fri0@quads.uchicago.edu (Christian E. Fritze) (10/24/90)
Our hard disk crashed recently, apparently as a result of a corrupt file directory. After hitting is with SUM, it took Disk Doctor (Norton) to rebuild this file. DD reported so many errors and further warned me of remaining damage, that I completely erased the HD and started over. While locking out bad sectors and fully erasing with SUM, I noticed that when either operation reached the last 5% of the disk, a new grinding noise issued from the HD. The sound was not unlike the noise of reading or writing to disk, just a little louder and more like a ratchet. The sound was intermittent (lasting 2 secs or so) and was always accompanied by a pronounced screen jitter and a v. slow spinning of the beach-ball cursos. I realize over-the-net diagnosis is unrealistic, but has anyone experienced similar goings-on? Is my disk on the verge of dying? Proceed with caution? Many thanks. Please e-mail responses. -- Christian E. Fritze | AOL:geneman University of Chicago | fri0@midway.uchicago.edu Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology | "No one ever died of laughing" -M.B. --