Windows Detected A Hard Disk Problem

(note: i am running Windows 8.1 Pro on a Lenovo Thinkpad W540)

several days ago i received a blue screen of death and my computer restarted. upon restart my computer acted like a new system (received the “let’s get you started” message, etc.), and though my data and programs were all intact my user settings (background, taskbar settings, MS Office default settings, etc.) were gone. i also received a message which read “Windows detected a hard disk problem.” in the details it says that “SAMSUNG MZ7TE256HMHP-000L7” is reporting failure. some programs are also acting odd – e.g. Microsoft Office programs won’t open unless i right-click and open as administrator, not all fonts render as they should, etc.

i have since done the following:

- backed up important data.

- ran sfc /scannow in command prompt as administrator. was told that “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them”

- ran DISM Restorehealth and then ran sfc /scannow again after reboot. continued to receive the same message as above.

- ran “wmic diskdrive get status” in cmd. Received one “Pred Fail” result and four “OK”s.

- ran CHKDSK on C: drive several times. results were inconsistent – was told that errors were found after some checks but that no errors were found after others.

- ran CHKDSK /f /x /r /b C: in boot. continued to receive “Windows detected a hard disk problem” message after reboot.

- used third-party software to check hard drive health. one of these programs indicated that it found no bad sectors. however CrystalDiskInfo is indicating a problem with “Wear Leveling Count,” and “Health Status” is at “Bad 100%”.

i chatted with a number of Microsoft customer service people. one suggested that i do an “in-place upgrade” and said that it would not remove any of my data or programs. another suggested that i do a “refresh your PC,” which would delete my programs but not my files. i would be open to trying the in-place upgrade, particularly if i can be sure that i wouldn’t lose anything, but i tend to question how good Microsoft’s customer service people are.

is this a hardware problem or a software problem? would the in-place upgrade or refresh really fix anything? do i need to replace my hard drive? is there some other fix?

note that my computer is 3.5 years old and has an SSD. i do tax my computer at times but this seems like it would be very early for it to crap out. i've been having some problems with my PC for the last several months too (available hard drive space reads ~10GB at startup but quickly falls below 1GB during use, somewhat frequent blue screens, etc.) but i'm not sure if this is related.

 

From what you've stated, I think it's a good idea to err on the safe side and replace the drive. The CHKDSK results combined with the CrystalDisk results raise too many red flags. Even if you did a "refresh," at best it would only be a temporary patch. At worst, it would crash the PC entirely since it appears Windows has become so unstable it might not be able to complete the restore process.

You stated that, at best, you only have 10GB of free space. For any hard drive or solid state drive to perform well, the total amount of used storage should not exceed 80% of the formatted capacity. For example, if you have a 240GB raw capacity drive on which the main formatted partition shows a maximum capacity of 200GB, the total amount stored on it (Windows, programs, files, etc.) should not exceed 160GB (80%). It would be a good idea to invest extra money to get a higher capacity replacement drive versus buying one of the same capacity you have now.

The only thing more expensive than replacing the drive is what might happen if you end up losing important files you haven't backed up yet or being unable to complete an important task such as a report or presentation due to the drive totally tanking. As such, I'd do this ASAP.

Hope this helps.

 

thanks very much. i also feel that switching out the SSD would be the smartest and safest thing to do at this point. trying to save the SSD with an in-place install would effectively be a cost-saving move since i'd probably have to rearrange some of my data anyways. but the cost of a 500GB SSD really isn't a big deal, and it would be nice to have my old SSD around and in a functional state to give me access to old data just in case, rather than risk having it crap out on the reinstall or having to replace it later anyways, even though i've already backed up my important data.

for what it's worth, i ran several other third-party hard disk checkers (GSmart, HD Tune) and received the same message regarding the "wear leveling count" issue. so this might offer more certainty that it's a hardware problem, though i don't know enough to make this judgment for sure.

planning to use a large external hard drive for most files going forward, internal hard drive just for programs and associated data.

thanks again for your thoughtful response.

 

At this point, I would consider the old SSD damaged goods and not rely on it to store backup copies of anything important.

The best rule of backup is "3-2-1." Three copies of all files. two of which aren't stored on the PC and one of which is stored on the cloud using a service such as One Drive or Carbonite. As I stated in a previous thread, the copy on the cloud can be a life saver in the event of a fire, flood, tornado or (in my case a few years ago) a break-in where the thieves steal both your PC and backup drive.

 

gman863 has given you good advice- hard drive looks like it will fail very soon.
Personally,I tend to do a complete copy of my hard drive, using Partition Wizard (free version, and an external enclosure,with a second computer/laptop. I find that handy, as with PW you can copy any size to any size hard drive (including ssd )-but I do that regularly, so as to always have a more, or, less updated copy.