another HDrive problem

[YeloBlammo]

this is my slave drive primarily used for storage of music, games, schoolwork, and pics....

western dig wd800
IDE hard drive, 2001

i bought an ipod and went to load my music into itunes. i thought i had clicked the option of just accesing the music from its current folder rather than itunes copying it into its own folder(and thus doubleing the space used) since i had a folder already w/ all the music
i fell asleep waiting for it all to load and woke up to a frozen computer..restarted it and now i get this:

1. computer begins to load windows 2000 then cuts to a screen that reads this:

Checking file system on F:
the type of file the system is NTFS
One of the disks needs to be checked for consistency. you may cancel this disk check, but it it is recommended.

soooo if i...

run the check:
File record segment " (a #) "is unreadable
File record segment " "is unreadable
File record segment " "is unreadable
File record segment " "is unreadable

i'll have thousands of these ^ all the way down the screen, and it seems my computer freezes after a while....i've left it on for hours and will eventually stop progressing

if i cancel the check:
the computer continues to load windows and just before it finishes it will reboot...
there HAS been a few times where windows loads, i have my desktop, but all the programs haven't finished loading yet and then it will reboot....


My thoughts:
i'm guessing i filled the HD. i think itunes copied all my music. (which would have exceeded the space on the HD)

any opinions on what to do? would a external unit that i can plug the HD into help? anything before i try to drop/freeze it?

the computer will not run with this HD plugged in. unplug the HD, the computer starts up fine.
thanks for the help...

 

[htcs]

sounds like the HDD may be bad. Test it with Data Lifeguard Diagnotics (from the Wester Digital site)

http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=3

 

[YeloBlammo]

thanks. i read over the program but unsure if my computer will be able to boot up w/ the hard drive plugged in. do i download the program and boot my computer w/ it plugged in?
any other suggestions?
thanks

 

[htcs]

Download the floppy version, that will create a bootable floppy disk for you where you can run the diagnostics from. Make sure the had drive is connected to your computer. I suggest making sure its on the Primary IDE and set as Master.

Just make sure you change the boot order in your BIOS to have the floppy start before the CDROM or HDD.

And i apologize for the link in my previous post, the program can be downloaded from

http://support.wdc.com/download/

Good luck.

 

[YeloBlammo]

just to get this straight (i'm a noob)
dl the floppy version of WD's lifeguard
do i change the BIOS so the computer boots using the floppy? and disconnect the the HD that has the OS on it but leave the HD i'm trying to fix plugged in?
or do i leave the HD w/ the OS still plugged in?


slightly confused but i almost understand

thanks!

 

[htcs]

Using option A below - you could unplug the HDD that has your OS to avoid 'confusion' - but it's not necessary. The program will detect a WesterDigital HDD. For option B below, leave your OS HDD plugged in.



A -

Download the floppy version of the Lifegaurd software and do the following:

i. Run the downloaded file, this will take u through a setup wizard that will create a bootable floppy.

ii. Restart the computer. If it boots from the floppy, then don't worry about changing anything in the BIOS, otherwise, restart again and enter the BIOS. Change the boot order to use the floppy drive first. I can't tell u where it is since BIOS menus are different depending on the manufacturer.

Regardless, make sure it boots from the floppy drive first - at this point we don't want it to boot from the Hard Drive.

iii. once the software loads, select a test Quick or Extended to find the problem. If quick doesn't find anything, do the extended.

when you get a result - you will know if its a hardware failure or if its simply corrupt data.

OR

B.

Download the windows version and run the test that way. Very strait forward to install.

When u run the program, select the drive u want to test and click the little grey hard drive icon - look closely at the centre of the program window.

run the tests from here - note: do not use the 'write zeros' option as this will wipe your drive clean!

Hope this helps.

 

[YeloBlammo]

thanks...i'm going to try that but i'm going to wait until i get another HDD to back everything up if i get it running....

i dont have a floppy large enough to store the program so i'll go the route of DLing the program to my computer...