.
Given that an external hard drive would not be run in the same manner as an internal hard drive that certainly could be a large factor in its longevity. I have never had any issues with an external drive failing on me. I did however have 3 WD internal drives fail one within 3 years, one was just over a year old and one that was less than 5 months old. Some have suggested that they may have undergone some stress during shipping which caused their early demise, I obviously would have no way of knowing that. Perhaps my selections were from bad batches? I just know the experience has definitely marred my previously good opinion of their products.

My experience was poor but of course it would have been bad luck. I believe all three were 1 TB drives. Meanwhile I know that I have had a (employer provided) WD external drive for work along with several of my colleagues who have frequently had to do presentations etc. None of us have had any issues and have had them for ages, go figure.