Some Advice Please?

Defraggler
1

Hello,

I have a slight problem, as I'm not 100% sure how to use piriform defraggler. My basic knowledge stretches as far as knowing how to analyse/defrag various drives on my laptop, mainly C drive.

My issue? When I analysed my C drive before defragment it came up with disk health: error. My first step was to Action > Advanced > Check drive for errors. After this, it said no major errors were found ( drive C)

What I would like to know? How serious is it , when the defraggler is telling me disk health: error? How do I find out what error it is? And finally what are the motions so I can reach a solution?

Any help/advice is much appreciated,

Thanks,

Sarah

2

Hello Sarah and welcome to the forum. Almost all modern hard drives employ S.M.A.R.T. (Self Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) to analyze drive performance and predict hard drive failure. Software like Defraggler taps into this data and displays it on the chart you see when you see when you hit the "Health" tab. (Note the ID number on the left side, I'll get back to this.)**

Manufacturers like Western Digital, Seagate, and the others have their own software available for analyzing this data as well. A Google search should lead you to it. There are also third party utilities available. One that has been around for a while and has a good reputation is Acronis Drive Monitor. It is freeware and works on Windows 7 and earlier. The link is here: http://www.acronis.c.../drive-monitor/ I would suggest using the S.M.A.R.T. analysis software offered by your drive's manufacturer, as well as Acronis, to give you better information of what may or may not be wrong with your drive.

Here is a link to Wikipedia's page explaining what S.M.A.R.T. is, it's history, and most importantly, what the ID numbers** mean: https://en.wikipedia.../wiki/S.M.A.R.T. If you scroll down this page far enough, there is a chart explaining what each ID number refers to. Note that the ones highlighted in pink, like 05,10,184,188, and so on indicate the more serious problems.

I would say that if Acronis and the drive manufacturer's software both agree on the same ID numbers, and they are the problem codes, you may want to back up your important data now while you still can. That way, if you do have a drive failure, you can buy a new drive, re-install Windows, and then move your data back to your new drive. Post back if you need any further advice on this topic.

Edit: Try this first: Some laptops, like my HP, have a hardware testing utility built in. If I press Escape immediately after boot, then press F2, I can access a full range of test utilities for the system hardware, including the hard drive. Read your owners manual to see if your machine has a similar feature.

3

Sarah,

What is the age of the PC?

What sort of PC; laptop or desktop?

I ask because, although no guarantee, generally the older the drive/PC, the more likely it is to have an error.

And if a laptop, the more likely it is also simply because they are knocked around more than a desktop.

So, for example, if you say desktop, <2yrs old, I'd assume all is good. If laptop, >3yrs old, chances are it may well have an error.

Now, with SMART 'warnings' they usually can be ignored, and by that I mean, there is no immanent danger of total hard drive failure.

But something has triggered a warning and even without that, you should be backing up, and now you have a warning, even backing up more often,

OK, if it was me, I would be ignoring it, be doing daily or weekly backups/images of the hard drive, and checking the Disk Health through DF regularly, get a feel for the numbers, and watch if any start changing.

And to give a real world example, years ago I had a PC pop up SMART warnings every time the PC started, this went on for 3 years before the PC died a 'natural' death.

On the other hand, I have a NAS(networked backup storage drives) and when they give a SMART warning I replace the drive in question straight away. (I take no chances when it comes to my backups - you live or die by them).

I hope that sheds some light on it for you.

4

Afternoon,

Thanks a lot for both replies and helping me. I have used the software recommended and it came back with the same results, and showing my disk drive as 0% health, not looking very good is it.

My laptop is a Samsung NP NC-10 which I purchased in 05/2009, so its 4.5 years old and gathering from what you have said this then seems to be an accurate reading of the state of my drive.

OK ,I know this isnt the correct place to ask, however could you shed some light on how i go about getting a new hard disk and if i should upgrade my memory whilst I'm at it? And if not maybe point me in the right direction,

Many thanks again.

