sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories Dying Hard Drive

I have a Compaq Presario PC that was given to me by a friend several months ago. I am using it as a voIP PBX server using 3CX Phone System for Windows. Since then, I've run tests on it trying to figure out the source of a very bad sounding click/clunking noise from the hard drive. I used Seagate SeaTools for Windows and it failed one of the tests (the software indicated that if it fails even one test that it needs to be replaced/it is dying).

I have spent at least 8 hours trying different hard drive cloning software, and none were successful. I ran the Windows CheckDisk on restart, and it spent over 3 hours today repairing numerous system files. This made absolutely no difference at all.

I tried again to do the clone, and it doesn't even make it past 1% before it fails. I cannot lose this copy of Windows. I do not have a Windows XP CD. All I have are Windows 98 and Windows ME.

I have another working hard drive. The one that's dying is a Samsung, and the one I'm trying to clone it to is a Hitachi Deskstar. The Deskstar's capacity is about 76GB, and the Samsung's is about 112GB.

I honestly have nowhere else to turn with this. I'm beyond angry and frustrated because this computer is MAYBE 4 years old and was only used for 1 or 2 (and then stored) and the hard drive is already failing. A great example of today's quality products. What a joke.

Below is a screenshot of the most recent clone attempt:

Have you tried Clonezilla?

Sounds such as what you describe are not good. No Sounds to me like the arm that moves over the internal disks is sticking. If that is the case, no cloning software is going to be able to help you. You may not have any options.....other than do send the drive into a hard drive recovery center....they do a very good job, but be prepared to pay thru the teeth.

Thanks for the quick replies. I will take a look at Clonezilla and post an update shortly.

Seagate tool is really meant for Seagate drives only. You may want to try this one:

https://www.hdtune.com/

Generally, a clicking hard drive is on its way out, but another test won't do much harm.

Have you tried Acronis?

Good luck.

I will download that now. I can't use Clonezilla because it is a disk image .iso and I do not have any blank disks to burn it onto. I haven't tried Acronis either.

Just downloaded and installed HD Tune. It immediately came up with a bubble in the taskbar saying that the HD is at 256ºC... I'm running an error scan right now.. So far it has found 4 damaged "blocks" and it's only 2 minutes into the scan.

You have hardware issues and there is no software tool to repair it. Instead of wasting valuable time with different tools you need to be trying to save as much data as you can. If the data is valuable then I would remove the hard drive and use another PC to copy as much data as possible. There are ways to do a disk image but they require in depth knowledge on hard drive recovery. I would recommend to do file copies right away so that you can recover some of the data. Forget about the repair tools and focus on recovery only.

That sounds like a much better plan! I will get started on that instead. Thank you all very much for your input and assistance.

I've been using "G4U" to clone my hard drive every month to 1 of 2 backups. I was lucky enough to find an IDENTICAL make/model on E-bay TWICE. Like you, I don't have a copy of XP4 and that's what is on my desktop. And of course, the builder didn't put the 'KEY' label on the PC Either! Those on-line B/U's are OK, but all they save is files. Do you have all YOUR product keys? I don't!