WD HDD Spin-up and down

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Viva

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Hi guys

I have a 1TB Western Digital WDC WD10EALX-009BA0 (18 months old) in my PC for secondary storage. Lately it randomly spins down, and up again a few seconds later. The drive also disappear and reappear in My Computer.

Last night, this went to a new level when it constantly did this, just spinning up and down all the time. I turned off the PC, and when I turned it back on again, it still worked. I ran Western Digital's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics tool. It could not even finish the quick test. The test completed just fine when ran on my OS HDD (5 year old trusty Maxtor).

I'm wondering whether or not my PSU could be at fault here. It's the cheap PSU that came with my case. However, the old Maxtor drive and all my other components run just fine. Should I just replace the 1TB drive before I loose my data?
 
O wait, the PSU did not come with the case. But it was still a cheapy PSU.
 
Most likely not the PSU, but the drive itself. If the data is important then you have 2 options:

1) Image the drive whilst it's still partially accessible. I say image it rather than copy off as it's easier on the drive, less intensive.
2) Get the drive recovered professionally before it's completely dead.

All depends on how much the data is worth to you at the end of the day. If you work with the drive further it will degrade further and might decrease the chances of recovery. Sounds to me like a bad head which is only going to get worse and will require lab work when it dies completely.
 
Thanks for the reply!

Obviously I would like to save all my data, but it's not important enough the justify professional recovery. I think I might try the drive imaging route. Is there a specific software (preferably free) that you would recommend?

Also, I'm looking at replacing my drive with either a 2TB (ST2000DM001) or 3TB (ST3000DM001) Seagate Barracuda drive. I've not owned Seagate before. Is there any reason I should go with WD instead?
 
WD has a better warranty. All drives will fail eventually, so it doesn't really matter which you choose. Personally I prefer WD.

Your best bet is to use dd_rescue (Linux) which will try and work around any unreadable areas. Google it and you can find out how it works, very straight forward, just install it on Linux and image the drive to another, blank drive.
 
Viva said:
Thanks for the reply!

Obviously I would like to save all my data, but it's not important enough the justify professional recovery. I think I might try the drive imaging route. Is there a specific software (preferably free) that you would recommend?

Also, I'm looking at replacing my drive with either a 2TB (ST2000DM001) or 3TB (ST3000DM001) Seagate Barracuda drive. I've not owned Seagate before. Is there any reason I should go with WD instead?
Click to expand...

I just bought myself a 3TB (ST3000DM001) Seagate Barracuda....its value to space ratio is very good.

R1500
 
1. Disconnect drive from PC immediately.
2. Get replacement drive at least the same size.
3. For imaging create bootable disk (floppy, CD-ROM, USB). Windows is not good. Read how to handle errors. If errors appear, don't torture such area, just skip to easier area. Return to difficult areas later, whem most of sectors are already copied.
I use DMDE, it has good error control. In free edition it can't handle log files (to return to skipped areas automatically), needs to do it manually.
Many other programs available. R-Studio is better known for recovering files from damaged partitions, imaging is very basic. Just make sure to not image to compressed file (it use proprietary format and you would need paid version to recover files), image to physical empty drive.
 
Thanks for all the help guys. I already disconnected the drive last night. Rickster, I'm planning on getting that same drive tomorrow. Hopefully the smart imaging software manages to recover most of the data.

Thanks!
 
Just an update: I luckily managed to get all my data copied to the new HDD. No damage done. I also found out that my failing Western Digital drive still have 17 months of warranty left, so I'm returning the drive. Hopefully the replace it without to much hassle.
 
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