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From: SC Tom on 13 Nov 2009 18:52

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:OMladyJZKHA.1648(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> SC Tom wrote:
>> "Jim" <bojimbo261(a)aol.com> wrote in message
>> news:2paqf5t8nru1qlgh5m2npnbi1hu27m3njb(a)4ax.com...
>>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:27 -0000, "Broooz" <Broooz(a)nospamplease.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Please do you know why system restore would fail periodically. I
>>>> cannot
>>>> tell how often it happens because I don't use SR very often. But every
>>>> time
>>>> I decide it would be easier to use it than trying other methods, I get
>>>> a
>>>> message saying SR unable to restore to the selected point, try another.
>>>> Others don't seem to work either later or earlier.
>>>>
>>>> I am using XP SP3, I virus check regularly. I have checked in event
>>>> viewer
>>>> for any relevant errors but cant find any. However I suppose any
>>>> relevant
>>>> error might be at the time the restore point became corrupted (if that
>>>> is
>>>> the problem) and I cant see that far back.
>>>>
>>>> I have since deleted all the restore points and tested SR now and it
>>>> all
>>>> works but I think that the next time I need it, I wont be able to use
>>>> it
>>>> again. This has happened before.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Not to start a flame war : I use ERUNT system which does a restore
>>> point every day .
>>
>> I do too, but ERUNT is just a registry backup. It will not revert system
>> files back to what they were 3 or 4 days ago like SR does. I may be
>> overly
>> cautious, but I use ERUNT, SR, and make an image of my HDD regularly.
>> Hopefully, I'll be able to recover from just about anything that way. I
>> know
>> the imaging has saved my butt on 2 different machines when the HDD's
>> crashed. (One gave me warnings for a while that I stupidly ignored; the
>> other crashed with no warning 15 minutes after booting up one morning.)
>>
>> SC Tom
>
> Agreed, having all three backup tools works out the best depending on the
> situation. :-)
>
> Just out of curiosity, how old were the drives, and what were the warnings
> you got before it died?
>
> And for the one that died afer 15 minutes, did you possibly try out
> putting it in the refrig (that some say may work to temporarily resurrect
> it), or wasn't it even worth bothering with, since you had a backup
> anyways?
>

The one that died after 15 minutes was in my notebook, and I don't know if
the 'book got banged or something the night before, but when I booted up the
next day, it came up fine, but as soon as I started working with it, it
"crunched" a few times, then Vista locked up. Not having any recourse except
to power it down, I did so, only to have it not do anything on reboot. I
tried a few things like booting to my UBCD and trying chkdsk and the Seagate
disk checking utility, and it confirmed the drive was toast. I had a 2 day
old image, so I went to Best Buy, bought a drive, and 45 minutes after
installing it, I was up and running again.

The other drive was in my desktop, and would give me a read error every now
and then, but not often. Since I seemed to be out of the house more than in,
I wasn't using the desktop as much as my notebook, so I kinda GAF'd them
off. Then one day while working on the desktop, the errors started coming
more frequently. Then the death rattle started and I knew I couldn't put it
off any longer. I bit the bullet, bought a new drive, and restored an older
image to it ( about 2 weeks old). I tried making an image of the failing
drive first, but it was too far gone. Since I had been working mostly on the
notebook, I really didn't lose much by using an older image.

I've heard of the fridge method, but have never tried it myself.

