Potential hard drive failure following Windows 10 updates

[Toastcartoons1]

My HP Pavilion Desktop PC is around 4-5 years old now.  I bought it with Windows 7 as the operating system and upgrading to Windows 10 when it became available.

Recently my computer has run a massive update that took best part of an entire day to run.  This is the only change I can think has happened to my PC, and I have had no issues in running it until now.

Yesterday when I switched it on I was greeted with a black screen with white text  explaining that some sort of error had occurred: that no boot disk was found or the hard drive had failed.

I searched for solutions online and tried to run the BIOS.  I was unable to do this, but now each time I start my PC I receive a a new screen when booting which says the following, repeated here exactly:

"Processor type: INtel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz

Processor speed: 3300MHz

L1/L2/L3 Cache Size: 64KBx2 / 256KNx2 / 3072KB

Memory Size: 6144 MB DDR3 / 133MHz / Dual Channel

Channel A: XMM1 2048 MB

Channel B:  XMM2 4096 MB

BIOS REvision/Date: v7.12 06/07/2012

1720-SMART Hard Drive detects imminent failure.

Failing Drive: SATAO

Failing Attribute: # 02."

There is then a blue box saying "F1 : Boot"

When I then hit F1, the computer starts Windows as normal and the computer seems to function without any problems.

Is my hard drive about to die?  SHould I back it up and if so how?  Or is there a way of solving this issue in a more painless way?

Hoping someone can help!

Regards

Martin

[WAWood]

Toastcartoons1

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

The only recent massive update I've run across in Win10 was the Anniversary Update -- and that was in early August.

MS has indicated they would be switching over to ONLY  Cumulative Updates, so that might be causing the problem, but I last updated my Win10 PCs two days ago and have not run into any problems like you described.

I've learned the hard way that SMART information is unreliable -- I've had drives fail suddenly whose SMART attributes showed no indication of impending failure and I've had drives with "imminent failure" continue work for months without problems.

My suggestion would be first to see if you can run HP diagnostics in your desktop to examing the drive.  Try pressing F2 repeatedly while booting your PC and when the menu comes up, choose drive diagnostics.

If those confirms your drive has failed, then you need to replace it. Please report back if that is the case.

If you can't get to the HP diagnostics, then the next best thing is to install this partitioning tool:  http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

Once you have that, run it, select the drive, and do the Surface Test.  This is nondestructive and will tell you if you have a failing drive.

Good Luck

[IT_WinSec]

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Toastcartoons1 wrote:(...)
I was unable to do this, but now each time I start my PC I receive a a new screen when booting which says the following, repeated here exactly:

"Processor type: INtel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz

Processor speed: 3300MHz

L1/L2/L3 Cache Size: 64KBx2 / 256KNx2 / 3072KB

Memory Size: 6144 MB DDR3 / 133MHz / Dual Channel

Channel A: XMM1 2048 MB

Channel B:  XMM2 4096 MB

BIOS REvision/Date: v7.12 06/07/2012

1720-SMART Hard Drive detects imminent failure.

Failing Drive: SATAO

Failing Attribute: # 02."

There is then a blue box saying "F1 : Boot"

When I then hit F1, the computer starts Windows as normal and the computer seems to function without any problems.

Is my hard drive about to die?  SHould I back it up and if so how?  Or is there a way of solving this issue in a more painless way?

Hoping someone can help!

Regards

Martin

---

Hello @Toastcartoons1 (Martin)

Thank you for posting in the HP Support forum.

The error you got mean that your HDD is about to die. Please perform additional diagnostics to confirm:

1. Please, shutdown the computer using the power button

2. Power it on.

2.1 As soon as you press the power-on button, immediately begin hitting the Esc button (like tap-tap-tap).

This should open a HP Startup Menu

3. Choose F2 to open System Diagnostics. Follow the on-screen instructions to perform System Test >> Quick test.

This will check major hardware componets for issue (do it just in case) . Here is more info >> http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03467259#AbT1

If the tests pass without issues, continue. Let me know the results.

How to access/back-up your data

Use GNU/Linux OS - for example Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu/Debian)

You can directly download Linux Mint [Linux Mint XFCE - ISO image]  from

>> https://linuxmint.com/

>> https://linuxmint.com/download.php

Once ready, here are instructions, you need to burn this ISO on a blank DVD or write the ISO to a USB (in a slightly more special way to make them bootable)

- How to create bootable ISO on USB device >> http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

or

- How to write ISO to DVD >> http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-windows

When ready with the bootable USB drive or with the DVD:

* Ensure Secure Boot is disabled.

* Ensure Legacy mode is enabled.

* Save the UEFI/BIOS changes.

Details>> http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03653226

Eventually, please, shutdown the computer using the power button.

Insert the Linux Mint USB thumdrive or the DVD prepared previously

Power  on the PC.

As soon as you press the power-on button, keep hitting the Esc button (like tap-tap-tap).

This should open a HP Startup Menu

Choose F9 to open Boot options. Select the thumb drive or DVD as boot option.

Follow the on-screen instructions to load Linux Mint.

It should mount your HDD (try to) and you can use the file browser to copy the data to another external device.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you experience any issues.

[mdklassen]

> 1720-SMART Hard Drive detects imminent failure.

