Solved Is my HDD dying?

Rafael Rodrigues Nakano

Rafael Rodrigues Nakano

Hello. I'm having problems with my hard drive and I have two questions:
1st: He is making some strange noises (not that much) and making my operating system hang. I think its the hdd fault because both Windows 10 and FreeBSD hangs in the same way. No blue screen of death. No advice. Nothing, it just freezes and the 'hdd access indicator light' is froze, either on on or off, and the computer is dead. Is my hdd really dying or its some serious fragmentation or something like that?
2st: So, even if its a hdd fault or not, formatting everything and trying ZFS on it should 'resolve' the problem? At least make the situation less worse?

My HDD have a MBR partition table with 3 partitions (2 NTFS (1 Windows 10 and another for general files) and 1 extended, with FreeBSD UFS partition and a swap one).

I tried chkdsk and some 'Disk Checkup' programs in Windows (I don't know any 'disk checkup' programs for *nix, it's just a lack or searching, I know, but I found it easier on Windows) which said 'Your HDD is fine/good state/OK/nice' but the problems remained.

I asked earlier about fragmentation because when I'm defragmenting my Windows NTFS partition inside Windows, it does not hang at all. But if i do not set it do defrag, hangs after some time.

And finally the last 'info', it does not have a 'certain' time to hang. Sometimes, it hangs in the boot process, without any login screen on both systems (I remember once, on the boot process of FreeBSD, it showed some garbage characters on the screen and froze, maybe the HDD has died somehow within the boot process). Sometimes, it hangs after 1h, 2h, etc.

Sorry for the long post and for the lack of more information. If its needed, I can provide logs, make tests and so on. Sorry for my bad english, its not my native language and I didn't learned it the 'right way'. Thanks in advance
 
Sounds like the disk is dying or at least close to death. Changing the filesystem type won't change that fact. Install sysutils/smartmontools and see if the drive is reporting errors.

Fragmentation will never just hang up the disk. No matter how fragmented it is. The only thing fragmentation does is thrash the disk heads around a lot causing it to slow down due to the increased seek times.
 
Ok, thanks. I ran # smartctl -a /dev/ada0 and the output seems normal. Did I missed something? Is it even worse than I expected?
Code: 
smartctl 6.4 2015-06-04 r4109 [FreeBSD 10.3-RELEASE amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-15, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, [URL="http://www.smartmontools.org"]www.smartmontools.org[/URL]

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C
Device Model:     Hitachi HDS721010CLA330
Serial Number:    JPS930N11TU99L
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 39cd95f62
Firmware Version: JP4OA3MA
User Capacity:    1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    7200 rpm
Form Factor:      3.5 inches
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is:    Fri Apr 22 10:07:26 2016 BRT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x84)    Offline data collection activity
                    was suspended by an interrupting command from host.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)    The previous self-test routine completed
                    without error or no self-test has ever 
                    been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:         ( 9572) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:             (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)    Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)    Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time:     (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:     ( 160) minutes.
SCT capabilities:           (0x003d)    SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000b   096   096   016    Pre-fail  Always       -       131078
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   137   137   054    Pre-fail  Offline      -       89
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   147   147   024    Pre-fail  Always       -       266 (Average 248)
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3269
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   140   140   020    Pre-fail  Offline      -       30
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       7248
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3244
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       3269
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       3269
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   171   171   000    Old_age   Always       -       35 (Min/Max 15/62)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 0
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
 
Run at least a short selftest on the drive.

# smartctl -t short /dev/ada0

You should see the result of the test after it has finished in the # smartctl -a /dev/ada0 output. If that passes you can run the long test with smartctl -t long /dev/ada0 but be aware that the long test might make your system unusable while the test is running.

If the tests reveal nothing start checking the cables of the drive, just a sligthly loose power connector can cause all kinds of weird problems. It doesn't look like this would be the case in your system because loose cables would cause a bunch of SMART errors that would be logged and your drive has none. Better still check them just in case.
 
Thanks for the reply. I ran the short test and results were normal as well. I'll run the long test and see the outputs.
Code: 
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7249
 
If a HDD is suspect dying, stop using it!

The drive may deteriorate rapidly. If there are valuable data on it you have to try to save/backup them immediately. Further testing has not first priority.

I'd shutdown and use fixit for mounting readonly. Try to backup/copy all what is valuable on another backup medium. Watch carefully for errors and warnings as they might give hints which parts of the drive are corrupted.