SC Tom

From: SC Tom on 15 Nov 2009 14:04


"SC Tom" <sc(a)tom.net> wrote in message
news:#HRFbxLZKHA.1592(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "Bill in Co." <not_really_here(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:OMladyJZKHA.1648(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> SC Tom wrote:
>>> "Jim" <bojimbo261(a)aol.com> wrote in message
>>> news:2paqf5t8nru1qlgh5m2npnbi1hu27m3njb(a)4ax.com...
>>>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:27 -0000, "Broooz" <Broooz(a)nospamplease.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Please do you know why system restore would fail periodically. I
>>>>> cannot
>>>>> tell how often it happens because I don't use SR very often. But
>>>>> every
>>>>> time
>>>>> I decide it would be easier to use it than trying other methods, I get
>>>>> a
>>>>> message saying SR unable to restore to the selected point, try
>>>>> another.
>>>>> Others don't seem to work either later or earlier.
>>>>>
>>>>> I am using XP SP3, I virus check regularly. I have checked in event
>>>>> viewer
>>>>> for any relevant errors but cant find any. However I suppose any
>>>>> relevant
>>>>> error might be at the time the restore point became corrupted (if that
>>>>> is
>>>>> the problem) and I cant see that far back.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have since deleted all the restore points and tested SR now and it
>>>>> all
>>>>> works but I think that the next time I need it, I wont be able to use
>>>>> it
>>>>> again. This has happened before.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> Not to start a flame war : I use ERUNT system which does a restore
>>>> point every day .
>>>
>>> I do too, but ERUNT is just a registry backup. It will not revert system
>>> files back to what they were 3 or 4 days ago like SR does. I may be
>>> overly
>>> cautious, but I use ERUNT, SR, and make an image of my HDD regularly.
>>> Hopefully, I'll be able to recover from just about anything that way. I
>>> know
>>> the imaging has saved my butt on 2 different machines when the HDD's
>>> crashed. (One gave me warnings for a while that I stupidly ignored; the
>>> other crashed with no warning 15 minutes after booting up one morning.)
>>>
>>> SC Tom
>>
>> Agreed, having all three backup tools works out the best depending on the
>> situation. :-)
>>
>> Just out of curiosity, how old were the drives, and what were the
>> warnings you got before it died?
>>
>> And for the one that died afer 15 minutes, did you possibly try out
>> putting it in the refrig (that some say may work to temporarily resurrect
>> it), or wasn't it even worth bothering with, since you had a backup
>> anyways?
>>
>
> The one that died after 15 minutes was in my notebook, and I don't know if
> the 'book got banged or something the night before, but when I booted up
> the next day, it came up fine, but as soon as I started working with it,
> it "crunched" a few times, then Vista locked up. Not having any recourse
> except to power it down, I did so, only to have it not do anything on
> reboot. I tried a few things like booting to my UBCD and trying chkdsk and
> the Seagate disk checking utility, and it confirmed the drive was toast. I
> had a 2 day old image, so I went to Best Buy, bought a drive, and 45
> minutes after installing it, I was up and running again.
>
> The other drive was in my desktop, and would give me a read error every
> now and then, but not often. Since I seemed to be out of the house more
> than in, I wasn't using the desktop as much as my notebook, so I kinda
> GAF'd them off. Then one day while working on the desktop, the errors
> started coming more frequently. Then the death rattle started and I knew I
> couldn't put it off any longer. I bit the bullet, bought a new drive, and
> restored an older image to it ( about 2 weeks old). I tried making an
> image of the failing drive first, but it was too far gone. Since I had
> been working mostly on the notebook, I really didn't lose much by using an
> older image.
>
> I've heard of the fridge method, but have never tried it myself.
>
> SC Tom
>

Oh, and, the notebook drive was less than 3 months old, and the desktop
drive was at least 4 years old.


From: Bill in Co. on 15 Nov 2009 16:47
SC Tom wrote:
> "SC Tom" <sc(a)tom.net> wrote in message
> news:#HRFbxLZKHA.1592(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "Bill in Co." <not_really_here(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message
>> news:OMladyJZKHA.1648(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>> SC Tom wrote:
>>>> "Jim" <bojimbo261(a)aol.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:2paqf5t8nru1qlgh5m2npnbi1hu27m3njb(a)4ax.com...
>>>>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:27 -0000, "Broooz" <Broooz(a)nospamplease.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Please do you know why system restore would fail periodically. I
>>>>>> cannot
>>>>>> tell how often it happens because I don't use SR very often. But
>>>>>> every
>>>>>> time
>>>>>> I decide it would be easier to use it than trying other methods, I
>>>>>> get
>>>>>> a
>>>>>> message saying SR unable to restore to the selected point, try
>>>>>> another.
>>>>>> Others don't seem to work either later or earlier.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I am using XP SP3, I virus check regularly. I have checked in event
>>>>>> viewer
>>>>>> for any relevant errors but cant find any. However I suppose any
>>>>>> relevant
>>>>>> error might be at the time the restore point became corrupted (if
>>>>>> that
>>>>>> is
>>>>>> the problem) and I cant see that far back.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have since deleted all the restore points and tested SR now and it
>>>>>> all
>>>>>> works but I think that the next time I need it, I wont be able to use
>>>>>> it
>>>>>> again. This has happened before.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>
>>>>> Not to start a flame war : I use ERUNT system which does a restore
>>>>> point every day .
>>>>
>>>> I do too, but ERUNT is just a registry backup. It will not revert
>>>> system
>>>> files back to what they were 3 or 4 days ago like SR does. I may be
>>>> overly
>>>> cautious, but I use ERUNT, SR, and make an image of my HDD regularly.
>>>> Hopefully, I'll be able to recover from just about anything that way. I
>>>> know
>>>> the imaging has saved my butt on 2 different machines when the HDD's
>>>> crashed. (One gave me warnings for a while that I stupidly ignored; the
>>>> other crashed with no warning 15 minutes after booting up one morning.)
>>>>
>>>> SC Tom
>>>
>>> Agreed, having all three backup tools works out the best depending on
>>> the
>>> situation. :-)
>>>
>>> Just out of curiosity, how old were the drives, and what were the
>>> warnings you got before it died?
>>>
>>> And for the one that died afer 15 minutes, did you possibly try out
>>> putting it in the refrig (that some say may work to temporarily
>>> resurrect
>>> it), or wasn't it even worth bothering with, since you had a backup
>>> anyways?
>>>
>>
>> The one that died after 15 minutes was in my notebook, and I don't know
>> if
>> the 'book got banged or something the night before, but when I booted up
>> the next day, it came up fine, but as soon as I started working with it,
>> it "crunched" a few times, then Vista locked up. Not having any recourse
>> except to power it down, I did so, only to have it not do anything on
>> reboot. I tried a few things like booting to my UBCD and trying chkdsk
>> and
>> the Seagate disk checking utility, and it confirmed the drive was toast.
>> I
>> had a 2 day old image, so I went to Best Buy, bought a drive, and 45
>> minutes after installing it, I was up and running again.
>>
>> The other drive was in my desktop, and would give me a read error every
>> now and then, but not often. Since I seemed to be out of the house more
>> than in, I wasn't using the desktop as much as my notebook, so I kinda
>> GAF'd them off. Then one day while working on the desktop, the errors
>> started coming more frequently. Then the death rattle started and I knew
>> I
>> couldn't put it off any longer. I bit the bullet, bought a new drive, and
>> restored an older image to it ( about 2 weeks old). I tried making an
>> image of the failing drive first, but it was too far gone. Since I had
>> been working mostly on the notebook, I really didn't lose much by using
>> an
>> older image.
>>
>> I've heard of the fridge method, but have never tried it myself.
>>
>> SC Tom
>>
>
> Oh, and, the notebook drive was less than 3 months old, and the desktop
> drive was at least 4 years old.

