Mom's PC Advice Hard drive issues

Hello All


Wondering something just did a Crystal Disk info check on Mom's PC, her one and only C Drive shows Caution Reallocated Sectors, Hard drive is original drive from 2012, Doing system image backup now, but if i do install my newer spare Toshiba 1tb drive for hers, i might just do a clean install instead of restoring Image, as has alot of leftovers from uninstalls over the years, Avast free antivirus left overs, etc.

Windows 10 Version Pro 1909 x64
PC Is HP P6-2133W
Purchased June 10th 2012
(my old PC prior to getting my AMD FX system in 2016, then i got some money and went to my faster Intel I7 7700 system)

Do have Spare 1tb Toshiba drive in anti static bag that previously was used in the I7 system, installed my WD Black 1tb drive when i got this system many years ago, or should i purchase a newer hard drive for Mom's PC

Probably not any reason to have to buy a new HD if you already have a spare drive unless you need something that this drive does not satisfy such as larger size, faster speed, etc.

I would agree with the idea of doing a new install. So long you can successfully back up all her data files and then restore them to the new install, you should be in good shape.

How big a drive does she need?

She may (or may not) be impressed by an SSD........you can get a good quality 250 gb SSD for under 50 bucks or a 500 gb version for circa 65. Might be worthwhile on an 8 year old PC considering it could be used on a future upgrade as well.

Not much point in buying a new spinning drive unless you need very high capacity or are on a serious budget.

AMDMan2016 said:

Do have Spare 1tb Toshiba drive in anti static bag that previously was used in the I7 system, installed my WD Black 1tb drive when i got this system many years ago, or should i purchase a newer hard drive for Mom's PC

Age on its own doesn't deteriorate a drive, use does. Can you put it in a drive enclosure and test it? What does CrystalDisk Info say for its Power-On Hours (09) and in particular the Loaded Hours (DE)? If they are in the thousands rather than tens of thousand it should have plenty of life left in it yet. Only if it too has Reallocated Sectors would I not use it.

Well Power On hours was 55,000, system was used Daily since June 10th 2012, already changed to my spare Toshiba Drive, maybe i paniced and maybe the Drive could've lasted a bit longer, but did the system image, and then installed the Toshiba Drive, and then clean install, just did image so i had the files backed up

As for SSD i thought about it, true i could purchase a small one to use in that 8 year old PC, and 2.5 to 3.5 inch converter thingy, who knows i may look into that at some point. Believe it's Serial ATA 6, as used to be when i was using it for my daily gaming needs.

System ran 24 hours when i used it, and she sleeps it when not in use, turned off when storms though.

Power on hours was in the way hundreds, forget exact number now,

yes i can put it into enclosure, soon as i find the Enclosures screw driver to take out the tiny screws, will look for that tomorrow after moving in November, not easy to find stuff lol still, even after unpacked most items

Drive is a Hitachi 1TB

- - - Updated - - -

Well seems i must've used HD Sentinel before on this system and unforuately can't afford to register it yet, will set it up on laptop tomorrow and test drive further

Run HD Tune (free version)
HD Tune website
Post images into the thread for results on these tabs:
a) Health
b) Benchmark
c) Full error scan


Run Sea Tools for Windows
long generic test
Post an image of the test result into the thread
SeaTools for Windows |
Seagate
How to use SeaTools for Windows | Seagate Support US

The Samsung SSD in this systems sorta brand new, just got that at Christmas, Should i test that one also? The offending drive was by itself in Mom's PC, and not this one, was her only drive in the system

In External enclosure now conducting the requested tests on that drive, then will do the others..

It can be comforting to perform preventative maintenance.
Some computer manufacturers have software or firmware to check the hardware components.

For the HP computer you can use the HP diagnostics.
The HP drive testing is designed to find failure (used for warranty purposes).

The HD Tune tests for Health (SMART), benchmark, and surface or bad block scanning.
The Sea Tools is similar to HP in testing for failure and also reports SMART.

The HD Sentinel has a proprietary scoring method.
Some end users like following the trend.

For your mom's computer download and install the HP UEFI hardware diagnostics.
Run the testing overnight in system extensive loop until error.
In the AM click esc then run any component test as needed.
https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/.../pc-diags.html

The HP firmware will create a new partition on the drive.
It can be launched when there is drive failure, failure to boot, etc. as it is opened via the BIOS.

Alternatively you can download the HP firmware onto a flash drive.
It does not format the drive and can be installed on most flash drives.
With this flash drive you get access to the diagnostics by repetitively clicking F2 during boot.

Ok Thank you, will get things done and update this thread once any results come out. Might be a bit though to get the results