Computer Hard Drive Problems?

Thorton · March 2014

I have a 5 yr old Dell XPS 630 desktop with Vista that is reporting a RAID failure and a SMART failure on the hard drive. This is my primary computer and has been flawless. I actually like Vista. I have all of my files backed-up. From the little Ive read, Im under the belief my hard drive is going.

Is this correct?

If this is correct, should I replace the hard drive or just pony up and buy a new desktop? Which would be less of a pain in the butt since I havent worked on a computer since Windows 98?

I also know the computer is getting older and Vista is almost obsolete.

Thanks for the assistance.

jon s · March 2014

Your HDD is failing... You can either replace it ($100) or buy a new computer... Be aware Windows 8 is really crappy. A new computer would set you back about $1000 for something decent... You WILL need a touchscreen for Windows 8, it is cumbersome with a mouse. Good luck...

Thorton · March 2014

jon s wrote: »

Your HDD is failing... You can either replace it ($100) or buy a new computer... Be aware Windows 8 is really crappy. A new computer would set you back about $1000 for something decent... You WILL need a touchscreen for Windows 8, it is cumbersome with a mouse. Good luck...

If I buy a new computer, should I go Windows 7?

brgman · March 2014

I bought a customized 7 about 6 months ago from Dell.They might still offer them but I had to change several things since they only have like 1 or 2 PC's that are Windows 7 based.
Very happy with it.
I bought a laptop with 8 and hate it.Even with a touchscreen.Its like ordering lunch at a fast food place.Over and over.

Thorton · March 2014

brgman wrote: »

I bought a customized 7 about 6 months ago from Dell.They might still offer them but I had to change several things since they only have like 1 or 2 PC's that are Windows 7 based.
Very happy with it.
I bought a laptop with 8 and hate it.Even with a touchscreen.Its like ordering lunch at a fast food place.Over and over.

Thanks. If I go new, I do not want touchscreen for my home computer.

dkfreebird · March 2014

Had to get new laptop also with windows 8,don't like it.Downloaded a program called windows shell,everything works like windows xp and haven't found any problems with it so far

F1nut · March 2014

I've got a question for you computer guys. Is it possible for like 14 hard drives packed in a moving box to arrive non-functional. They have no external damage.

disneyjoe7 · March 2014

Jesse does bios see those drives at all? If so try to reformat them using the manage step.

F1nut · March 2014

Ok, thanks.

F1nut · March 2014

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Jesse does bios see those drives at all? If so try to reformat them using the manage step.

No idea, just got the claim in, so I haven't seen them yet.

AsSiMiLaTeD · March 2014

Obviously I'm biased since I switched over to the dark side a while back, but IMO the best Windows 7 computer you can walk into a Best Buy and buy right now...is probably a Mac. For hardcore gaming you'll need a PC, and I have a dedicated and expensive PC rig built strictly for gaming.

I just had a friend looking for a windows 7 laptop and he was having the hardest time finding one new and I linked him to a few articles that showed basically the same thing. He ended up going with a MacBook I runs Windows 7 on it, though he's slowly switching over to OSX.

Even if you never even touch the Mac OS, the hardware and design on these damn things is so nice and you have a couple options for running Windows. You can do what I do and run in a virtual machine in OSX, or you can use Bootcamp. That means you're running it natively on the Mac hardware with full hardware driver support, basically like you would on any other PC. Bootcamp comes already installed and is free and easy to set up.

I'm not a Apple fanboy trying to convert you to the dark side, just presenting another option.

msg · March 2014

Yeah, Windows 8 isn't that bad. I still prefer 7, but like DK said, you can get a Start Menu add-on program for it, which basically makes it like regular Windows again. I use StartIsBack. You don't need a touch screen to use Windows 8, though it can be helpful.

If you're getting a RAID failure notification, it may mean that one of the disks is failing. Which RAID method are you using? I'm guessing it's RAID-0, or mirroring? If you like the computer and it's working for you otherwise, you could prob just replace the bad disk and be good to go for a while. It might take a little research to get that all figured out. Providing your hard drives are SATA, it should be pretty easy to find a replacement locally. The older IDE disks don't seem to be as readily available as much these days, but I'm sure you could order one somewhere.

F1 - heck yes it's possible. Lots of new posts since I began my response to the OP and you, but yeah, along the lines of what nbrowser said, hard drives are susceptible to damage from all sorts of different things. Even simply moving or bumping your computer while it's running can cause disk failures, though rare for catastrophic failure from a few bumps here and there. How exactly were these disks shipped? They should have been tightly wrapped in anti-static bags, and protected against vibration and impact damage, ideally packed in foam slots or individually and heavily bubble wrapped, if not simply in individual OE boxes.

Apple's pretty nice gear, agreed. They're all tools to me, and each has its strengths, but yeah, I use a Macbook Pro with VMware Fusion for Windows - you could even virtualize your existing installation of Vista to run on a new Macbook or a Windows PC until you get up to speed on the new machine should you go that route.

