Windows has detected failed hard drive sectors please back up your important files

Is this telling me to get a new hard drive or what? Is it false error message or ligit? Is there a way around it?

Well, if its just telling you to backup your files and not download some shady program then it probably is.

If you want to be 100% sure though, right click your Windows drive(normally C:), click properties, then tools, then error checking. This will prompt you to restart your computer and will run a disk check for that drive. Depending on the drive selected it could take a few hours(may appear inactive, don't shut computer down). Read whatever is printed on the screen as it does the scan.

Well, if its just telling you to backup your files and not download some shady program then it probably is.

If you want to be 100% sure though, right click your Windows drive(normally C:), click properties, then tools, then error checking. This will prompt you to restart your computer and will run a disk check for that drive. Depending on the drive selected it could take a few hours(may appear inactive, don't shut computer down). Read whatever is printed on the screen as it does the scan.

already did that and it didnt tell me anything useful

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Double Post Merge: November 27, 2015, 02:03:53 am

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gpedit.msc also didnt help with the "diagnostics" option missing from the selection i was going to try that but didnt work

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Double Post Merge: November 27, 2015, 02:13:03 am

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just done it again as we speak nothing has indicated towards failed sectors

already did that and it didnt tell me anything useful

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Double Post Merge: November 27, 2015, 02:03:53 am

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gpedit.msc also didnt help with the "diagnostics" option missing from the selection i was going to try that but didnt work

Anything useful? Everything check disk prints on the screen is useful, you just need to know what your looking at/for.

Don't know why you'd be messing with the Group Policy Editor. It isn't what you'd(typically) use.

Anything useful? Everything check disk prints on the screen is useful, you just need to know what your looking at/for.

Don't know why you'd be messing with the Group Policy Editor. It isn't what you'd(typically) use.

i tried to use it coz i read online that if you changed a setting restarted pc then dissabled it it would fix it but i didnt get that far. also i spoke to microsoft about this and they said new hard drive thats what they would recomend they stated this: "as you have done all the trouble shooting for the drive all we can suggest is a new drive or a second hand one from a friend" but the problem is i have tried my brother in-law's HDD and its running vista with all the incorrect drivers so i took it back out and put the faulty one back in (looky i have a spare pc) marginally better than my previous one the one thats fucked

Checking the SMART log should be your first priority.

Every manufactured hard drive contains a standardized low level diagnostic log (SMART) used to record various operating attributes.

If the raw value of re-allocated or pending sector counts have incremented above zero then it's a sign of disk failure.  You want to backup all data to another device or storage medium (DVD, etc).   Your drive could fail soon or last months or longer.  There's no easy way to tell or guess, just be prepared.

There are various utilities you can use to view the SMART log.

# commandline
smartmontools - open source

# GUI
gsmartcontrol - open source - (this is a cross platform graphical interface for smartmontools)

speedfan - closed source - (has the ability to pull SMART log)
hdtune - closed source - similar to speedfan


I'd recommend trying GSmartcontrol, but you'll definitely want to verify the checksum of the .exe against the published MD5 or SHA1 hash prior to execution as the project was moved from web host berlios.de to sourceforge.net last year.

Sourceforge has been known to modify .exe without approval of project owners.  This is why you should always verify the checksum of a download against the value published on the website.

Also be aware that you may also need to download smartmontools.  I'm not entirely sure if smartmontools is included in the windows version of GSmartcontrol.


Additional references.
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http://gsmartcontrol.sourceforge.net/home/index.php/Screenshots
http://gsmartcontrol.sourceforge.net/home/index.php/Downloads
https://www.smartmontools.org/

http://superuser.com/questions/29240/how-can-i-read-my-hard-drives-smart-status-in-windows-7

all of this is relevent and helpful, but if in doubt - i would just back up your stuff ASAP before anything can go wrong, and consider the "possibility" of just replacing it. Always a good opportunity to step up in size or get a SSD

better to be safe than sorry, back up asap til you work out whats up ( i have a second hard drive in my pc and several external drives for this reason lol )

as for your brothers hard drive - why did you not just "update the drivers" ? lol

Windows has detected failed hard drive sectors please back up your important files

Is this telling me to get a new hard drive or what? Is it false error message or ligit? Is there a way around it?

run a chkdsk but in most cases your hdd is going bad.

all of this is relevent and helpful, but if in doubt - i would just back up your stuff ASAP before anything can go wrong, and consider the "possibility" of just replacing it. Always a good opportunity to step up in size or get a SSD

better to be safe than sorry, back up asap til you work out whats up ( i have a second hard drive in my pc and several external drives for this reason lol )

as for your brothers hard drive - why did you not just "update the drivers" ? lol

codnt update the drivers coz it was running 32 bit my hardware dont like 32 bit drivers it likes 64 bit ones instead and coz its a 32 bit it dont let me install them

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Double Post Merge: December 11, 2015, 02:07:57 am

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ok so i think i destroyed my bro's HDD (ooppss im a dead man) i installed 64 bit OS over the top of a 32 bit os and now its refusing to detect a hard drive i have tried my external 2TB hard drive and its not letting install it to that either ive also tried a 128GB micro sd memory card and its told me to go fuck off i cannot get a usb to boot up coz of unknown bios password

codnt update the drivers coz it was running 32 bit my hardware dont like 32 bit drivers it likes 64 bit ones instead and coz its a 32 bit it dont let me install them

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Double Post Merge: December 11, 2015, 02:07:57 am

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ok so i think i destroyed my bro's HDD (ooppss im a dead man) i installed 64 bit OS over the top of a 32 bit os and now its refusing to detect a hard drive i have tried my external 2TB hard drive and its not letting install it to that either ive also tried a 128GB micro sd memory card and its told me to go fuck off i cannot get a usb to boot up coz of unknown bios password

^What happens when you screw with shit you don't understand.

Edit: and 64 bit hardware will run a 32 bit hardware and drivers just fine. The only major differences is that you can't run 64-bit software and your limited to 3.5 GB of RAM.

codnt update the drivers coz it was running 32 bit my hardware dont like 32 bit drivers it likes 64 bit ones instead and coz its a 32 bit it dont let me install them

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Double Post Merge: December 11, 2015, 02:07:57 am

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ok so i think i destroyed my bro's HDD (ooppss im a dead man) i installed 64 bit OS over the top of a 32 bit os and now its refusing to detect a hard drive i have tried my external 2TB hard drive and its not letting install it to that either ive also tried a 128GB micro sd memory card and its told me to go fuck off i cannot get a usb to boot up coz of unknown bios password

not sure how youve even done that

^What happens when you screw with shit you don't understand.

Edit: and 64 bit hardware will run a 32 bit hardware and drivers just fine. The only major differences is that you can't run 64-bit software and your limited to 3.5 GB of RAM.

well it refused to install drivers on the 32 bit

well it refused to install drivers on the 32 bit

Because its a 32-bit OS...