2nd Hard Drive Failed - Does anyone know why?

I have a 2010 Acer Aspire AM5910 Desktop computer. It has an Intel Core i5-650 3.2 GHZ processor and 6GB RAM. The operating system is Windows 7.

In late January, the computer wouldn’t boot into windows, and the hard drive crashed. I replaced it with a new hard drive (a Seagate 1TB SATA, 7200 RPM – same capacity and speed as the previous hard drive, although the previous drive was by a different manufacturer).

I restored the OS and all software/data, and the computer was running fine. The computer speed was fine. Suddenly, after 6 weeks, the computer started slowing down, and then after about two days, it wouldn’t boot into Windows again.

I took the computer to Staples, where I bought the hard drive, and they agreed to test only the hard drive for free (otherwise, their charge would have been $70 to run complete diagnostics). They said that the hard drive failed the linear test.

Seagate replaced the hard drive, as it was still under warranty, but before I re-install it, I wanted to find out if it was likely that it was simply a bad Seagate drive, or if something else is likely (such as overvoltage from the power supply). We have the computer plugged into a Smart UPS that regulates incoming power, but that doesn’t mean that the power supply is not supplying steady DC on the inside.

I don’t want to put much money into a 3.5 year old computer – it could be nearing the end of its lifespan.

Does this sound like the second (new) hard drive was faulty?

 

How hot is the room that you use the unit in? How stable is the incoming power from the power company? Desktops are like ovens, no matter how well you cool them. Hard drives tend to fail quicker in them.

You would need to run a Temp monitor on the unit to see how it is running. Either a unit that fits into a DVD slot on the case, or software that checks the temps on the various hardware.

Temperature is a computer killer. Same with Power Supplies can just as easily kill units.

For it being 4 years old, it does not surprise me that it lasted that long. Especially if you play games, keep it on 24/7, etc..

I have seen computers last 10-15 years. Matter of fact, I have a laptop in my basement that is now 15 years old. New Hard drive, new RAM and it runs like new.

I would say that if you are going to keep your existing system, get something to help keep it cool, and if the room is warm, say 72 or higher, get the temp down around 68-69 during the Winter. Summer, try to keep it around 71-72.

Your system is still pretty good by today's standards. Not much has changed in four years, other then a few tweaks in certain CPU & GPU lines.

 

If you want to check the health of your HDD or even monitor the temperature, you may want to check out Active SMART by Ariolic Software from MG here
It uses the HDD's S.M.A.R.T. technology to give you information about HDD performance and temperatures. Try it out as it is shareware and then buy it if you like it

Another older utility is Drive Health here but this hasn't been updated since 2010 and is shareware too rolleyes

Hope this helps :wave

 

Brownizs: Thanks for your response.

The power going into this machine should be very clean and stable. We have a SMART UPS that regulates the power. The incoming power seems to be a consistent 122 V, per the Smart- UPS. I haven't seen that vary in quite some time. The room has a fairly consistent temperature, summer and winter. We use it as a business computer, so it doesn't run 24/7, but I would guess that it is probably on 40 to 60 hours per week.

Joffa -

Thanks for the suggestion. We can try the shareware to monitor the hard drive to see if we're getting instability somewhere.

 

How about the power on the other side of the PSU?

You might have stable power coming in initially, but not to the components.

 

I'm not sure what you're asking here. Are you asking whether the (supposedly protected and stabilized) power coming out of the back end of my SMART UPS is unstable? I think that's unlikely, although I haven't checked that. The SMART UPS is also feeding a number of other power supplies, including the monitor, external hard drive, modem and router. None of these have had problems.

 

Nope, I am saying what do your PSU voltages look like and are they stable?

Once the electricity hits the PSU, the UPS has nothing to do with anything.

 

Ok, now I understand your question. I don't have an easy way to test the power supply.

Does it seem likely that this is a power supply problem (people keep mentioning it), or is it more likely that the new hard drive installed was faulty?

 

A PSU tester is a very handy tool to own :-D
Check this tester out. I carry a couple of these in my briefcase for a quick PSU voltage check when I go out on site. Costing only AU$15 they are cheap enough to not really matter if you happen to leave one somewhere. rolleyes Being quite small they don't take up much space either so having two is not an issue :cool Lose one and you still have the other one to use



* By the way I am in no way associated with selling this device and get no money from promoting it. I am just an enduser who thinks this is a pretty good deal :cool The first one I bought about 9 or 10 years ago cost me AU$65 but now they are dirt cheap :-D

 

Joffa Core Temp is the one that I use. It is updated all of the time. I have spoken to the author of it, and he is a really good guy. Always replies to your messages if you have a concern.

 

Joffa, looks like one of the Rosewill's at newegg.com, you can get it for $14. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...wer supply tester&name=Newegg&Order=BESTMATCH

 

Yeah I use Core Temp too but I use Active SMART if I only want info about the HDDs

Looks basically the same although the LCD display may be a different colour :-D I have never used NewEgg and when I buy on ebay I wait until I see a deal with free shipping.
Is the $13.99 newegg price I see here my cost in AU$

 

Barring buying something, many BIOS/EFI utilities will show the voltage, although not quite realtime.

 

I ran into the no voltages showing or SMART info on the Toshiba Satellites. It is getting to the point that they are making it harder to diagnose systems now days, vs how it was with the older hardware.

 

I buy pretty much all of my stuff from either Newegg or Amazon. I have gotten to where I have bought so much from Newegg, that I get free shipping now. Check with the local computer shops (not Best Buy), to see if they have the tester. Some Staples and Office Depot's have in house computer techs, that may have the tester also.

I like Active Smart, but I do not like paying for it. So I will usually run Xubuntu on a Live CD and grab the info that way.

lm-Sensors will give you everything you need to know. As long as it is able to get the information from the motherboard sensors. Power, Voltage info.

 

I meant with the actual built in utility within the BIOS setup. Or did you mean the same thing?

 

I meant the same thing also Adrynalyne. My Acer Netbook had onboard diagnostics in the bios, so did the old Compaq Laptop I had, along with the Dell & Compaq desktops.

It is mainly what bios is in the computer. That you will either have the diagnostics built in or not. The Toshiba Satellites that we have, use the Insyde Corp. Bios. Toshiba & Insyde went very limited on it. Even when I ran lm-Sensors in Xubuntu. I got only the temps, no voltages.