HDD Problem

[Megashrap]

I have replaced everything on my PC with the exception of a HDD. After running and burning it in for a bit(several days) I noticed a grinding noise, and could not put my finger on what the hell was doing it. Then I noticed that when it does do it, the HDD light runs until it stops grinding.

I ran Maxtor's/Seagate diagnostic tests and it came back as failing. There are around 28 Kbs. of bad sectors on it. Question is, is there any way to try and fix this or do I just need another HDD? I'm pretty sure I think I know the answer already but I thought I would give it a shot and ask. It's out of warranty by a year. I thought it was the south bridge Nforce-4 fan but turns out it's not.

Specs..

Winfast/Foxconn NF4UK8AA full atx

AMD 64 Venice 3400+

500 Watt PSU

Geforce 7600 GT

4 x 512 Kingston DDR 400

DVD/plyr/burner

60 gig Maxtor HDD

Sound Blaster Audigy

BTW the grinding happens about every 30 sec or so followed by a click.

[Andrew]

From what I've read around the internet, that means it is probably going to fail. So I'd make sure to back up any important information in case it does break.

Now that you mention it my computer makes a noise then a click at the end every so often (maybe once every couple hours). But I think it is just the dvd-rom making a noise or something (That's what I tell myself :(). Hope it's not the hard drive.

And on that note I am backing up my important data to a usb stick.

My Documents has 850mb. Good thing I picked up the cheap 4gb usb stick many months ago. Finally opened the package just now.

Any idea where free HD diagnositc tools are?

EDIT:

I have an hitachi hard drive and google led to me this:

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

[Megashrap]

Well, for Seagate/Maxtor I got mine here http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/

you just dload and put in on a floppy then boot it up and run the diagnostic test. But do the full test not the 90 sec one.

Here's what I downloaded for mine http://majorgeeks.com/Maxtor_Powermax_d1386.html pretty much the same as on there site.

[GhostHunter]

You need a new drive. Bad sectors mean that the HDD is incapable of retrieving data off certain portions of the disks that store the information. Back everything up if you can and go shopping for a new HDD.

[Megashrap]

Yea, it bit the dust the other day shortly after posting about it. luckily I had an old 13 gig drive laying around here. I'm getting a Raptor in the next few weeks.

One question I have is, I've never had the chance to use SATA drives and have no clue how to install them. I have 4 SATA conns. on my board and the small red cables. Can someone explain how these install and how I hook it up,and do I need or have to have a certain card to use it? This is a first for me. Here is info of my mainboard...

http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/motherboards/foxconn/Winfastnf4/index.htm 

                      Thanks in advance, Scar.

[GhostHunter]

You hook them up using the red (or blue) cables that come with it. One end goes into the SATA port on the board, the other goes into the back of the HDD. You also need to connect the power connector from the PSU to the board. After that's complete it's a standard Windows install the same way you'd do on an IDE: pop the disk in, partition the drive, and install Windows.

Since it's SATA there are no jumper settings like an IDE. Boot device order/priority (say if you had multiple SATA HDDs) is controlled strictly by the BIOS.