Happy Labor Day, Here's my stuff

[babyoh]

Thanks, Corrine.
Before I get started with that, wanted to let you know that I can't see Landz boards on Firefox or Pale Moon. (They worked fine up until today.) Opera works fine.
In FF/Pale Moon, I got error 403 forbidden when trying to click on your response without logging on.
When I logged on, I got a CAPCTHA, which wouldn't let me in even after I "found the fire hydrant" etc.


- "protected by imunify360"
  CONSOLE :
TypeError: d is null
recaptcha__en.js:183:156
   r https://www.gstatic.com/recaptcha/api2/v1566858990656/recaptcha__en.js:183:156
   Z_</d.H< https://www.gstatic.com/recaptcha/api2/v1566858990656/recaptcha__en.js:490:462
   bound  self-hosted:985:17
14:27:34.146 uncaught exception: Timeout (h) 
(unknown)

[Corrine]

It is obviously being blocked by Immunity360.  I certainly have good security measures in place and LzD isn't blocked for me on Pale Moon or Firefox.

[babyoh]

i assume some addon i have fouled up. strange, since i haven't made any recent changes.

  ##  SeaTools long generic test failed within 6 mins at 8%
passed all other tests, no further info available:
--------------- SeaTools for Windows v1.4.0.7 ---------------
9/21/2019 2:58:34 PM
Model Number: TOSHIBA MQ01ABD032
Serial Number: 52MGP1T6T
Firmware Revision: AX002J
SMART - Started 9/21/2019 2:58:34 PM
SMART - Pass 9/21/2019 2:58:41 PM
Short DST - Started 9/21/2019 2:58:58 PM
Short DST - Pass 9/21/2019 3:00:50 PM
Identify - Started 9/21/2019 3:02:01 PM
Short Generic - Started 9/21/2019 3:02:25 PM
Short Generic - Pass 9/21/2019 3:03:53 PM
Long Generic - Started 9/21/2019 3:04:13 PM
Long Generic - FAIL 9/21/2019 3:09:55 PM
Long Generic - Started 9/21/2019 3:13:19 PM
Long Generic - FAIL 9/21/2019 3:19:01 PM

  ## HD Sentinel
performance: 100%, excellent
health: 39%, acceptable

There are 24 bad sectors on the disk surface. The contents of these sectors were moved to the spare area.
Based on the number of remapping operations, the bad sectors may form continuous areas.
There are 712 weak sectors found on the disk surface. They may be remapped any time in the later use of the disk.
More information: https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_case_weak_sectors.php
At this point, warranty replacement of the disk is not yet possible, only if the health drops further.
It is recommended to examine the log of the disk regularly. All new problems found will be logged there.

power on time: 1068 days, 0 hrs
estimated remaining time: 91 days
total start/stop count: 5,555

## S.M.A.R.T.
yellow exclam points (not green checks):
reallocated sectors count - 24
reallocation event count - 3
current pending sector count (unstable sectors)- 712

INFO
ata checksum value-invalid

[Corrine]

I hope you have backed up important files as I mentioned earlier.  With the SeaTools fail of the long generic test combined with the 24 bad sectors (moved, but . . . ) amd tje 712 weak sectors, it is definitely not sounding good for that hard drive.

I'm going to contact Digerati, who, IMO, is a hardware expert to see what he things and if he has any suggestions.

[Digerati]

i think this computer may be toast.

Hi babyoh. I really don't have anything to add to Corrine's thorough and excellent advice. So I thought I would just make an observation and note that I agree with Corrine.

Chkdsk runs on the c: drive, finds problems, appears to fix them, then runs again and finds more problems. It has gone through that cycle multiple times. That is a pretty solid indication the drive itself is failing and should be backed up and replaced ASAP.

You have also run Seatools and HD Sentinal, both of which have found problems.

If you know the actual manufacturer of the drive, you can visit their website and should find a diagnostics tool there. But since hard drives all use the same technologies, Seatools is just as good. Also note that Maxtor was acquired by Seagate (the makers of Seatools) so if you have a Maxtor drive, the Seatools app is the one to use anyway.

