Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Ahoy hoy...going to restart, wish me luck!

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    35

    Ahoy hoy...going to restart, wish me luck!

    Alright guys, I'm going to be offline for the next couple days now, because my NIS-2011 just expired and I have to get this PC off the internet ASAP.

    I still need to burn my programs to use for later tonight, and backup a few more files to my external hdd.

    I also need to DBAN my 3 HDDs I have here, then install a small OS to run SMART scan on all 3 drives without using RAID setup.

    Hopefully my RAID drives are all still running smoothly...
    But I've been hearing an occasional single "click" from one of them every now and then (prob head parking) which worries me!
    Haven't been able to run SMART on them because they're on RAID setup.
    My 3rd HDD is fine as far as I can tell from my last SMART test.

    After that, install WinXP (raid-0) with SP3 and all my hotfix and get her up and running again.
    I'll also need to install VirtualBox and run my internet through that rather than my host pc.

    I'll let you guys know when I'm done.

    Wish me luck.

  2. #2
    Only african to own a PC! Cider's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Israel
    Posts
    1,683
    I personally think you need some insight , training and some goodwill . you are totally overdoing it, no need to sandbox everything and VM, read up about malware. Check my other post regarding HIPS.
    The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
    Albert Einstein

  3. #3
    HYBR|D
    Guest
    Thread moved from Roll call to misc security Discussions.

  4. #4
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United Kingdom: Bridlington
    Posts
    17,188
    SMART???, as in S.M.A.R.T.

    Well, in my experience it is only about 60% effective. I would be inclined to use the HDD's manufacturer's diagnostics as well. Those are usually tied into their warranty and RTM system, so are much more thorough, particularly on the mechanical side.

    Basically, if SMART tells you that you have a problem, then you certainly do, with a few exceptions. Trouble is, a lot of drives fail without alerting SMART because they have been reading and writing just fine up to the moment of failure.

    The SMART stat that I ignore is the powered on hours count............. but that's 'cos I have some HDDs I liberated from a server............sure, they were powered on 24/7, but that doesn't mean that they were actually doing anything

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    35
    Got everything up and running again.

    The SMART programs (3rd party & manufacture's) both resulted in no errors/issues as far as I can tell.
    I just can't seem to figure out why one (or both) of my HDDs occasionally makes that weird single click sound every once in a while (like 1-2 times per day). No read/write errors (did both tests for both 500GB HDDs).

  6. #6
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United Kingdom: Bridlington
    Posts
    17,188
    Well, there are lots of reasons why hard drives make noises, so I have a few questions:

    1. What make/model are the HDDs?
    2. Is there anything else drawing power from the same PSU cable as either of the drives. In particular I am thinking of a graphics card or cooling fan, but anything?
    3. What is the make and power rating of the PSU?


  7. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    35
    Quote Originally Posted by nihil View Post
    1. What make/model are the HDDs?
    WD 5000AAJS (500GB Blue Caviar SATA3 non-Advanced Format)
    Quote Originally Posted by nihil View Post
    2. Is there anything else drawing power from the same PSU cable as either of the drives. In particular I am thinking of a graphics card or cooling fan, but anything?
    My 2 SATA are on their own lines. Only other things connected to PSU are: DVD + Floppy
    Single GFX card gets its power from the PCI-E slot.
    Quote Originally Posted by nihil View Post
    3. What is the make and power rating of the PSU?
    Antec 650W (overkill)
    Last edited by dredogol; January 13th, 2012 at 09:36 PM.

  8. #8
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United Kingdom: Bridlington
    Posts
    17,188
    Oops, wrong thread...............

    The usual causes of strange noises would be an inadequate or defective PSU, interference from another device or a drive that just happens to do that sort of thing (Fujitsu & IBM). None of those seem to apply.

    I wold check that my videocard drivers and MoBo software is up to date (mainly the sound chipset driver for the MoBo). Other than that all I can suggest is that you keep an eye on it and if it starts to get more frequent accept that one of your drives is on the way out.

    Make sure that you regularly backup anything important because RAID0 isn't RAID at all......................... there are no redundant disks
    Last edited by nihil; January 15th, 2012 at 05:28 AM.

  9. #9
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    35
    Quote Originally Posted by nihil View Post
    Make sure that you regularly backup anything important because RAID0 isn't RAID at all......................... there are no redundant disks
    Yup yup, I only use raid-0 for performance reasons... not for redundancy... which is why i have an external HDD.

Similar Threads

  1. AltaVista Traversal?
    By Carla in forum Web Security
    Replies: 41
    Last Post: October 31st, 2004, 09:17 AM
  2. October MS updates
    By mohaughn in forum Microsoft Security Discussions
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: October 13th, 2004, 04:31 AM
  3. Win XP restart w/ closed laptop
    By freesource in forum Hardware
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: February 15th, 2004, 10:07 PM
  4. WinXP will not restart or shutdown
    By cutty in forum AntiVirus Discussions
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: September 22nd, 2003, 10:19 AM
  5. Restart Windows 2K :D
    By DeepBlueMagic in forum AntiOnline's General Chit Chat
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: June 16th, 2002, 10:33 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •