glitch or real?

[SoBeiT]

During DC last night the screen froze and after rebooting I had this message:
primary master hard disk fail.

Nothing worked for the rest of the night. Yet here it is working now :confused:


This is only a 4 month old HD. Any opinions on wether it's a glitch or a real problem?

[Inkswitch]

Hmmm
See if it happens again. I have never had that message without the HD failing, though.

Dig out that receipt.

[Salyavin]

First, back up your data immediately. If you already make regular backups, you should do another one for the most recent files but make a fresh copy (don't overwrite an older backup).

My rule of thumb is that if a hard disk fails once, I never trust it again even if it "recovers." At 4 months it should still be under warranty so you can get it replaced. Warranty replacements may take a while, depending on the vendor (some will ship you a replacement immediately, others want the broken one sent to them first), so you may need to buy another hard disk to keep your system running. Use the Windows check disk utility; if it finds errors you'll probably want to replace the drive ASAP. If not, you may be able to keep using the failing drive until the replacement arrives.

Hard drive failures suck. When the one in my last system started making whining noises, I called up the OEM and had to argue with the support guy for twenty minutes before he agreed to send a replacement. Fortunately for me, I knew about that drive model (the infamous IBM Deathstar 75GXP) and could quote failure statistics when tech support told me to use the system recovery CD. Be firm. A hard disk failure is almost always a hardware problem, and no amount of rebooting, disabling drivers, or reinstalling Windows is going to fix it.

Cheers,
Salyavin

[SoBeiT]

Scan disk only found this: it fixed some index from file 0x9, had 57 boo-boos)

Utility check (hard drive) found nothing either.



So I'm going to go paint for a few hours..it's somethings I can control at least.

[radio667]

I Hope everything is ok now - SOBE !!

[Orion]

One other thing to keep in mind. The error message you got did not happen in windows. it happened during post. If you have SMART disk enabled, your motherboard will likely find any serious problems that may be happening. Also remember that the primary IDE controller may also be the culprit.
For whatever reason, it may not have detected the hard drive properly. Most motherboard manufacturers do have diag tools for their equipment. I suggest looking into that as well.

[SK TastesLike KFC]

Hmmm

Dig out that receipt.Ditto.

DO IT NOW. Chkdsk may have fixed the problem forever (doubtfull).On the other hand, one day - probably very soon - you'll fire it off and all your ****e will be locked up in a busted drive. At that point, fiber ain't gonna help; you'll be looking at the inconvienience of an OS <and> application reload as well as facing the verry real possibility that your data will be unrecoverable by conventional (read: cheap/easy) means.


Buy another HD, hook it up as slave and Ghost the contents of the defective drive to the new one. Then, beat feet to the place of purchase and get thy money back.

If you need help or the loan of any off-site archival software we may or may not possess, let us know....


why are you still here reading? MOVE IT!


SKTLKFC:moon: