HDD Dying or OS probs?

[LogRus]

I've recently noticed my system being reaaaaaally slow. My rig is in my sig and it worked perfect for about 9 months but about 1 month ago the system started to freeze for like 2-4 minutes before I'll be able to use it (mainly couldn't use Start menu or anything from the taskbar, and after 2-4 min's passes everything I've done appeares/opens as right away):confused:. Also sometimes when I open C:\ drive or D:\ Drive it could take also about 2-3 mins till it'll stop making "crunchie" sounds (my whole case is shacking), and it never did that before, I mean it was very quiet. I did Defrag, check dsk, virus scan, spyware scan and my swap file is only 150MB, but nothing helped.

It is a 120GB Maxtor (Model #: 6Y120LO) HD, w/ 2MB cache 7200 RPM. I've divided it into 100GB (C: ) and the rest made a 2nd drive (D: ). C drive has 15% free space D drive has 6% free space. I know this problem could be because this HD is so loaded and that OS wasn't reinstalled for aprox 10 months now (I usualy did it every other month, but now I wanted to make it at least 1 year). And my HD was always that full (+/- 2-3gb's). But I've never had this problem and the system was rock stable. Is there a solution to this? Might it be something running in the background making that to happen? Is there a way to make this thing work faster other then reinstalling the OS?

My Task Manager:

http://www.geocities.com/logrus3/images/proc.jpg http://www.geocities.com/logrus3/images/task.jpg

Any SpyWare/Virus is seen here?

Any help is very appreciated!
Thanks,
-LogRus.

*EDIT*
If you can't see the pictures try copying the following links in ur adress bar (clicking on them didn't help either :( ):
http://www.geocities.com/logrus3/images/proc.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/logrus3/images/task.jpg

[Stedeman]

You can download Max Blast off maxtors web page and it will do some testing on the drive but if it's crunching odds are your drive is going.
P.S. pics don't show

[huneycutt]

I'm not a HD expert but using Horse sense and thinking out loud here, so don't take this as HD Gospel.

It almost has to be the the HD and sounds like the bearings are going and since the data does load, although painfully slow, it appears nothing wrong with the disc surface itself.

"started to freeze for like 2-4 minutes before I'll be able to use it"

I'd guess the slow-load is due to the HD not spinning as fast as it should, but if it is so out of balance it's shaking I imagine the seek arm is having great difficulty zeroing in on the data it's looking for. Go figure, . . . HD discs are farily heavy and if it is the least little bit off balance and spinning 5400 or 7200 RMP's that baby will shake like a warped tire out of balance.

You could pop a start-up disk in, (ME will do fine), boot to the A promt and type "scandisk" and DOS will check the integrity of the disk surface, but I know of no utility that checks the bearings, out-of-balance or "wobbling." Remote possibility but could be a fan bearing going out but you shoud hear the bearings squealing or see the blades wobbling. Nah, . . . it's the HD . . .

"Crunching" sound . . . ? Hmm . . . Never heard of such but sounds like the HD disk rubbing or bearings grinding. I don't know if HD's have "bearings" but the disk shaft has to be spinning in something similar.

This is a hardware problem and no way software or the OS would cause it to shake and crunch and I'd back up my important data and look at getting a new HD. Get one with the 8MB cache and you'll be good to go.

[LogRus]

Thank you for your help! I think I'm going to order a new drive, and live on w/it. But I still think this drive must be alive, will test it in a diff system...

[gt24]

Just make sure you have some recent backups. The worst thing to have happen is for your drive to just die, for good, with vital information on the drive.

If you do have vital information, and you cannot afford to have your drive die, it could be best to wait until you get a new drive before powering up the old one... just my 2 cents...

[L337 M33P]

Ever defragmented the drive? :rolleyes:

Start -> run -> defrag.exe -v c:

Before you do that you may want to clear out all the old, unneeded and temporary files in yer C: drive as XP Defrag won't work with tiny amounts of space.

Or, if you want the graphical version, go Right-click My computer, Manage, Disk Defragmenter, Analyse C:

Can you post a screenie? ;)

[LogRus]

Originally posted by gt24
Just make sure you have some recent backups. The worst thing to have happen is for your drive to just die, for good, with vital information on the drive.

If you do have vital information, and you cannot afford to have your drive die, it could be best to wait until you get a new drive before powering up the old one... just my 2 cents...

Good point. All required backups have been done. "Safety First!" :D.

Originally posted by L337 M33P
Ever defragmented the drive? :rolleyes:

Start -> run -> defrag.exe -v c:

Before you do that you may want to clear out all the old, unneeded and temporary files in yer C: drive as XP Defrag won't work with tiny amounts of space.

Or, if you want the graphical version, go Right-click My computer, Manage, Disk Defragmenter, Analyse C:

Can you post a screenie? ;)

That was one of the first things I've done on it. :)

Originally posted by LogRus
I did Defrag, check dsk, virus scan, spyware scan and my swap file is only 150MB, but nothing helped.

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

Other then that I've fixed the "shacking" problem.. :rolleyes: I was installing new fans recently and forgot to screw in the 2 screws on one side of the HDD so it wasn't FIXED in the case, but still strange it was shaking that bad, never did it before.

All the other problems are still there though. One of the worse ones is that it takes so long for me to wait till it'll "unfreeze" :(

[L337 M33P]

Hmm

Have you recently (i.e. just before the problems happened) installed any drivers or updated the BIOS?

[huneycutt]

"Other then that I've fixed the "shacking" problem.. "

WOW! That fan must be terribly out of balance to shake that bad and I'd deep six that bad puppy.

[gt24]

Originally posted by huneycutt
"Other then that I've fixed the "shacking" problem.. "

WOW! That fan must be terribly out of balance to shake that bad and I'd deep six that bad puppy.

Do hard drives react well when shaken over a long period of time? Hmmm..... I wouldn't be surprised if that fan killed your drive, but then again I wouldn't be surprised if the drive wasn't harmed by it either... so I am just left wondering...