Is my Hard Drive dying???

After ruining the original drive (never get strong magnets ANYWHERE NEAR your drive... [yes I am an idiot!]) I installed an 80G 5400rpm drive. After a pretty darn hard drop on corner where the HDD is located (same day as the install finished--thank you very much), the computer wouldn't boot up, just the 'no smoking sign' (minus the cigarette). I then got it to run after several attempts to boot from CD, reinstalled the OS (kept my files) and it has been fine ever since.

I have been using various S.M.A.R.T. checkers to see how my HDD's doing.

Smart utility says that my Overall SMART status is "FAILING" while SMARTReporter (menubar icon) is 'green'. OnyX also says "Smart Status: OK".

SMART Utility says that i have
3 pending bad sectors
17 reallocated bad sectors, and
55 total errors

it says the current power on hours are 2890 and the last error time was 2854 (so like a few days/week ago i guess!)

I'll post pics of these screenshots soon.

Should I run out and buy a new drive??? I've been backing up stuff almost daily just in case. Can't I make a 'system restore' disk? I know that the drop must've really damaged something, but since its been running fine since then and the other SMART 'checkers' report different results I am slightly skeptical of SMART Utility (maybe its made by a HDD company? ;D ).

Well, it sounds like you have a knack for causing HDD problems. ;-)

I would suggest you keep doing what you are doing. If the system is running fine, then you could forgo the new HDD for a bit, but make sure you keep backing up your files regularly. If the cost of a new drive isn't prohibitive, you could certainly replace it if only for peace of mind.

I've seen the SMART errors before, and I can't tell you why the various apps aren't agreeing with a consensus of the drive status. I would ask this: is the drive making noise (outside of what you'd expect)? Does the system seem to suddenly lag unexpectedly when opening a certain application or files? Is the laptop still inconsistent when you boot (failing some times, booting other times)?

light-saber nosie?

yeah i know i know. I forgot to mention its been running fine after the hard drop/system reinstall since november? i think? Don't really remember, but at least since mid-december.

It isn't making any clicking noises or anything, like the 1st drive did. The only wierd noise its making is what i call the 'light-saber' noise. When i move the laptop, just picking it up or moving it across the room, it makes a faint buzzing noise, but nothing scarry, and most people can't hear it even if they try (unless they put their ear to the hdd vents in the case) but i hear it well in a quiet room (i have really good hearing). It really does sound like a light saber though, responsive to the acceleration its at (but not speed-as it should!).

Screenshot links!
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2777/picture2uz2.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3037/picture1gm1.jpg
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5742/picture3ge4.jpg

If it's that quiet, I'd say it's possibly just normal system noise. It would get louder as you picked up the system because it would have a less firm/stable surface trying to hold it in place, so could more freely vibrate and shake the case.

vibrations?

I'm not too worried about the noise, but it is wierd! I'm more worried about the SMART Utility's findings. I've heard its 'more accurate' before, but with little proof to explain how. What do those things in red mean (on the screenshot pics)?

The old hard drive (original) did NOT do this, but i don't know if this replacement drive made the noise before the 'drop' incident because i dropped it only hours of installing the OS (i know, i know.... stupid, stupid david!) Could this just be how this specific hard drive (toshiba i think) is?

Hmm so the HDD could be vibrating against the computer case.... is that a bad thing???


If i do upgrade, i'm lookin at the Seagate Momentus 7200RPM 100GB.

I just ran that utility. It says my 250GB WD drive is failing. EVERY OTHER test says it's fine. My machine is fine. Not a thing wrong with it. I do NOT trust that Smart Utility.

Run the Apple Hardware test and see what it says.

The error it claims I have is Air Cell Temp sensor. More testing on Macs here at the house. iBook G4 with BRAND NEW seagate 120GB ATA drive fails with that same Error 190 Airflow Tempeture Cell failure. Did some digging and it really does not mean much and some say it's not used any longer.

The only thing that bothers me in your case is your machine was dropped and had to have the OS reinstalled. Funny that nothing else shows the SMART error. Try the AHT.

Looking at the report from Smart Utility, it could very well be correct.
Seems to be giving you a complete picture of the drive. And if you're not accustomed to reading such information, it can be alarming.

Was use to using utilities like this on my Win systems. I can tell you that 20 bad sectors is nothing to worry about. Have had plenty of brand new drives with more bad sectors than that. One of the old 40GB back up drives on my XP machines was showing something like 500 bad sectors the last time it was checked (2-3 yrs ago) and is still running fine. These sectors get marked so they're not being written to.

That being said, I would be somewhat concerned due to it being dropped.
Mentioned you're doing daily back ups. That's a good thing. Personally, I don't recommend replacing a drive until it fails, or exhibits the typical symptoms; e.g. it starts a new clicking sound, problems booting, or over 15-20% bad sectors.

If you're in a position where you can't afford for your system to go down for a few hours due to drive failure, (imho) a much better response is to have a bootable backup in place. This allows you to continue your work until you have the time to replace a failed drive.

When i dropped it, it would always give me the 'no smoking sign minus the cigarette', and everybody said to reset the pram... dropping it shouldn't mess with anything like pram... not in my book anyway! reinstalling OS-X (two times, might i mention) did the trick though!

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Well thanks guys!


Happy Mac!!

I was sortof looking for a reason to get a bigger, faster hard drive (7200 is just soo nice!) but really can't justify replacing a working drive when i'm short on cash (college baby!).

I had found mixed reports, even ones saying that one bad sector could be catastrophic, which scared the daylights outta me! Thanks for the reassurance. I wonder who wrote that article....*cough*HDD Manuf.'s*cough* well I can't seem to find it, and didn't see who wrote it, but I wouldn't doubt they have personal interests!

Thanks for all your help everyone!
Guess my drive's ok....for now!

Bad News, Strong Vibrating Noise

ok so now i have bad news....

this JUST happened.... twice, for about 2sec each, the drive made a horrible noise. sounded like a cell phone vibrating on a hard surface.

is this the head scraching up and RUINING my disk(s) or is this the drive vibrating against the computer case. should a drive be vibrating that much anyway???? I'm about to order one from newegg unless someone on here can convice me that this is not a big deal....even though i know it is a big problem!!!

also, as long as its an 2.5" ATA/100 (ATA-6 or UltraATA is this all the same thing???) hard drive it should work in this g4 powerbook right? (NOT SATA)

Did you ever run the Apple Hardware test like I posted a few messages back? If not, run it and in extended mode. Dropping a laptop on the side where the drive is can for sure damage it.

So i'm assuming i'm going to be needing a new drive.....

ooh I forgot to post! yeah i did, it passed, well the harddrive part.

when it got to the memory part i told it to stop, because The hdd was found to be ok and it was taking forever. After i clicked stop the screen got all crazy, a color gradient of about 1/16"blocks on the screen appeared... no idea *** this was about, but it went away and booted fine afterwards. it only started making this horrible noise this morning, around 8ish, and has done it once since then, for a little longer, about 5sec (a very scarry 5sec).

I've been backing up today... I'd hate to be without a computer so i'm not moving it at ALL while the drive is running (e.g. unless comp's sleeping or off).

Can I buy a USB "interface" for the dying drive, to be used when i have my new one installed?

Would the ''copy by block'' feature of the Carbon Copy Cloner program copy errors or not?