5

Hello Sarah

Since your drive hasn't failed yet, now is the time to plan and prepare for it. As mta and I have said, your first priority should be saving any important data on your drive. Start by opening your browser, I.E. or whatever you use, and export your bookmarks to the Documents folder. Save any desktop wallpapers and the avatars you use to the Pictures folder. Then save the Documents, Music, Pictures, and Video folders to a USB stick. Double check to see if you have any files stashed elsewhere. All your data will then be off the drive and safe.

Your second priority should be saving your operating system. And this is going to depend on which operating system you have installed. If it is WinXP, be aware of the fact that Microsoft support is ending April 2014, and saving it may or may not be worth the effort. If you have Win7, then it is definitely worth the effort. I don't know exactly what you already have for installation or recovery options. My guess is that since it is a netbook, you have no DVD drive to work with, correct? That means no installation DVD was included when you bought it, correct? Samsung has probably installed a recovery partition on the drive itself, labeling it D: drive, correct? If your answer is yes to all three questions, your options are limited, but here's what you can consider: Install Macrium Reflect and save an image of all your partitions to a USB stick. This will preserve your operating system and your data as well. Perhaps Alan_B can offer some advice at this point since he is much more familiar with using Macrium than I am. But first you should inform us of what operating system you have and whether or not you wish to keep using it.

Third, last, and most important: what are you willing to spend? You have to consider the cost of a new hard drive, the memory upgrade you mentioned, and, if you need it, the cost of a new operating system. The hard drive can range from $50 to $120 U.S., depending on the capacity and who makes it. The memory upgrade will be $30 to $40 U.S., I know this because I recently installed 2GB of memory in my HP Mini, a machine similar to yours. And if you consider the cost of a Windows7 or 8 upgrade on top of all this, from $95 to $140 U.S., you are talking about a total cost ranging from $175 to $300 for everything. This is your choice, the things you really need and what you are willing to spend is up to you. On the low end, it is probably worth it. On the high end, it might be better if you put that money towards the purchase of a new machine. Again, that is up to you. Don't let me influence you one way or the other, I'm only offering advice based on what I know. Post back if you need any more help.

Follow up: I've done a little research and it appears your little laptop is popular enough to have an owner's forum. The link is here: http://www.sammynetb...N140-N310-Forum

And there is a pinned topic dealing with the recovery process and saving both the system partition and the recovery partition to DVD and then re-installing them to a new hard drive (This assumes you have an external DVD-RW drive available). The link is here: http://www.sammynetb...overy-Partition If you don't have a DVD-RW drive to use, then use Macrium Reflect as I've already described to create and save an image on a USB stick.

6

Almost the worst possible thing to do is upgrade Memory along with a new HDD.

You do not NEED more RAM.

When I added an extra 4 GB of RAM to the existing 4 GB ( 2 new chips added to the existing pair ) it failed to boot.

Removed the new chips and it booted.

Added one chip and it booted.

Several combinations of any 3 chips gave me 6 GB and boot-ability.

Last desperate attempt and all 4 chips were each in the only socket that gave me 8 GB that would boot.

For me the optimum procedure is to use Macrium Reflect (or alternatives that I have no real experience of),

and use it to save Partition image backups to an external device,

and use it to create a WinPE Boot Recovery CD that will restore its backups to any HDD

( including the new empty HDD which has no Windows ).

Please note that I have 6 different USB2 Flash drives from different suppliers and different makes,

Most of them read back at between 15 and 25 MB/s.

All of the are restricted to writing at about 25% of the Read speed

( the fastest writes at 7.24 MB/Sec, the slowest writes at 3.36 MB/Sec )

My partition C:\ size is 55 GB, of which Used Space is only 11 GB, and a backup is about 6.5 GB,

which would probably take 2000 Seconds if I were to save it to a USB2 Flash Drive.

2000 Seconds is nothing compared to using Windows Installation Disks and installing all the patches,

but once you start using image backups in anticipation of future disasters you will appreciate using an external USB2 HDD at 20+ MB/Sec

(an USB3 HDD is even better.)

After you have a fully functional system you will then be in a better position to know what to UNDO if extra RAM goes wrong for you,

and you can focus on making sure that you have not damaged the RAM socket contacts and can try shuffling your chips around.