Multiple hard drive failures?

[Malix]

Back in november i had a western digital hard drive die on me very suddenly. It was a fairly new drive, but one day i got a couple of error messages that the computer couldnt access the disk, then the next day it was dead.

If i try to boot into windows it will just sit at a black screen with the HD light blinking, but disabling that hard drive in the bios let me start up windows again.

Ok, if it just happened once it could be a bad drive, no big deal. But today the exact same thing happened to my new Seagate drive that i replaced the old one with.

This seems very strange to me. There was no clicking from the drive or any earlier problems, just sudden death. Is it possible that my motherboard might be responsible for killing them? Or just a coincidence? Voltages all look normal in the bios menu, and the bios is still able to detect the drive...

I know there are some hard drive diagnostic programs out there, are they worth it? Any other ideas?

TIA

 

[Denithor]

The manufacturers all provide basic diagnostic software, you can give that a try.

It's more likely your PSU that cause the deaths rather than the motherboard.

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: Denithor
The manufacturers all provide basic diagnostic software, you can give that a try.

It's more likely your PSU that cause the deaths rather than the motherboard.

PSU causing dead HDs is extremely rare.

More than likely it is just coincidence. Unless of course, you got the HD from newegg, and they packed it badly... :disgust:

Of course, Seagate is also having some QC issues it seems.

You can use the tools to check SMART, and that *may* tell you it is bad, but more often than not, it won't say anything is wrong with it. The next thing is a sector test, and that could take a very long time for big HDs.

 

[Malix]

Well this weekend hard drive #3 died on me in exactly the same way, a Western Digital this time.

Anyone have any other ideas? Twice could be a coincidence but 3 times in 4 months is ridiculous.

Motherboard is an Abit KN8 Ultra, PSU is an Antec TrueBlue 480w, it is not overclocked, my case has good airflow and i keep it cold in my apartment so i highly doubt that its a heat issue. My PATA drives that ive had for years still work fine but every SATA drive i install is dying on me.

Any ideas? This is really frustrating. :|

 

[Blain]

The PS sounds old.
Are you running any type of power cleaning, like a line conditioner or AVR UPS?

Post a good pic of where your SATA HDs are mounted, (not a close up of the HD).

 

[Malix]

No i'm not.

 

[dunkster]

I lost a WD2500KS coincident with failure of an Antec PS.

After replacing PS, the drive was intermittently unstable.

It seems likely that 5V supply line lost regulation (over-volted), damaging the HD controller chip(s).

You have probably guessed that the replacement PS was not an Antec product.

Hope this helps!

 

[Zap]

Do you ever move your system? I had a friend who took his system to work every day. His HDDs were always dying. I finally convinced him that he didn't need his computer at work all the time, and he went from a dead HDD every two months to going well over a year before another one failed.

 

[Malix]

Originally posted by: Zap
Do you ever move your system? I had a friend who took his system to work every day. His HDDs were always dying. I finally convinced him that he didn't need his computer at work all the time, and he went from a dead HDD every two months to going well over a year before another one failed.

Nope. The only reason i have been moving it lately is to put in a new HDD every 2 months.

 

[Blain]

What's the story on your PS?
Got that pic posted yet?

 

[Malix]

Originally posted by: Blain
What's the story on your PS?
Got that pic posted yet?

Well, my PSU doesnt really have a story. I bought it a few years ago, installed it, and I have never had any problems with it. All the voltage levels look normal in the bios, and i havent had any other computer problems lately besides the dying hard drives.

Please excuse the bad quality pic -

This is the case its in - http://www.directron.com/frontmatrix.html

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Malix
Well, my PSU doesnt really have a story. I bought it a few years ago, installed it, and I have never had any problems with it.
All the voltage levels look normal in the bios, and i havent had any other computer problems lately besides the dying hard drives.

Do you think your dead HDs are just bad luck or do you suspect something is killing them?

Lay it on us...
Hit us with the PS make & model.

 

[Malix]

Well i suspect something is causing it since they have all died in exactly the same way, and in such a short time span.

Motherboard is an Abit KN8 Ultra, PSU is an Antec TrueBlue 480w

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Are you using a SATA power connector built in to the PSU or an adapter?

If you keep having this problem, I would change PSU's

 

[Malix]

The first hard drive to die was on a molex connector, and the 2 after that were hooked up with an adapter.