HDD is very slow to be recognized

[few34fwfs]

So I have this HDD for backup and my OS is on SSD.
Everything worked fine until i decided to delete a folder with a lot of files.
I used Windows explorer and pressed shift+del and after about an hour it told me that it needs 5 hours to delete the folder.
I canceled the operation and tried that with powershell: "powershell -Command "Remove-Item -LiteralPath 'folder' -Force -Recurse" but it was taking a lot of time too.
I tried to terminate the task through task manager but I couldn't so I reboot my PC but from the Windows not using power buttons.
Anyway after rebooting the boot time took significantly more time.
I finally managed to delete the folder with "rmdir /s/q foldername" from command prompt but the slow boot times remain.
I did an error checking through Windows Explorer on the drive and it said it found no errors but it took half an hour to complete instead of seconds that usually does.
Anyway I unplugged the drive and boot time returned to normal but when I hot plugged it back in it took a lot of time to be recognized by Windows.
And SMART values are ok.
What happened to my drive??

 

[Solaris17]

Hm I think you need to run crystal disk info on that drive; it sounds like it’s failing.

I don’t think the folder deletion caused this, I’m willing to bet the drive was on its last legs and deleting this many files just unmasked the issue.

I would backup this drive immediately.

 

[SPDIF]

Grab a free copy of HD Sentinel and post a screenshot of smart table, A healthy one should look like this.

If all checks out, it could be an AV or other program that is interfering with some files on it.

 

[few34fwfs]

Hm I think you need to run crystal disk info on that drive; it sounds like it’s failing.

I don’t think the folder deletion caused this, I’m willing to bet the drive was on its last legs and deleting this many files just unmasked the issue.

I would backup this drive immediately.

So Crystal Disk Info says it's good.
I'm running a defrag right now because someone who had the same problem said that he solved it with defrag but it's kinda stuck at 2% consolidated.

 

[Solaris17]

but it's kinda stuck at 2% consolidated.

Yeah because that was a really bad idea.

it’s important to understand HDD failure modes. There is a reason I said to backup immediately.

1: SMART reporting is not instant. It is polled at intervals

2: Even if the platters do check out the next common is servo failure

3: control board failure this is often times linked to servo failure be it power to the servo or the servo is failing and it pulls so much amperage the ICs burn out on the board. Of course barring you didn’t scratch or break off any surface mount stuff via handeling.

I’ll say it again you need to backup your disks instead of beating the shit out of it with diagnostics before you lose your data. In either case you need a new one.

 

[few34fwfs]

Yeah because that was a really bad idea.

it’s important to understand HDD failure modes. There is a reason I said to backup immediately.

1: SMART reporting is not instant. It is polled at intervals

2: Even if the platters do check out the next common is servo failure

3: control board failure this is often times linked to servo failure be it power to the servo or the servo is failing and it pulls so much amperage the ICs burn out on the board. Of course barring you didn’t scratch or break off any surface mount stuff via handeling.

I’ll say it again you need to backup your disks instead of beating the shit out of it with diagnostics before you lose your data. In either case you need a new one.

Those are arbitrary assumptions. The drive might be just fine. Maybe the MFT got corrupt or something.

 

[Solaris17]

Those are arbitrary assumptions. The drive might be just fine. Maybe the MFT got corrupt or something.

The Master File Table has nothing to do with your bios post time it also would have been detected during check disk. As long as we’re making assumptions about skill; I guess there isn’t much to say. I worked as a storage architect for like a decade and you…. Googled how to defrag your HDD. I hope it works out for you and your data remains safe.

 

[Shrek]

While probably NOT the problem, I'd be tempted to clean the circuit board contacts.
Contact cleaning for HDD - YouTube

I have been known to clean mine and then apply a little silicone oil to avoid follow up corrosion.

 

[SPDIF]

Your HDD has a very high number of read error rate, with means not bad blocks, but problems with the disk surface, together with ECC Hardware errors and seek error. It still works okay at moment, but you better have a spare one ready and backup this drive. I have drives here from over 24 years old that does not show this error at all. You can expect this drive to fail sooner or later.

Also could try a new SATA cable and clean the contacts with IPA, but i think this drive is toast... I go with other's here, Backup this, and have a spare one ready. You have been warned.
And for the small price nowadays for a 4TB drive... No brainer i guess.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

might be

That's the point. And it doesn't cut it. HDDs are either fully okay or not. You need to save important data immediately.
And as SPDIF stated, your drive looks like a dying one. Get ready to purchase a new one.

