[N8JevTBH]

Hey guys,

Windows 7 64bit.

Today started getting the following message:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows detected a hard disk problem.

Back up your files immediately to prevent information loss, and then contact the computer manufacturer to determine if you need to repair or replace the disk.

> Start the backup process
> Ask me again later
If the disk fails before the next warning, you could lose all of the programs and documents on the disk.

More Information:
Immediate steps
Because a disk failure will cause you to lose all programs, files and documents on the disk, you should back up your important information immediately. Try not to use your computer until you have repaired or replaced the hard disk.

Which disk is failing?
The following hard disks are reporting failure:
Disk Name: SAMSUNG HM321HI
Voume: C:\

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hit up cmd.exe as an administrator and ran chkdsk /f /r and rebooted and then ran the disk checker (which took 2 hours to complete).

Then I went to Computer Management, Windows Logs, Application and got the following wininit detail log:

Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Wininit
Date: 04/12/2012 17:38:15
Event ID: 1001
Task Category: None
Level: Information
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Owner-PC
Description:


Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is OS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
293632 file records processed.

File verification completed.
1556 large file records processed.

0 bad file records processed.

0 EA records processed.

44 reparse records processed.

CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
382286 index entries processed.

Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.

0 unindexed files recovered.

CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
293632 file SDs/SIDs processed.

Cleaning up 295 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 295 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 295 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
44328 data files processed.

CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
34489760 USN bytes processed.

Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x33b238d000 for 0x10000 bytes.
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x33b2390000 for 0x1000 bytes.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 4353
of name \$RECYCLE.BIN\S-1-5-~1\$RB8RSE3.tmp.
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x60c3000 for 0x10000 bytes.
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x60cb000 for 0x1000 bytes.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 261998
of name \WINDOWS\winsxs\AM5DB3~1.175\QAGENTRT.DLL.
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x368d47f000 for 0x10000 bytes.
Read failure with status 0xc0000185 at offset 0x368d485000 for 0x1000 bytes.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 291745
of name \Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\APPLEC~1\MOBILE~1\Backup\92FBE4~2\B1CA05~1.
293616 files processed.

File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
16110331 free clusters processed.

Free space verification is complete.
Adding 3 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

297202496 KB total disk space.
232217876 KB in 221568 files.
138612 KB in 44329 indexes.
12 KB in bad sectors.
404668 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
64441328 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
74300624 total allocation units on disk.
16110332 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 7b 04 00 af 0e 04 00 7a e2 06 00 00 00 00 00 .{......z.......
e7 de 00 00 2c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....,...........
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Wininit" Guid="{206f6dea-d3c5-4d10-bc72-989f03c8b84b}" EventSourceName="Wininit" />
<EventID Qualifiers="16384">1001</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>4</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-12-04T17:38:15.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>98194</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>Owner-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is OS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
293632 file records processed.

File verification completed.
1556 large file records processed.

0 bad file records processed.

0 EA records processed.

44 reparse records processed.

CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
382286 index entries processed.

Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.

0 unindexed files recovered.

CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
293632 file SDs/SIDs processed.

Cleaning up 295 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 295 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 295 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
44328 data files processed.

CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
34489760 USN bytes processed.

Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x33b238d000 for 0x10000 bytes.
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x33b2390000 for 0x1000 bytes.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 4353
of name \$RECYCLE.BIN\S-1-5-~1\$RB8RSE3.tmp.
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x60c3000 for 0x10000 bytes.
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x60cb000 for 0x1000 bytes.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 261998
of name \WINDOWS\winsxs\AM5DB3~1.175\QAGENTRT.DLL.
Read failure with status 0xc00000b5 at offset 0x368d47f000 for 0x10000 bytes.
Read failure with status 0xc0000185 at offset 0x368d485000 for 0x1000 bytes.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 291745
of name \Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\APPLEC~1\MOBILE~1\Backup\92FBE4~2\B1CA05~1.
293616 files processed.

File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
16110331 free clusters processed.

Free space verification is complete.
Adding 3 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

297202496 KB total disk space.
232217876 KB in 221568 files.
138612 KB in 44329 indexes.
12 KB in bad sectors.
404668 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
64441328 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
74300624 total allocation units on disk.
16110332 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 7b 04 00 af 0e 04 00 7a e2 06 00 00 00 00 00 .{......z.......
e7 de 00 00 2c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....,...........
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.
</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

I haven't done anything since I got the above results.

I'm not going to buy a new HD. I am going to get rid of this laptop as soon as I can afford to buy a new one.

In the mean time is there anything I can do to stop this message and anything that I can do to prolong the use of my laptop, until I replace it?

Thanks

[Stig]

The more you use it, the quicker it will fail.

You haven't mentioned if you have a backup - now is the time to do it.

