Hard Disk Error - hard disk 5 (3F5)

[BMacQ]

For the past few days, I'll periodically get an error screen that says Hard Disk Error, and it refers to Hard Disk 5. I run the diagnostic test on all of the drives, and they pass the test each time. Still, the error message returns. I have a Sandisc SSD start up drive, the standard internal drive that the computer came with, and 2 more internal drives that I added. How can I tell which drive is hard disk 5? And why am I getting this error message and yet they all pass the diagnositic tests? Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

[mdklassen]

>  I'll periodically get an error screen that says Hard Disk Error, and it refers to Hard Disk 5.

I'll presume that this error-message occurs while Windows is running, not immediately when the computer is turned on.

Your motherboard may have 6 SATA sockets, labelled 'SATA1' to 'SATA6', not 'SATA0' to 'SATA5'.

However, Windows may label the SATA devices as '0' to '5' ...

The above picture comes from Windows "Disk Management" tool, numbering from "zero", and showing the "volume-label", e.g., 'Data2014'.

With the above information, you can determine which of your disks is "5", and the "drive-letter" assigned, and the size of the disk-drive, to help you identify which "physical" disk is involved.

> I run the diagnostic test on all of the drives, and they pass the test each time.

Are you running the "short" or the "long" diagnostic?

It's not good that the error-message "reappears".

Each disk-drive supports S.M.A.R.T. --> https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/glossary/s.m.a.r.t/

which monitors many parameters about the "health" of the disk-drive,

e.g., maximum internal temperature, number of times that it was turned on, number of hours of usage.

Google-search for "download free SPECCY". Download and install and run the free version of SPECCY.

It will display all the S.M.A.R.T. values for all of your disk-drives.

There probably is something labelled "bad" (instead of "good") for your 'Disk #5'.

If there is, buy another disk-drive, and connect it.

Copy all your files from 'Disk #5' to the new disk-drive.

Make sure that the backup does not "fail" or "abort" when copying your files!

After the copy has successfully completed, you can physically remove 'Disk #5' from your computer.

Or, if 'Disk #5' has the drive-letter of 'F:', open a command-line prompt, and type:

    CHKDSK F: /R

This will take some hours to run, but it tests EVERY sector on the 'F:' disk-drive.

If there are any bad sectors, they will be identified.

Also, note that your disk-drive has some "spare" sectors that are invisible to Windows.

When the disk-drive self-detects a "bad" sector, it may deploy one of those spares to be substituted for the "bad" sector.

But, still, you have a "formerly-bad" disk-drive that can no longer be "trusted" -- remove it from your computer.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

[NANDARAPU]

Good Suggestion.

[BMacQ]

Thanks for the detailed information! It gave me a great place to start diagnosing this thing.

One of the hard drives was plugged into the number 4 SATA slot (0-4, so as you explained, that would be the number 5 drive from the error message). I downloaded the app and ran tests on the drives, but everything tested good. So I removed that hard drive to see if that would fix the issue.

Now, I don't get the error message anymore regarding a hard drive failure - instead, the computer restarts by itself about every two hours or so. No error messages. It simply restarts without warning.

I changed the sleep settings, messed with some other power saving options, but nothing I did seems to affect it.

I'm FAR from an expert on anything computer related, but I wonder if it's the power supply going out on it?

[mdklassen]

>  the computer restarts by itself about every two hours or so. No error messages. It simply restarts without warning.

Probable causes:

* failing power-supply.  All you can do is to (temporarily?) swap-in a "spare", to see it that helps.

* leaking/failing capacitors on the motherboard.  Inspect the motherboard, looking for "orange-dust" on top of a capacitor, or a "domed" (where it should be "flat") top on a capacitor, or other "bulging" or "leaking" indications.

* overheating.  Inspect the computer while running, to make sure that all the fans are spinning. Note that SPECCY will report motherboard/CPU/disk-drive temperatures, and speed of some fans.  The power-supply fan usually is not monitored by the motherboard -- simply put your hand near the exhaust-grill of the power-supply, to ensure that air is being forced out by its internal fan.

[mdklassen]

> I don't get the error message anymore regarding a hard drive failure ...

Reconnect it, and allow a few hours to run:    CHDKSK letter:  /R

This will "test" every sector on the disk-drive, and should cause the electronics on the disk-drive to "swap-in" some of those "spare" sectors, to logically replace any "bad" sectors. 

But, this disk-drive is "failing" -- like a worn-out pair of shoes, it should be "retired" ("responsibly recycled").

For fun, watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSQimXxL7wQ

for 100% guaranteed "wiping" of any residual data on a disk-drive.    🙂