Is my hard drive dying...?

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spike095 · #1 Post by **spike095** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:37 am

T43/p owner here with a Hitachi HTS726060M9AT00, manufactured in August 2005.

Lately my system has been randomly stuttering for no apparently reason, sometimes become unresponsive immediately. I've found that if I slam my fist into the right hand region underneath the keyboard (directly on top of the HD) everything goes back to normal. I've tried reseating the drive to no avail, and all the test I've run show no surface damage on the hard drive -- in fact, IBM utilities show everything to be in working order. Any explanations?

#2 Post by **Kyocera** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:52 am

Check even viewer, see if there is any messages corresponding to the times of the problem, you may be slamming in vain. There is always the Hitachi HD fitness test also.

davidspalding · #3 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:14 am

I have no idea what you mean by "stuttering," but I can just about guarantee that the fist slamming will shorten the life of even the best-built laptop.

Suggest you use Event Viewer, PC-Doctor, alternate power schemes (e.g. does it happen in the Max performance power scheme?), etc. to help determine what happens around the time you observe "stuttering," and leave the blunt force trauma techniques to airport baggage handlers.

BTW, there are new firmware drivers for some of the drives, I think the Hitachis are in the applicable hardware list. Search on the forums for "drive firmware," you'll find the thread.

christopher_wolf · #4 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:48 pm

Mmmmmm; perhaps I have an explanation for this. It sounds like a mechanical problem with the HDD unit. I have experienced it twice on two very old laptops I had; take a look at my third post in this thread

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=18802

It is, I think, an issue with the mechanism used in the HDD. And, yes, tapping on it *lightly* would sometimes make the characteristic clicking sound go away. The thing about this, though, is that it is a latent mechanical issue...SMART will not always catch and, to my knowledge, didn't on the two laptops I had with those HDDs (Compaq and HP). Maybe the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test can catch it.

#5 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:28 pm

spike095 wrote:I've found that if I slam my fist into the right hand region underneath the keyboard (directly on top of the HD) everything goes back to normal.

That's what I say: "When all else fails, get a bigger hammer."

christopher_wolf · #6 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:20 pm

/me does not think of good things of slamming HDDs

I did find a mecanical reason for that though; although it shouldn't depend on ther force per se, just the period and duration of gentle taps or shakes.

spike095 · #7 Post by **spike095** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:36 pm

event viewer is clean, and the stutter happens indepedent of power scheme (when i say stutter, i mean the system slows to a crawl, literally -- mouse movement becomes erratic at best, movies start freezing every 2-3 seconds, music behaves the same -- a jolt to the hd location brings everything back to full speed, like the HD decided to take a nap and i woke it up).

furthermore, i don't hear any clicking other than the normal operational sound, and all utilities i've run show absolutely no damage on the drive. :

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Is my hard drive dying...?

Is my hard drive dying...?

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