hard drive failure. causes?
 

so recently, my wd harddrive failed on me and got it replaced thru warranty. after a month or so of use, the new harddrive that i received thru warranty is beginning to fail on me.

i don`t remember what the error code was for my first drive, but the error code i`m getting for the replaced drive is 222 - Drive failed the SMART test.

i'm wondering if its bad luck or if its something that i'm doing that may be causing the problem. i do a lot of torrenting on the harddrive, so could that be the cause of the failures? also, my computer case is pretty crappy, but i'm not sure if that would lead to harddrive issues. what might be some other reasons for my harddrive failures?

also, because this harddrive was replaced thru a warranty, its warranty has already expired and i will need to buy a new one. should i stick with WD or switch to another brand?

thanks

Porn overload.

how long did u use ur previous hdd for before it failed? becuase torrenting shouldn't cause a harddrive to fail within a month. yes it will shorten its life, but not down to a month.

failed harddrives are quite random, other than known series of a brand. and even then it just means that hd is more likely to die.

a few years ago I still had a 250gb WD that I torrented on 24/7 for years w/o turning off the computer. it ran flawlessly. a year ago I purchased a 1TB seagate and it gave me smart errors within a week. you'll find similar experiences with most users.

try the WD Black series for your OS drive.

@RX_Renesis
my previous hdd lasted about 4 months before it failed and i had to send it in.

@dragonone
currently, my OS drive is also a WD (250gb caviar blue - WD2500AAKS) and it's lasted me about 2-3 yrs. the one thats failing is actually a WD black series, 1tb - WD1001FALS.

actually, i just checked and my warranty isn't expired yet, but it expires in a few months. i guess i should send it in agian. but i'd like to know why this happened twice in a row. could bad sata cables or power cables cause problems?

Hard drives are precision, mechanical products. Like most mechanical products, they tend to fail after time even with regular use.

All brands fail. I'm not sure if there's been any study that shows any brand being better than others.

WD Black WD1001FALS has been out for 5 years already? Cause all black's have 5 year warranty

It could be plenty of things, although your other drive isn't failing so it kind of rules this out. Either way, I'd just check the following to see:

*Heat (if it has SMART, you can use tools like Speedfan to monitor the temperature to see if it's on the high side)
*Vibration (do you have something vibrating excessively in the case?)
*Are you moving your case around a lot while your system is on? Usually it takes a lot of force to actually kill a drive but who knows.

Normal torrenting isn't any more wear on the drive than just every day use. I highly doubt that is the issue here. Can you use any of the WD tools to scan the drive to check for any other problems as well?

@!MiKrofT
yeah, you're right, all black's have 5 year warranty, but after you send it in for warranty, the replaced drive will only have a 5 month warranty(or something short like that) starting from the day they send the replacement drive to you. i didn't know that either until i sent it in.

@syee
the temps for my hdd tend to be at 40-50C. those temperatures should be OK, right?
also, i tend to rest my right leg on top of the computer case a lot. could that be a cause for the problems?

i didn't get a chance to run the extended test yet, but i'll probably do that sometime soon.

40-50C isn't too bad. It certainly isn't the temperature that would cause it to fail. How does it compare to your WD Blue?

I think the amount of force that would cause the drive to fail would amount more to dropping your drive on the floor. Heck, I've dropped portable hard drives a good 3 ft from my desk to the floor and they've not had any issues.

Yeah, I'd see if you can do some tests with the WD software to see if it can give you more details on the failure.

Wow, that's some crappy warranty... so if the drive I bought failed when I just bought I, my 5-year warranty shrinks to 5 months? :S

yep, that`s what happened to me. my warranty was suppose to last me til 2015, but now, since i sent it in, my warranty for the replaced hdd ends this august. shitty deal

Are the WD Blacks quiet? If I buy one and slip it into an enclosure, will it be quiet?

the one that i have is pretty quiet. it's actually on sale right now at ncix for $89, but it ends tomorrow.
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...D&promoid=1114