Hard Drive Failure- Not Happy Right now

[Harold Mansfield]

It started last week. I saw a few inconsistencies that kind of worried me. I scanned, dumped old files, lightened the load on the tower..but all to no avail.
Over the weekend it finally crashed on me, but I wasn't absolutely sure until Tuesday morning.

It wasn't a complete failure, it let me do a complete restore to factory...which sucks.
And I did have my files backed up.

After the reformatting, everything seems to be running well. Drive is completely empty and all scans say healthy.

Now I have to go through the painstaking task of reconstructing everything the way I had it while trying to keep up with the work I have on a laptop.
Nope, not happy at all.

[Freelancier]

Get a new disk. I'd never trust a disk that went bad on me.

[vangogh]

Ouch. That sucks, but it sounds like you were ready for it and didn't lose anything. I know the inconvenience of having to reconstruct everything, but it could have been much worse.

Look at the positive. You have a chance to reconstruct things in a way that was better than before. You can reevaluate how you did some things and redo them in a better way. It still sucks that you have to put in the time, but make something positive out of it.

[Brian Altenhofel]

Hard drive has an issue once? Throw it out. They are cheap.

Faster (and automatic) restore times? Configuration management and backups.

[billbenson]

I agree with the advice about tossing the HD above. I've had them go bad on me before as well.

I'd also recommend doing a periodic clone of you HD. Put two drives in the computer and periodically do a clone of one to the other - or better use an external HD. Clones to my knowledge require the same hardware configuration, so when you buy a new drive buy two of them. Put one in a drawer just in case this happens again.

Clones also work well for getting rid of virus's. It's kind of like a restore point.

[Harold Mansfield]

Yeah, I'm definitely throwing it out. I already ordered a new one, but if I can make to the end of the week on my desktop I need to give it a shot.
Laptop is on standby, but work goes so much slower on it.

I'm looking at a 2 drive backup right now.

Bottom line...it's time to reinvest and get a bunch of new stuff. I've been teetering on the "prosumer" wall long enough.
Time to go full pro. I've been window shopping and planning for a couple of months now. This is the kick in the ass I needed.

[Harold Mansfield]

There goes my streak. I've been saying for years "Never had a crash". Oh well. Could have been worse. I could have been completely unprepared and lost everything.

[Harold Mansfield]

One thing I learned in this experience is...if you have to do a reformat, TURN OFF automatic updates. It's likely you'll be behind quite a few and the first time you restart to install something, it will try and install 147 updates at once, which it probably can't do, and you will get stuck in an endless restart loop (hours) of installing and reverting back that there is no way out of other than reformatting again.

Word to the wise.

[billbenson]

Don't use Windows :)

I have one dual boot PC Linux / Windows 7. I boot to Windows once a week or so. There are always a ton of updates, even within that timeframe.

[billbenson]

Oh, and as long as we are on the subject, one of my computers has the case in the link below. It has a 400 mm fan on the side of the box. It takes up the entire side. It keeps the computer cold and really quiet.

Google Image Result for http://images.geeksimages.com/imageshare/S/300x300/S9-PRO-unit.jpg (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.geeksimages.com/imageshare/S/300x300/S9-PRO-unit.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid%3DS9-PRO&h=300&w=300&tbnid=FLgPYF1j0zyUhM:&zoom=1&docid=bSXx-ilwtdIBfM&ei=7mPmVITqGPGIsQSDhoHoBg&tbm=isch&client=firefox-a&ved=0CCIQMygAMAA)

[Freelancier]

It's likely you'll be behind quite a few and the first time you restart to install something, it will try and install 147 updates at once, which it probably can't do, and you will get stuck in an endless restart loop (hours) of installing and reverting back that there is no way out of other than reformatting again. It can't do? My new workstation I got last month had 165 updates to do on first load of Win7. No problem! Then it had another 30 or so to do once I loaded Office and Visual Studio. No problem! You definitely need a new disk if updates are causing you issues.

[Harold Mansfield]

I've been looking at small office "cloud" storage like these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I2P82CS/ref=gno_cart_title_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

What I'm wondering is, is there such a thing that holds SATA drives that you can mirror your hard drive on, and when needed just take out, and slide it right into your desktop's drive bay?