> Failing Drive: SATAO

The "S.M.A.R.T." technology is software running on the electronics board on the bottom of the disk-drive.

It monitors many indicators of the "health" of the disk-drive.

When one of those indicators goes "out-of-range", e.g., the internal temperature of the disk-drive going over 60 Celsius (water boils at 100 Celsius), SMART will report "imminent failure".

Do *NOT* ignore this message -- your disk-drive no longer is "healthy".

>  Is my hard drive about to die?  

Yes.

> Should I back it up and if so how?  

Definitely, while you still can read from it.

The first thing to do is to purchase another disk-drive (either SEAGATE or WESTERN DIGITAL).

Connect the new drive to your computer.

Then, using a different computer, access either of those manufacturer's web-site, download their "disk-cloning" software.

Burn the software to a CD-Recordable disk.

Boot your computer from that disk,  to "clone" your current disk-drive onto the new disk-drive.

Avoid running Windows from your current disk-drive.

Avoid running Windows Update, or allowing it to run on a schedule.

Avoid the "automatic" Disk Defragmenter program that Windows 10 runs, usually early on every Wednesday morning.

Avoid running any "disk-drive-diagnostics" programs.

> Is there a way of solving this issue in a more painless way?

Disk-cloning is very fast, and very "painless", and even works when the "new" disk-drive has a larger capacity than your current disk-drive, i.e., replace a 1TB "failing" disk-drive by a 2TB disk-drive.

[mdklassen]

> I've learned the hard way that SMART information is unreliable -- I've had drives fail suddenly whose SMART attributes showed no indication of impending failure and I've had drives with "imminent failure" continue work for months without problems.

Google-search for "download SPECCY free".

Download the free version of SPECCY, install and run it.

It will report each of the indicators that SMART is monitoring, from the temperature of the disk-drive to the number of milli-seconds it takes to go from zero RPM up to its operating speed (5400 or 7200 RPM), to the number of "spare" sectors on the disk-drive that have been automatically swapped-in to replaced "bad" sectors.

Are all those indicators equally "serious"?  NO!

An "over-temperature" condition (usually hotter than 60 Celsius) that occurs just ONCE will trigger SMART, and there is no way to permanently "clear" that indicator.

Sample of what SPECCY reports for my SSD:

To repeat, not all those indicators are equally "serious".

[Toastcartoons1]

Many thanks for your advice.  I have elected to replace the Hard Drive while the current one still works.  

To this end I have purchased a 1TB Western Digital hard disk drive.  I have found the cloning software on the Western Digital site.

Probably a daft question, but in order to carry out the cloning process, can the new hard disk drive be installed in the PC alongside the existing HDD, or does one connect the new HDD somehow to the PC using connectors that I don't currently have?

Would the cloning software also include some sort of recovery software to burn to DVD in the event of something going wrong?

Forgive the questions but I am a complete novice when it comes to opening up the PC's hood and monkeying around with what is inside!

[mdklassen]

> can the new hard disk drive be installed in the PC alongside the existing HDD,

Yes. Your computer's power-supply should have one "spare" power-connector for the additional HDD.

You may need to purchase a SATA cable, to connect from the motherboard to the additional HDD.

The additional disk-drive does not need to be "securely" mounted (in a drive-bay) -- as long as you can connect the "power" and "data" cables for an hour, you'll be fine.

This "internal" connection is best -- it allows the best data-transfer rate when writing to the new HDD.

> Would the cloning software also include some sort of recovery software to burn to DVD in the event of something going wrong?

The software does not "delete" anything from the "source" HDD.

The only function of the software is to "clone" the "source" HDD onto the "target" HDD.

If it encounters a problem reading a specific sector from the "source" HDD, it will give you the options of "retry" or "skip" that specific sector.

[Toastcartoons1]

Thanks for the advice.  I will let you know how I get on!

[Toastcartoons1]

Just a quick update on my progress - yesterday I receoved a new SATA cable and was able to connect the new WD hard disk drive to my PC's motherboard and use the spare power lead as you suggested.  I carried out the disk cloning process.  During the process I received several alerts that the cloning software was unable to read several partitions/sectors on my original hard disk.  I was unable to retry these and had to select "ignore all".  The process continued and the computer shut down late last night, presumably having finished the process.

After work I intend to disconnect the old drive, connect the new one using the same cables/connections and boot up.  Presumably if the cloning process was successful the computer should boot up as it used to but without the failing errors!

I am just a little concerned that the process might have been derailed by the failure to read certain sectors.

Mart

[mdklassen · Accepted solution]

> Presumably if the cloning process was successful the computer should boot up as it used to but without the failing errors!

Yes, that's the expectation. After the first boot, Windows may say "discovering new hardware" (the new disk-drive) and will suggest that you immediately reboot.  Do it.

> I am just a little concerned that the process might have been derailed by the failure to read certain sectors.

It is possible, but there are literally millions of sectors on a hard-drive, including ones that Windows has marked as "free" space, and including ones that are in the "Temporary Internet Files" folder.  So, it's a low probability that the "bad" sector was holding part of a "critical" file.  Also, your computer seemed to be functioning correctly, with the "old" disk-drive with its "bad" sectors.  That implies that the "new" disk-drive will function correctly.