 

[SPDIF]

And if i see how many GB this drive has written, it's clearly used up.
Change the settings in Crystal to show decimal values instead of RAW.

 

[Carillon]

It might be the sata connector, try touching it in inappropriate ways while it is copying a file, if you see it suddenly working and then stopping again while you're playing with it, you could fix it by soldering the cable.
If nothing happens, the connector is not the problem.
If it is the connector, you might want to ruin a second cable to make a female to male adapter, to prevent the sata port on the mobo from wearing out.

 

[azrael]

Yeah because that was a really bad idea.

it’s important to understand HDD failure modes. There is a reason I said to backup immediately.

1: SMART reporting is not instant. It is polled at intervals

2: Even if the platters do check out the next common is servo failure

3: control board failure this is often times linked to servo failure be it power to the servo or the servo is failing and it pulls so much amperage the ICs burn out on the board. Of course barring you didn’t scratch or break off any surface mount stuff via handeling.

I’ll say it again you need to backup your disks instead of beating the shit out of it with diagnostics before you lose your data. In either case you need a new one.

I'd say if the OP already started defragging and the disk is stuck it may be too late for that backup (or disk image).

 

[few34fwfs]

@Solaris17 Well thanks. I said boot time not post time.
@SPDIF My RAW values are already in decimal just like your screenshot.
I changed SATA cable. It didn't fix the problem.
I thought of buying a 2TB 7000MB/s NVMe and copy most of the data there and then formatting it, but I already have a 3600MB/s NVMe and I really doubt that I will see any difference. Plus I got 64GB of DDR5 so if I wanted faster speeds I could just use a RAMDISK that will give me 25000MB/s.
I also thought of buying a 8GB HDD and replace the drive but what would I have gained from that? You never know how long an HDD is going to last.
Then I thought to just format it right away to see if it will fix the problem and then copy all the data back in (it's a backup disk after all, like I said in the beginning) but too much trouble.
I think the best thing to do is to just leave it as it is. I will have long boot times but it's not a big deal. It's not like I boot every day. Most of the times I just put the PC to sleep.

 

[SPDIF]

I would try to zero fill this HDD and see if that fix some problems, it's worth a try as you have a backup. It's a bit the same as Secure Erase, but it can take hours on this HDD.
You never know it helps. Anyway you will see how long it lasts.

There are various Windows and Linux tools available for this.. I personally always use a Linux boot CD with rescue tools on it.

 

[micropage7]

@Solaris17 Well thanks. I said boot time not post time.
@SPDIF My RAW values are already in decimal just like your screenshot.
I changed SATA cable. It didn't fix the problem.
I thought of buying a 2TB 7000MB/s NVMe and copy most of the data there and then formatting it, but I already have a 3600MB/s NVMe and I really doubt that I will see any difference. Plus I got 64GB of DDR5 so if I wanted faster speeds I could just use a RAMDISK that will give me 25000MB/s.
I also thought of buying a 8GB HDD and replace the drive but what would I have gained from that? You never know how long an HDD is going to last.
Then I thought to just format it right away to see if it will fix the problem and then copy all the data back in (it's a backup disk after all, like I said in the beginning) but too much trouble.
I think the best thing to do is to just leave it as it is. I will have long boot times but it's not a big deal. It's not like I boot every day. Most of the times I just put the PC to sleep.

although through test it looks normal, just pay attention onwear sign, like "lazy spinning", any unusual clicking? or anything that not like normal drive
if like that, you need to back it up soon

 

[few34fwfs]

although through test it looks normal, just pay attention onwear sign, like "lazy spinning", any unusual clicking? or anything that not like normal drive
if like that, you need to back it up soon

No nothing. Tho it's a 2.5 inch disk and those disks are usually more quiet. It had come in a USB casing but it kept disconnecting so I open up the case and connected it to SATA cable. It worked fine until now. But I had another HDD clicking a few months ago. It was a 4TB WD and my newest drive. The first and last WD I buy. It started clicking and it couldn't be recognized neither by Windows or Linux. I read online that the actuator might be stuck so I opened it up but the actuator had not stuck. Anyway I ended up throwing it away.