[billbenson]

Yes. There are a couple of SATA configurations. One is mirroring and you can buy a chassis to pull out from the front. I looked into it a few years ago. I don't remember why I didn't do it.

Remember though, it's a real time backup. That means that if you get a virus on one HD, you will get it on both. That's why I prefer the cloning concept.

I'm sure there are others here that are more knowledgeable on the subject.

[Harold Mansfield]

It can't do? My new workstation I got last month had 165 updates to do on first load of Win7. No problem! Then it had another 30 or so to do once I loaded Office and Visual Studio. No problem! You definitely need a new disk if updates are causing you issues.

I scoured Windows forums and blogs and there are a lot people with new computers reporting the same update problem. True, I need a new drive but that's not the definitive reason why Windows stalls on updates and starts repeating the loop.

Based on this experience and how much time it takes to do that many updates at once and how much more time it takes for it to revert back to a previous state..and the real possibility that one thing could go wrong that sends it into a infinite restart loop, I'd probably do that many updates manually just to be on the safe side, and then turn automatic updates back on afterwards. And if anyone asked me that's what I'd tell them to do, to be safe.

This time around I ordered the Win 8.1 disk + a new drive, so I should be able to catch up pretty easily.



Yes. There are a couple of SATA configurations. One is mirroring and you can buy a chassis to pull out from the front. I looked into it a few years ago. I don't remember why I didn't do it.

Remember though, it's a real time backup. That means that if you get a virus on one HD, you will get it on both. That's why I prefer the cloning concept.

I'm sure there are others here that are more knowledgeable on the subject.

I'm familiar with that concept, and I do have a expansion bay for an additional drive. But I'm talking about an external set up like the one I referenced. I'm sure there has to be a way to do it and set a back up schedule the same way you do any other back up.

Or maybe I just get the back up and keep a couple of spare drives around for swapping out. Now that I've had a failure the whole thing looks more fragile than it used to.

[billbenson]

I scoured Windows forums and blogs and there are a lot people with new computers reporting the same update problem. True, I need a new drive but that's not the definitive reason why Windows stalls on updates and starts repeating the loop.

Based on this experience and how much time it takes to do that many updates at once and how much more time it takes for it to revert back to a previous state..and the real possibility that one thing could go wrong that sends it into a infinite restart loop, I'd probably do that many updates manually just to be on the safe side, and then turn automatic updates back on afterwards. And if anyone asked me that's what I'd tell them to do, to be safe.

This time around I ordered the Win 8.1 disk + a new drive, so I should be able to catch up pretty easily.




I'm familiar with that concept, and I do have a expansion bay for an additional drive. But I'm talking about an external set up like the one I referenced. I'm sure there has to be a way to do it and set a back up schedule the same way you do any other back up.

Or maybe I just get the back up and keep a couple of spare drives around for swapping out. Now that I've had a failure the whole thing looks more fragile than it used to.

I'm going on memory from several years ago, so treat this response accordingly. The sata configuration that does mirroring allows you to remove the secondary drive and plug in a different drive. It will instantly copy the main drive to the new secondary drive. That may take a while.

There are chassis setups that allow you to just remove the drive from the front and plug in a new one. No fuss, no muss.

I said in a different thread that I knew someone from a different forum who kept a revolving daily backup in a bank deposit box. Seems a bit anal to me, but you don't want to loose data.

I don't really trust backup companies, but that's just me. I know Dan swears by them and I respect his opinion.

I have a partner 60 miles from me. I get him to do backups. Two locations with similar backups. Similar because he does different spreadsheets etc than I do. But between us we can recover.

I still recommend the cloning as part of your backup process.

[Freelancier]

I don't really trust backup companies, but that's just me. I know Dan swears by them and I respect his opinion.I trust Crashplan. I've been on it for 3 years and restore speed is exceptional (and that's when you want it to be exceptional, right?). I wouldn't back up a whole disk image to it, just because your upload speed isn't going to be fast enough for a 100+ GB image to be passed over the internet, but for keeping your working files backed up, it's much more secure than having a local disk right next to the computer that gets burnt to a crisp in a fire or lost in a flood or whatever.
Anyway, hot swap disk boxes are usually a little more expensive than regular "shut it down, change the configuration, turn it back on." In Harold's case, turning it off to remove or exchange disks isn't likely that big of a deal unless his plan is to do it every day.