If it is a SSD it may die very fast and if possible try to avoid even a reboot.

Long story short: Any further writing to the disk may worsen the damage.
 
I think its not the hdd fault or the problem is even worse than I expected. After the long test, 160 minutes, I ran # smartctl -a /dev/ada0 again and no errors were reported. Does this mean a (really) bad sign or a good one? Full output:
Code: 
smartctl 6.4 2015-06-04 r4109 [FreeBSD 10.3-RELEASE amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-15, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C
Device Model:     Hitachi HDS721010CLA330
Serial Number:    JPS930N11TU99L
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 39cd95f62
Firmware Version: JP4OA3MA
User Capacity:    1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    7200 rpm
Form Factor:      3.5 inches
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is:    Fri Apr 22 21:05:47 2016 BRT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x80)    Offline data collection activity
                    was never started.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)    The previous self-test routine completed
                    without error or no self-test has ever
                    been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:         ( 9572) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:             (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)    Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)    Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:     ( 160) minutes.
SCT capabilities:           (0x003d)    SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000b   100   100   016    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   137   137   054    Pre-fail  Offline      -       89
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   138   138   024    Pre-fail  Always       -       283 (Average 266)
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3271
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   140   140   020    Pre-fail  Offline      -       30
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       7252
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3246
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       3271
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       3271
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   206   206   000    Old_age   Always       -       29 (Min/Max 15/62)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 0
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      7252         -
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7249         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay

And thanks for the advice, getopt, but this is the only disk I have. I will for sure buy another one next month, but for now, I hope it lives at least for a while.
 
One of the greatest indicators of anything mechanical failing is noise. So your strange noise comment is concerning.
7252 POH is not much time really. That is only 302 days. When I run across a high mileage drive in a business system I try to replace it regardless of condition So usage matters.

ZFS will not solve anything, although any formatting won't hurt and will stress test the drive.

I am not a fan of multiple OS partitions and the problems associated with using them.

I would also worry about the newest Virus as you mentioned Windows usage.
Here is an example of what is being attacked by rootkits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area
 
Are you sure it's the harddisk who makes strange noises? Faulty fans also making bad noises sometimes.
It's also not common for just "freezing" the system on harddisk fails. There should be a bluescreen (windows) or CAM-messages (FreeBSD).
Random "freezing" looks like a different hardware fail. I would suggest you to run an memory test program. Also check where the noise is really coming from. If you can use a screwdriver you can also listen the mainboard and search for blown up capacitators.
 
If your FreeBSD is on top of ZFS I would run a "zpool scrub" just in case.

May be it's just me, but I usually don't trust the SMART test that much as the scrub because the SMART show s your HDD characteristics and the scrub check and show the status of your actual data on the disk.
This will report only problems such as bad sectors and corrupted data, it will not show mechanical issues with the drive but it's still a very much relevant test.
And it will for sure utilize your disk at max.
 
gnoma said:
And [a zpool scrub] will for sure utilize your disk at max.
Click to expand...

Right, which is probably why it's a probably a bad idea to do it if you suspect the disk is dying. SMART is not always completely reliable at predicting when a disk might go bad, but should reliably tell you when a disk has begun to go bad, it's deliberately designed not to break the thing it's testing.
 
Thanks for the replies. It makes sense that the system should not hang on a disk failure, as its loaded in the RAM. So, I'll make a memtest when a free time appears (I read somewhere these tests take some time) and see if its another hardware part that is failing, and the noises might come from the fans as well.
 
I did not ran memtest by a few reasons, but I made some tests myself and I think I got a conclusion to the case.

So, from the tests I made, it is probably a RAM fault. I have two sticks of RAM, one of 2GB and another of 4GB. I tested them separately and with the 2GB only the boot failed in all the tests. Once, some garbage characters appeared in the screen in a loop and when the screen froze I saw hex memory addresses (like 0x1fa6fd) and processor's registers names (eax, ebx, and so on) which is pretty strange. With the another stick everything was fine, booted normally, no hangs, nothing. So its almost certain that is the RAM problem, not the HDD (considering the SMART data and past tests).

Thanks to everyone who tried to help and gave me the idea that could be a RAM problem. I think that, from the problems that could be, this is the less worse case, considering that a RAM stick is surely cheaper than a new HDD.
 
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