Dropped computer

[blasterboomer]

Ok so i have a seagate 2TB hard drive which is my os drive in my pc and i was in the middle of defragging the drive when my pc got knocked off my desk about 4 ft onto a wooden floor.. to my surprise the computer didnt crash or anything and continued working as normal... ive ran a full surface scan on the hdd using hdtune and it found no bad sectors (took 3 hours to scan full drive) but im worried tht my hdd lifespan is shortened and it will crap out on me randomly... so what do u think i should do.

btw when it fell i heard the hdd click and spin up again after the fall so it must have absorbed shock from the fall

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Dropped computer

If the drive found no bad sectors there is nothing to worry about. Sounds like it sensed the acceleration and parked the heads in time. Modern hard drives have an accelerometer sensor built-in to avoid damage in this kind of situation.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Dropped computer

But, parking the heads is as fatal to the OS, because if Windows finds out that the HDD stopped, it's likely gonna BSOD. (And thus can expect file system corruption)

[c_hegge]

Re: Dropped computer

^
That never happens unless the HDD loses power altogether. Windows is smart enough to know the difference between a temporarily parked head and a HDD losing power.

[blasterboomer]

Re: Dropped computer

after it dropped the defrag program said not responding then once the hdd spamn up again it continued as if nothing ever happened.

here is the SMART info for the drive

[oddbodd]

Re: Dropped computer

If you've got a spare HDD large enough, it would be a good idea to clone it.

[blasterboomer]

Re: Dropped computer

This is my only hdd ATM. Ive been thinking of upgrading to a SSD though. This PC contains no important data.. just some games and stuff that i can easily redownload if i get a new drive

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Dropped computer

^
That never happens unless the HDD loses power altogether. Windows is smart enough to know the difference between a temporarily parked head and a HDD losing power.

Probably will still error out or just crash if it was a system file being affected.

[goontron]

Re: Dropped computer

^
That never happens unless the HDD loses power altogether. Windows is smart enough to know the difference between a temporarily parked head and a HDD losing power.

surprisingly enough.

[c_hegge]

Re: Dropped computer

Probably will still error out or just crash if it was a system file being affected.

Disagreed. The head is only parked until the HDD detects that the movement has stopped, after which it continues as normal. Windows may hang for a moment, but it never causes problems or corrupts data.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Dropped computer

But, parking the heads is as fatal to the OS, because if Windows finds out that the HDD stopped, it's likely gonna BSOD. (And thus can expect file system corruption)

If that was true then every time there's a power failure you will get a BSOD on next boot.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Dropped computer

If that was true then every time there's a power failure you will get a BSOD on next boot.

I'm talking about if Windows is still running, but Windows can't access a system file, because the HDD with the system partition didn't respond within a certain amount of time.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Dropped computer

Yes, I also am talking about if Windows is running. NTFS is actually pretty good about cleaning up the disk after a power loss and Windows always tries to keep copies of the states of critical system files. I'm not saying that a power loss or accidental shutdown never results in a BSOD but it's not really that common.

[Topcat]

Re: Dropped computer

you typically only get system file corruption when theres an improper shutdown and write caching is enabled. The data in the cache is lost and the associated file is hosed.

[stj]

Re: Dropped computer

just to be clear,
the G-sensor is optional on laptop drives and puts about $5 on the price.
most i'v seen dont have it.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Dropped computer

I wasn't talking about a PC losing power. I was talking about a running Windows seeing a completely dropped out HDD or fails to respond within a certain time.

Especially where the pagefile is.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Dropped computer

Ok, yeah I see what you mean.

[Agent24]

Re: Dropped computer

I'm talking about if Windows is still running, but Windows can't access a system file, because the HDD with the system partition didn't respond within a certain amount of time.

Yes, but if the drive does respond fast enough, and in this case it clearly did, then there is no problem.

Sounds like the drive lost power temporarily, if it had to spin up again though. Again, not a problem as long as it doesn't take too long about it.

[c_hegge]

Re: Dropped computer

I wasn't talking about a PC losing power. I was talking about a running Windows seeing a completely dropped out HDD or fails to respond within a certain time.

Especially where the pagefile is.

That 'certain time' is usually a few seconds - always more than enough for a head to park and unpark. Windows doesn't generally have a problem with a slow response time from a HDD. File system corruption rarely if ever occurs unless the HDD completely loses power in the middle of a write.

Most Toshiba laptops actually have a tray icon that tells you if the head gets parked (and some older ones used to give you a pop-up message about it). I've seen it lots and lots of times, and never once had a BSoD or file system corruption as a result.

The fact is, a temporarily parked head will NOT cause windows to think that the drive had died. End of story.

[blasterboomer]

Re: Dropped computer

OK i just found out i have 2 drives in my pc (1 just had power and no sata cable in it) i plugged it in and its showing as raw

I tried removing the partition and its just hanging the disk management and saying something about a device io error. When i run a surface scan in hdtune it is al red even if i start the scan from 155gb its still red and the SMART info says 2 pending sectors but if it sees every block as bad it should have more than 2? also windows takes about 2 hours to boot with this drive plugged in... is this one dead or fixable?

p.s i dont care about the data on it