[billbenson]

I'm thinking an external drive or two at least one kept off prem for the hard drive failure such as Harold's or a fire, A periodic clone to a locally kept external HD, and a service for information that changes daily as you work would be a pretty secure methodology.

[Harold Mansfield]

All done. Drive swapped out, Windows 8.1 installed, all updates, files and programs transferred over. I did lose a few settings and old programs but nothing major. I can get them back if I can just remember the password for the account.

Honestly, it was pretty easy.

[Alex - Arvixe]

Those initial updates after reinstalling a fresh OS 7 can be so annoying ha! I've recently had to do nearly 200 like yourself though I agree, no problems with it.

@Harold: What are your machine specs? One recommendation I have, reinstall your OS and visit the update manager in your control panel. From there hit the check for updates button and if it comes back with over 100 just select 20 - 30 of them and install. After they're done do the next 20 - 30 and keep going until it has done them all.

Longer but at least you should be able to get it done without any issues and reverting back.

Edit: Just seen you got this sorted.

[Harold Mansfield]

This entire episode has caused me to rethink how I store and save things. I was pretty prepared this time around and it wasn't much of a hardship at all. I have everything back in place with a few exceptions that I don't really need on my work station hard drive. I was saving far too many things on my computer. Too many huge client files. Programs that I no longer use. Just all kinds of ways that I've been wasting my storage space.

My 1TB HD was about 40% free. The new one is about 90% free and it just feels a lot more responsive, "Lighter" even.

I'm moving to network storage now. Got a unit coming to do Raid-1 back ups ( 2 mirrored drives), and will take advantage of one or two of the free online storage accounts that I have. Why not?

The entire thing took me a few hours to do, and I lost a few days of productivity mostly because I didn't have an exact plan. I had back ups so I didn't lose anything, but I didn't have a plan down of what to do next...because I never had to do it.

Now I can see how I can do it in a few minutes and never skip a beat whether it be a new drive or new computer. If there ever is a next time around I'll bet I can be back up and running within the hour or less without losing anything. The mystery is of the whole ordeal is gone.

[Harold Mansfield]

WD Cloud EX2 came today. I got the 4TB configuration. Backing things up on it as I type. It's (2) 3.5" HDD. The exact same thing that's in my desktop. Same connectors and mounts. Exactly the same.

So can I mirror my Workstation HD to a back up just like this and swap it out if needed into my desktop?

[Harold Mansfield]

WD Cloud EX2 came today. I got the 4TB configuration. Backing things up on it as I type. It's (2) 3.5" HDD. The exact same thing that's in my desktop. Same connectors and mounts. Exactly the same.

So can I mirror my Workstation HD to a back up just like this and swap it out if needed into my desktop?

So I got some real world usage from the new server set up.
Last week I had a really bad plumbing issue and had to move out of my place (with 2 hours notice) and into a hotel for 3 days. Obviously I couldn't take my work station with me, so I had to call the rookie (my laptop) in off the bench.

Before I bugged out I moved the files for all my working projects over to the server, hoping that I had done everything correctly and I'd be able to access them from the hotel wifi.

It worked! Perfectly actually. Not only was it easy to access my files from my laptop, but also from my phone.
I felt like a real grown up.


Also on the hard drive question...technically I could do that..create a complete mirror on the server and swap out the drives to my desktop, but it's really not necessary. I simply purchased another drive just in case ( I may install it in the open slot), and created a recovery image and stored it on the server.

I don't expect this drive to crash before I buy a new system, but at least now I know how to recover within the hour and not days.

[billbenson]

As for the phone, are you using your cell for work or are you somehow connecting a phone through your computer?

Oh, as for plumbing, I had a nasty problem this week. $1600 in plumbing work. Not really unexpected, but I'd prefer to use that $1600 elsewhere...

[Harold Mansfield]

As for the phone, are you using your cell for work or are you somehow connecting a phone through your computer?

Just a normal cell phone. I have a virtual number that rings both my office phone and mobile.

No, the phone doesn't need to be connected to my computer to access the server. It's an app.