Actually a new hard disk is the easiest fix. You put a new disk in the PC, reinstall Windows and move your data over from the failing disk.

[N8JevTBH]

Don't really need a back up - all my music is on my iPod. Not really bothered about pictures. All important documents are on a dropbox.

Don't want a new hard disk as I said - I'm replacing the laptop as soon as I can afford it.

Anything I can do though? Or an ETA of how long it will last?

[max99]

It could last until the end of the week. Or the end of the year. Or the end of this post. No one knows and there's no way to tell.

You can avoid doing anything disk-intensive - like defragging or virus scans, but ultimately it might make zero difference. All you know for sure is that the drive is going to fail at some point in the future - so just use it as you normally would and wait for the inevitable.

If you don't want to replace the drive, you can always run Linux from a USB stick. It'll make a handy browsing machine for someone and you want have to worry about it being messed up.

[Helbore]

Originally Posted by max99

It could last until the end of the week. Or the end of the year. Or the end of this post. No one knows and there's no way to tell.

^ This. Based on what you've said you want to do, your options are either to buy a new machine now or pray your current one lasts until you do.

[LION8TIGER]

Burn the restore discs if you have not already, then someone in the future may want to buy it with a new install of Win 7. The price of a new hard drive may be worth it.

[Helmut10]

Looking at that Hard Drive Report this is what I would do.

Windows replaced bad clusters in file 4353
of name \$RECYCLE.BIN\S-1-5-~1\$RB8RSE3.tmp.
This does not matter as it's in the Re-Cycle Bin, *.tmp temporary file and will be deleted at some point anyway.

Windows replaced bad clusters in file 261998
of name \WINDOWS\winsxs\AM5DB3~1.175\QAGENTRT.DLL.
You will need to replace this file or re-install the software it relates to. Simple detective work should nail this one.

Windows replaced bad clusters in file 291745
of name \Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\APPLEC~1\MOBILE~1\Backup\92FBE4~2\B1CA05~1.
Probably does not matter as it's seems to be a backup file that will be replaced at some point anyway. Though forcing a backup maybe possible.

12 kB is not much and it has affected maybe 1 significant file.

So no real big deal. Should be easy to deal with the problems listed without a re-install.

Longer term wise you should do regular Hard Disk Scans like that to see if that 12 kB increases. If it increases the HDD is definately dying. If it stays the same at 12 kB then it's probably OK. maybe it was just a bad write due to a power glitch.

Bear in mind that consumer Hard Disk Drives typically only last for maybe 3 years or thereabouts anyway.

[Maxatoria]

By the time windows starts to complain about a duff drive its pretty well on its way to the great disk array in the sky as drives have a remap area to cater for a few faults but of that areas full then i'm afraid its terminal and theres not a lot you can do as it could go at any time as all it needs to do is catch a important system file and then you have a non booting brick and since you don't care i'd take the drive out and slap it on ebay for some vouchers towards a new machine and then provide a large amount of drive/hammer time to finish off whats already happening and move on

[shhftw]

Originally Posted by Helmut10

Bear in mind that consumer Hard Disk Drives typically only last for maybe 3 years or thereabouts anyway.

That statement is false. Quote a MTBF if anything. A hard drive can develop a problem at day 1, or depending on usage, maybe never in it's serviceable lifecycle.

Download Defraggler by piriform and you can view the HDD's SMART info in Windows quite easily.

e.g. my HDD lifecycle is 600,000 load/unload cycles, it's currently around 13,000 and I've had almost 5000POH, this drive came with me from the last laptop as an upgrade.

I've been running it for about 2 years now (on average powered up for 102 days of the year) and it's warranted for 5 years. I make it about 2% along it's projected reliability curve.

I expect it won't be able to physically integrate into a new machine before it gets much beyond it's warranty period, which is when I would replace anyway, purely because it will probably be a planned replacement at that point.

[cnbcwatcher]

Originally Posted by Helmut10

Bear in mind that consumer Hard Disk Drives typically only last for maybe 3 years or thereabouts anyway.

I disagree. I have an old desktop PC from 2003 and the original hard drive is still working even 9 years later. The computer has been heavily used. Maybe it depends on the user?

[Sea_salt]

Originally Posted by cnbcwatcher

I disagree. I have an old desktop PC from 2003 and the original hard drive is still working even 9 years later. The computer has been heavily used. Maybe it depends on the user?

Yes, drives should last a lot longer than 3 years - and I think a lot depends on the model. I'm still using drives from 2001 and in 15 years or so only ever had one go bad - and that one was usable for years once repartitioned so the heads wouldn't try reading a particular area of the disk.

Incidentally, last year I tried booting up an old dusty BBC/Torch from the '80s and that had no problem reading its 5 1/4 inch floppies!