Laptop drive issues...

[zeke1144]

So I recently purchased a Lenovo Z70-80. It had an 840m which covers my modest gaming needs, an i7, and 17.3" screen. For the price I got with all of their deals I couldn't turn it down. However, the downfall of the laptop is the hard drive. It has a Samsung SSHD in it. Having owned it for probably about 2 weeks now, it seems as though the SSHD is already failing. Started up google chrome a couple days ago, all settings were lost due to a corrupt file. I need to have a couple VM's setup to run some linux distros. Had to recreate my Ubuntu VM 3 times because after a shutdown/restart (of laptop) it claimed the file had become corrupted. Went to create another VM off of a seperate ISO I had downloaded earlier that day, corrupted. I leave for college in ~2 weeks. I need the linux distros to do programming on as assignments are graded on Unix machines. I can't have these random failures that might cost me to lose an entire project.

My thought is replace it and be done with it. A replacement from Lenovo will just be the same SSHD, which as I've read in other threads, the Samsung is known for failures. The laptop has only one HDD bay.

Does anyone have any experience with the WD Black2? (The 128gb ssd and 1tb HDD in one)

Are there any tweaks or settings I need to change in order to get my current SSHD to work properly?

Am I better off just getting a 1tb spin drive?

Thanks in advance,

zeke

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Are all the corruptions coming from these shutdowns?
Seems like you have more of a power problem than storage problem.

 

[zeke1144]

Are all the corruptions coming from these shutdowns?
Seems like you have more of a power problem than storage problem.

Interesting... I hope it's not a power problem. It doesn't happen when the laptop comes out of sleep mode. I guess I just won't shut the laptop off for a while and see if anything else becomes corrupt.

My brother has the same laptop, so I might be able to do some comparisons to find out if it is just mine, or a general problem in the Z70 or SSHD.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

What's the SMART data show for the SSHD?
CrystalDiskInfo can show this for you, among other programs.

 

[zeke1144]

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Yep, SMART looks good all over.
If you're getting a lot of random shutdowns, that's most likely the source of the corruption.

 

[Mighty_Miro_WD]

Hi there.

The S.M.A.R.T. attributes look good to me, and there's nothing wrong with the drive according to the results. However, if you decide you can indeed replace it with another drive.

About WD Black Dual, I have one in my laptop and I'm satisfied with the performance it offers. It is not a hybrid drive, but a single unit with 2 separate volumes - one 120GB SSD and a 1TB HDD. It uses different architecture than the typical SSHD because the hybrid drives blend HDD capacity with SSD speeds by placing traditional rotating platters and a small amount of high-speed flash memory on a single drive. With the Black Dual you have 2 separate portions and you can select where to install your apps, and where to store your data - the SSD or the HDD.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Cheers!

 

[zeke1144]

Yep, SMART looks good all over.
If you're getting a lot of random shutdowns, that's most likely the source of the corruption.

Just to clarify, the shutdowns aren't random. They are just when I shut down to transport/charge etc.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Just to clarify, the shutdowns aren't random. They are just when I shut down to transport/charge etc.

This made me think you had random restarts:

Had to recreate my Ubuntu VM 3 times because after a shutdown/restart (of laptop) it claimed the file had become corrupted.

So you're saying that when you shut down your computer, like normal, that is when you get the corruption?

 

[zeke1144]

This made me think you had random restarts:



So you're saying that when you shut down your computer, like normal, that is when you get the corruption?

After a reread I can see where I caused confusion with my wording.

Yes, it was after planned shutdowns/restarts that it would become corrupt.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

After a reread I can see where I caused confusion with my wording.

Yes, it was after planned shutdowns/restarts that it would become corrupt.

Sounds like you're not getting the VM shut down properly before powering off the laptop then.
Or it's keeping part of the VM in the cache, but subsequently cutting the cache off before finishing the transfer to the platters.

 

[zeke1144]

Sounds like you're not getting the VM shut down properly before powering off the laptop then.
Or it's keeping part of the VM in the cache, but subsequently cutting the cache off before finishing the transfer to the platters.

I power it off (VM's) the same way I did on my previous computer. Also, my Google Chrome and Linux Distro file (not associated with a VM yet) became corrupt as well. Is there a special way you have to shutdown a laptop which has one of these hybrid drives in it?

I'm leaning towards getting a big SSD and just being done with the drive. If its performance and failure rate are as bad as they are, i'd rather take the hit now, then a failure mid-year and lose all of my progress on a project.

Also, the SSD performance is a nice boost.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Try using hibernate or sleep instead of shut down and see if it helps.

What size SSD would you need? The Samsung 850 EVO 500GB is a steal.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OBRE5UE/?tag=pcpapi-20

 

[zeke1144]

Sounds good, was planning on going with that drive.

If however, I need more storage on my laptop down the road. Does anyone have any experience with the HDD caddys? I saw some for Lenovos that it looks like you just pop the faceplate off of the dvd drive and put it on the caddy. i never use the dvd drive so it wouldn't matter if it was gone.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Sounds good, was planning on going with that drive.

If however, I need more storage on my laptop down the road. Does anyone have any experience with the HDD caddys? I saw some for Lenovos that it looks like you just pop the faceplate off of the dvd drive and put it on the caddy. i never use the dvd drive so it wouldn't matter if it was gone.

I've used an ODD -> HDD caddy for an old laptop before, but that was years ago.
A quick Google search shows this: http://hddcaddy.com/en/lenovo-ibm-hdd-caddy/1153-lenovo-ideapad-z70-hdd-caddy.html

Could always go with the 1TB 850 EVO, also.

 

[zeke1144]

Well, looks like I've got a decision to make then...

Thanks for the help

zeke

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Any time!
Let me know how everything turns out for you

 

[zeke1144]

So I've found out I can buy two 500gb SSDs for less than the single terabyte... If I were to purchase the HDD caddy, could I put them in a RAID 0? Or is the DVD drive a slower SATA port?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

RAID0 can cause reliability issues, I would suggest the single SSD for your situation with an HDD in the caddy.

 

[zeke1144]

RAID0 can cause reliability issues, I would suggest the single SSD for your situation with an HDD in the caddy.

Sounds good.

Going to order the 500gb SSD now, and down the road if I need the storage get a spin drive.

Again, Thanks for you help! It is much appreciated.

zeke