harddrive failing? how to test it?

[Brian Densmore]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Hutchins
> 
> On Tuesday 24 August 2004 12:42 pm, Brian Densmore wrote:
> 
> > I would have to agree here. Uncorrectable sectors
> > is highly indicative of a drive failing. It could also be heat
> > related as Chris says. Putting in a HD fan might help.
> 
> More likely, putting in a HD fan or somehow arranging better 
> cooling when the 
> drive was originally installed might have helped.  At this 
> point I would be 
> sure that there was nothing on that drive that wasn't easy to 
> reconstruct or 
> replace.
Certainly, but a fan could help prevent further failures or at least slow
down the death of the HD. Although it is possible that cooling the HD
is all that is needed, I would certainly never trust it, unless the smart
tools indicate that the sectors are miraculously good again. And having a fan
might make the process of pulling the data off a bit more possible. Pulling
everything off a decent sized HD that is failing/overheating is bound to
get the HD very hot indeed if the disk is anywhere near full. I didn't intend
to suggest that life is good simply by cooling a failing HD.