Advice requested.......

sbrehm72255

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
OK............I've got this random HD issue with my main drive (Windows install).

My main storage drive and Windows OS is on a WD 250 SE16 SATAII and here lately I've been getting random read errors during hot and cold boot and then this morning it started doing it during normal usage. I've defraged the drive and also ran all the WD Data Lifeguard Tools and everything checks out fine but I'm still getting the same read error. As of right now I can't boot to the drive and its not being seen by the MoBo Bios. Strange thing is that I can power the system down completely, wait a couple of minutes, reboot and all is good for a while.

Big question is, should I replace the drive now and try to see if WD will RMA the drive even though its not showing any errors during their tests.

Next question is, should I get another WD drive or should I opt for one of the new Seagate series 11 drives with the masive cache??

PS, I don't need a huge drive, I don't keep a lot of data on my system, I only use the drive for my Windows install and games (plus a little porn)............:eek:
 
Merlin

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
I think that is the drive that WD used an 83 gb drive and made it into a 250 gb drive through some process, the same process that Maxtor tried to do.
In fact, the firm dubs the WD2500KS as the "Caviar SE16," or Special Edition.:eek:
Check and see if it is a KS series
 
sbrehm72255

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
I'm not 100% sure which version/model the drive is right now and can't check, its currently not being seen by the system.

I'll have to check when it comes back on line, if it ever does.

Update:

Just rebooted and the drive came right back online and booted right into Windows without issue, this is getting really strange................:(

Anyways, I checked the drive type and model, this is what I have.

WD2500KS-00MJB0
 
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Merlin

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
Yup....thats the KS series.
Been some issues with the SATA connection....see if it's loose
 
gml_josea

gml_josea

Obliviot
WD hard drives can get...weird. I have a WD 80 GB SATA hard drive, someday it decided to not boot anymore, and when ti managed to boot, weird stuff happened. After a couple of days it fixed itself.
o.o
 
sbrehm72255

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
We;;, the drive has been working fine all afternoon (several hours of UT3), I guess I'll back the thing up again and start looking for a replacement just in case.
 
Kougar

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
I've had bizarre issues with my own WD drives... in my case the drive would simply spin itself down and for all intents and purposes vanish as if the data cable was unplugged... or it would just cease responding and continue spinning.

Considering it was also the OS drive, XP didn't take that very well and would lock up within a minute. I had WD RMA the drive... it was a year old. The replacement drive is over a year old and now does the exact same thing. I have sworn off WD, I don't touch their stuff. They made great drives before 2000, I still have working 10-20GB WD drives from around 1998 but their current drives are just crap IMHO.

I've bought Seagates, Maxtors, Hitachis, even an IBM (Hitachi) Deskstar, exact model that ruined the name even. Those drives are all around 3 years old give or take and still running strong while both WD drives were just worthless within a year. I'd recommend anyone except Fujitsu, Western Digital, or Excelstor, but I personally stick with Hitachi or Seagate just because of the 5 year warranties.

Might try plugging the drive into a different port incase it was the mainboard or something, but it just sounds like the drive gets hot and some connection somewhere gets broken so it stops working right. Of course ya replied just under me... after reading that my theory sounds unlikely, but I couldn't explain the behavior of my own WD drives either....
 
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sbrehm72255

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
I tried all the different ports so far and sooner of later the same thing will happen, not really sure what is causing this to happen.
I don't think its heat, the drive runs at 30c max, it sits directly in front of a 120mm fan.............;)

So far after I swapped all the cables, switched all the ports again, its been running fine, but for how long is the big question.

My old WD 80 gig with my Ubuntu install hasn't has a single problem during all this mess, whenever the WD 250 messes up, I simply reboot, hit F11 and select the WD 80 and off goes Ubunto, no problem and my SATA DVDRW hasn't had any issues either, so I'm betting its something with the drive.
 
moon111

moon111

Coastermaker
Do you have any of that WD software running normally?

As from WD's site...

WD's Data Lifeguard technology automatically finds, isolates, and repairs problems that may develop over the life of a hard drive.

...does this mean when you get bad sectors, it'll will move the data to another spot, mark the sector as bad so you won't return the drive?
 
Kougar

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
Heat wasn't a problem with both of my WD drives either, had active cooling on them.

Did you try a program (Speedfan is great for this) for checking the SMART values yourself?
 
werty316

werty316

Partition Master
Ever since I had two WD HDs die on me within a 4 month period, I will never buy another one again unless it was dirt cheap or free :D
 
sbrehm72255

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
Kougar said:
Heat wasn't a problem with both of my WD drives either, had active cooling on them.

Did you try a program (Speedfan is great for this) for checking the SMART values yourself?
Click to expand...

I must have tested it with at least a dozen different programs, when it's working it checks out perfectly, when its not, it's not seen by the system at all.
 
Rob Williams

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
I have to agree with most of you regarding WD... I've owned a few in the past and all of them died, which is why I began using Seagate instead. It's amazing to me though, because WD used to be the ultimate brand in hard drives... I swore by them. But then I began having them die on me, and it's hard to be pleased with them after that.

sbrehm, you are obviously having some severe problems here, so getting a replacement or a backup drive is not going to be a bad idea. If you need to back up things off the bad drive, it would make sense to do it as soon as possible in case the drive completely dies and makes recovery impossible.

In a very unlikely situation, it could be the motherboard. Changing the port on the board might be a good idea if problems arise. However, if that is the route you will take, it will likely break your Ubuntu installation (which can be fixed), so it might be a last resort.
 
sbrehm72255

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
I backed up all my important date to a external drive today, so at least I'm covered that way I guess. I have swapped ports on the bad drive a few times already and it seems to keep coming back, the other SATA drives don't seem to be affected at all so I'm assuming that the MoBo is fine.
Later this week the wife is taking my to St Louis for a VA doctors appointment and I'm going to look locally for a replacement drive I guess (more of a excuse to look at a few computer shops than to buy a drive though, they are much cheaper getting them online).
 
Merlin

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
That's almost what we used to do, to go to Comp USA to see the new products, then order online. Comp USA was way too overpriced. I see some have closed here in Atlanta.

Merlin
Who ducked the tonados yesterday...wheeeww
 
sbrehm72255

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
"ALL" the Comp USA around the entire area are now closed, I think they should be all closed nation wide here pretty soon........;). Only time I ever bought anything there was when my son worked there (they got great discounts)...........;)

No storms here, we got lucky this time around, but we have storm warning posted for the next 3 days or so along with flood warnings, good thing I live up high (by Missouri standards anyways).
 
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