F1nut · March 2014

F1 - heck yes it's possible. Lots of new posts since I began my response to the OP and you, but yeah, along the lines of what nbrowser said, hard drives are susceptible to damage from all sorts of different things. Even simply moving or bumping your computer while it's running can cause disk failures, though rare for catastrophic failure from a few bumps here and there. How exactly were these disks shipped? They should have been tightly wrapped in anti-static bags, and protected against vibration and impact damage, ideally packed in foam slots or individually and heavily bubble wrapped, if not simply in individual OE boxes.

I'm not 100% sure at this point, but I seriously doubt they were wrapped in anti-static bags, bubble wrap or foam slots.

ken brydson · March 2014

F1nut wrote: »

I've got a question for you computer guys. Is it possible for like 14 hard drives packed in a moving box to arrive non-functional. They have no external damage.

Did PFB pack 'em?

anonymouse · March 2014

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread.
- A decent new machine can be had around $500 or less which will far exceed the power of that 5 year old machine
- Hard drives will fail. They are mechanical. They are more prone to fail when moved without their heads parked or if subjected to severe shock. There is no substitute for a good HDD diagnostic test.
- Do not reformat the drives if you want to preserve data - there are ways to fix bad sectors, including boot sectors if the drive is salvageable. But again, no substitute for diagnostics
- Apple makes great hardware, but there are better PC options in the form of Lenovo's business series or Panasonic toughbooks if you want durability
- Windows 8 is the fastest, most stable windows yet. If you dont like the interface, add on a start menu program as has been mentioned.

JerryR1verz · March 2014

Re: windows 8 - I have 8.1 on two older PCs and it runs very well, good responsiveness, etc. I did start with windows 8.0 when it first came out and granted it was new to me so it was a challenge to get used to it. I now have 8.1 on a total of three pc's and I like it better than windows 7. Just MHO.

Thorton · March 2014

msg wrote: »

Yeah, Windows 8 isn't that bad. I still prefer 7, but like DK said, you can get a Start Menu add-on program for it, which basically makes it like regular Windows again. I use StartIsBack. You don't need a touch screen to use Windows 8, though it can be helpful.

If you're getting a RAID failure notification, it may mean that one of the disks is failing. Which RAID method are you using? I'm guessing it's RAID-0, or mirroring? If you like the computer and it's working for you otherwise, you could prob just replace the bad disk and be good to go for a while. It might take a little research to get that all figured out. Providing your hard drives are SATA, it should be pretty easy to find a replacement locally. The older IDE disks don't seem to be as readily available as much these days, but I'm sure you could order one somewhere.

F1 - heck yes it's possible. Lots of new posts since I began my response to the OP and you, but yeah, along the lines of what nbrowser said, hard drives are susceptible to damage from all sorts of different things. Even simply moving or bumping your computer while it's running can cause disk failures, though rare for catastrophic failure from a few bumps here and there. How exactly were these disks shipped? They should have been tightly wrapped in anti-static bags, and protected against vibration and impact damage, ideally packed in foam slots or individually and heavily bubble wrapped, if not simply in individual OE boxes.

Apple's pretty nice gear, agreed. They're all tools to me, and each has its strengths, but yeah, I use a Macbook Pro with VMware Fusion for Windows - you could even virtualize your existing installation of Vista to run on a new Macbook or a Windows PC until you get up to speed on the new machine should you go that route.

I have Sata hard drives with mirroring. Can I try rebuilding the array of the one's that's failed? If it fails again, can I just replace that 1 drive and rebuild (mirror) without reinstalling everything? Like I mentioned earlier, I haven't worked on computers in a long time. Thanks for the assistance everyone.

TurboGTU · March 2014

Thorton wrote: »

I have a 5 yr old Dell XPS 630 desktop with Vista that is reporting a RAID failure and a SMART failure on the hard drive. This is my primary computer and has been flawless. I actually like Vista. I have all of my files backed-up. From the little Ive read, Im under the belief my hard drive is going.

Is this correct?

If this is correct, should I replace the hard drive or just pony up and buy a new desktop? Which would be less of a pain in the butt since I havent worked on a computer since Windows 98?

I also know the computer is getting older and Vista is almost obsolete.

Thanks for the assistance.

According to your post, your computer is reporting a raid failure. This means you likely have 2 mirrored drives (if they were striped you likely wouldn't be seeing the error with the computer booted). Find out the brand and size of the drive that failed (model as well if possible, but the same size drive with work fine) and replace the one that died. Rebuild the raid array using the installed raid software and go about your business if you want to keep the computer you have.

Otherwise, there are many inexpensive options for upgrading to a new computer that would server you well too. Don't be afraid of windows 8, I've not had any issue with it using a mouse only. It's honestly quite a bit snappier than windows 7 as well. Windows 8.1 gives you the option to boot to desktop, and you can download start8 if you want to have the windows 7 style start menu instead of the full screen one.

start8 - http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

Thorton wrote: »

I have Sata hard drives with mirroring. Can I try rebuilding the array of the one's that's failed? If it fails again, can I just replace that 1 drive and rebuild (mirror) without reinstalling everything? Like I mentioned earlier, I haven't worked on computers in a long time. Thanks for the assistance everyone.

yes, see above.

czarodzi · March 2014

Windows 8, plus Stardock Start 8, makes that klunky Metro interface go away. It looks and acts just like Windows 7 which has been the best OS interface Microsoft has done. Stable, too.

Computer Hard Drive Problems?

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