That said, these diagnostic tools (which do very much the same as chkdsk) can only repair corruption. If the corruption is a one-time event caused by a power outage, for example, you typically can be assured the drive will continue to work fine once the corruption is fixed. However, if the corruption is due to drive failure, as yours appears to be, any repairs will most likely be temporary - at best.

I do not think your computer is toast. But your drive is stuck in the toaster and refuses to pop up. So as Corrine advised, you need to back up any data you do not want to lose ASAP. Then, IMO, you need to replace that drive - unless you are looking for an excuse to replace the computer! ;)

And for the record, if you decide to replace the drive, if budget allows, I would certainly recommend going with a SSD instead of another hard drive as an SSD will also provide a nice, over all performance boost too. And when used in portable devices like a notebook, it should be noted SSDs are lighter than hard drives, generate less heat, and consume less power too - all advantages in battery operated devices you lug around.

[babyoh]

Thanks, folks.
The hard drive failed; i'm backed up, thankfully. In the market for new computers now.
Interesting to hear about SSDs, I've been looking at hybrid SSD/HD systems. If they generate less heat, there will be less fan noise & the machines will be quieter. I want a great deal of space, & assume large SSDs are $$$- but I'll check.
The notebook with the failed drive had started to crack its screen, so I think it's ready for the junk heap.
** Since I can't overwrite the dead drive with random 1s & 0s with something like Dban- Do you happen to know of a safe way to "kill" the data on the drive?
Not likely someone could retrieve the data, but... just to be safe.

[Paddy]

When it comes to storage, SSDs are where it's at. They're far faster than old-school mechanical hard disks and a lot more compact – and it doesn't hurt that they're also completely silent.


https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/1406612/best-ssd-solid-state-drive-ssds


As for the old hard drive remove and smash with a Hammer.
Ive never recycled  a hard drive always used the Hammer.

Paddy..  ;)

[plodr]

My husband and I dismantle old hard drives. I have lots of small screwdrivers to take them apart. Then I key the metal platters and my husband saves the strong magnet to paste notes on the refrigerator in the garage. Most of the metal we take to a metal recycler.

[techie]

I follow the governments guidelines for destruction. A large hammer and concrete or something solid and then take out your frustration on it ;)

[Digerati]

I follow the governments guidelines for destruction. A large hammer...

LOL A hammer was never in the government guidelines.

I used to be tasked to destroy DoD and State Dept classified data of all levels on drives. Depending on the sensitivity, we, at the very least had to wipe the drives using DoD sanitation methods to overwrite every bit multiple times with random 1s and 0s. And even after that, the drives could not leave the control of the government.

But that was for the lowest classifications. For higher classifications, after wiping the drives, we had to destroy the drives and that could only happen in an approved drive shredder.

On top of that, all drive destruction required "two-man witnessing" by properly cleared personnel. That is, if the drive contained Top Secret SCI (compartmentalized) information, both witnesses had to have Top Secret SCI clearances AND "the need to know" access to that data. And we had to watch and certified that we watched the actual destruction of the drive.

Of course those are extreme measures not needed in civilian environments. Typically, just running a wipe program is sufficient. For a bad guy to retrieve anything from a drive after that, he/she would have to be highly skilled and extremely well funded, and targeting you (or your organization) specifically as such retrieval is very complex and time consuming - if even possible. This means you most likely have to be a target of an enemy government as your typical bad guys or nosy whiz kids are too lazy and don't have the resources to put that kind of time and effort into recovering data from a wiped drive.

Note even just deleting all the data on the drive, then filling it up with tunes or videos a couple times is typically good enough to obliterate any previously saved data for most "normal" users.

What if the drive no longer works and you don't have access to a drive shredder? Then I recommend drilling 3 holes all the way through the drive, about 1 inch out from the center hub. That said, the shredder is a lot more fun!  8)

[DR M]

That said, the shredder is a lot more fun!

It is just a great WOW!!!!!!!! I've never seen such a thing before!!! 😮

What if drowning it in the water or passing above it with the car or just infect it with a virus?

[Digerati]

What if drowning it in the water or passing above it with the car or just infect it with a virus?

Water will not harm the platters. And driving over a drive with a car most likely will not damage the platters inside either. A virus will typically only affect a few files.

A wipe program is your best bet. Note that CCleaner has a "Wipe Drive" feature that works just fine.