Hard Drive Dying? PLEASE HELP!

Bree said:

No, you cannot fix reallocated sectors. These are sectors that the drive has detected as damaged and has successfully replaced them with spares from a pool of extra sectors set aside for this purpose. For now, the drive has 'fixed' itself by reallocating those sectors.

Your reply is very much appreciated Bree! This problem is something that has given me so much extra stress on top of all the life stressors I'm dealing with at the moment!

As you say "these are sectors that the drive has detected as damaged and has successfully replaced them with spares from a pool of extra sectors set aside for this purpose", so does this mean that the HDD will be using sectors that are located on the HDD and are currently "free space"???

This is why I thought deleting large files would extend this HDD's time before it dies completely and give me extra time to finish the backups.

You were advised to back up data in late February---about 6 weeks ago.

Are you 1/10 of the way through that process? Or 9/10?

Your other questions are extraneous, largely irrelevant, and only contributing to your anxiety.

Get the data copied to another drive ASAP--which might take another day or another 6 months. We have no idea and have no way of knowing.

Advise when you are DONE with that process.

Then replace the drive to the extent it adds to your anxiety.

You may or may not have to do a clean Windows install, but that's a question for later on---after the data is backed up.

ignatzatsonic said:

You were advised to back up data in late February---about 6 weeks ago.

Are you 1/10 of the way through that process? Or 9/10?

Your other questions are extraneous, largely irrelevant, and only contributing to your anxiety.

Get the data copied to another drive ASAP--which might take another day or another 6 months. We have no idea and have no way of knowing.

Advise when you are DONE with that process.

Then replace the drive to the extent it adds to your anxiety.

You may or may not have to do a clean Windows install, but that's a question for later on---after the data is backed up.

Ignatzatsonic, I'm struggling with this problem because I know it's very important for me to backup my files so I'm feeling more anxiety simply because I keep thinking "backing up is important". Of course the current health crisis is also giving me even more anxiety...

I'm backing up my files as quickly as I can but my files are all over the place on this 2TB HDD so it's taking time and I'm only using USB2.

Also, the mention of needing to figure out how to backup my Windows files has given me more to worry about...

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idgat said:

No. The more you tinker, the less your chance of recovery. Despite all the advice, why haven't you done it yet? Get your data .... NOW !

Sorry, but I'm beginning to suspect there's something else going on here .... ?

Hi idgat,

I'm not sure what you mean exactly, but I can assure you that my problems are 100% genuine. I think the current health crisis is increasing my anxiety and making it harder for me to solve my PC problems...

SoFine409 said:

@NiceAndShy I sympathize with you as far a backing up data using USB2. That’s really slow. Use your anxiety as a motivator to keep you going in the right direction and try not yo let it immobilize you. Take stock of your data and ask yourself “what are the things that are most valuable to me and that I can’t afford to lose?” Those are what you work on first. Take then one group at a time.
You might want to think about moving up to a faster backup method in the near future. Maybe USB3 or a NAS. That would make running and updating backups a lot easier. You can get advice on that here. Stay safe.

SoFine409,

I appreciate you for dispensing your knowledge!

Believe me, I'm moving as quickly as I can to fully backup my important files on this internal HDD, but my files are spread out all over the place so it's taking me longer than I thought...

It's just so hard for me to carry out these tasks and at the same time not feel anxiety with the current health crisis...

I hope everyone in this community can stay safe!