Probably the notebook drive did accidentally get banged then, and the other
one that lasted 4 years may be par for the course.

I don't know what the typical life expectancy of a standard HD is, but I've
heard it's normally only a few years, from what some in here have indicated.
It would be interesting to know if anyone has one that has lasted 10 years
or more. Of course by that time, maybe most have moved on to a new
computer, so that's why we don't hear much about it.


From: Jose on 15 Nov 2009 17:41
On Nov 13, 3:05 pm, "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...(a)earthlink.net>
wrote:
> SC Tom wrote:
> > "Jim" <bojimbo...(a)aol.com> wrote in message
> >news:2paqf5t8nru1qlgh5m2npnbi1hu27m3njb(a)4ax.com...
> >> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:27 -0000, "Broooz" <Bro...(a)nospamplease.com>
> >> wrote:
>
> >>> Please do you know why system restore would fail periodically.  I cannot
> >>> tell how often it happens because I don't use SR very often.  But every
> >>> time
> >>> I decide it would be easier to use it than trying other methods, I get a
> >>> message saying SR unable to restore to the selected point, try another.
> >>> Others don't seem to work either later or earlier.
>
> >>> I am using XP SP3, I virus check regularly.  I have checked in event
> >>> viewer
> >>> for any relevant errors but cant find any.  However I suppose any
> >>> relevant
> >>> error might be at the time the restore point became corrupted (if that
> >>> is
> >>> the problem) and I cant see that far back.
>
> >>> I have since deleted all the restore points and tested SR now and it all
> >>> works but I think that the next time I need it, I wont be able to use it
> >>> again.  This has happened before.
>
> >>> Thanks
>
> >> Not to start a flame war : I use ERUNT system which does a restore
> >> point every day .
>
> > I do too, but ERUNT is just a registry backup. It will not revert system
> > files back to what they were 3 or 4 days ago like SR does. I may be overly
> > cautious, but I use ERUNT, SR, and make an image of my HDD regularly.
> > Hopefully, I'll be able to recover from just about anything that way. I
> > know
> > the imaging has saved my butt on 2 different machines when the HDD's
> > crashed. (One gave me warnings for a while that I stupidly ignored; the
> > other crashed with no warning 15 minutes after booting up one morning.)
>
> > SC Tom
>
> Agreed, having all three backup tools works out the best depending on the
> situation.   :-)
>
> Just out of curiosity, how old were the drives, and what were the warnings
> you got before it died?
>
> And for the one that died afer 15 minutes, did you possibly try out putting
> it in the refrig (that some say may work to temporarily resurrect it), or
> wasn't it even worth bothering with, since you had a backup anyways?

Refrigerator method added as #53 to my "likely suggestions" list right
under:

Most likely to suggest putting a USB memory device in a plastic bag in
the freezer for at least 10 minutes.

Thanks!
From: SC Tom on 15 Nov 2009 20:42

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:%23fhc50jZKHA.1596(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> SC Tom wrote:
>> "SC Tom" <sc(a)tom.net> wrote in message
>> news:#HRFbxLZKHA.1592(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>> "Bill in Co." <not_really_here(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>> news:OMladyJZKHA.1648(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>>> SC Tom wrote:
>>>>> "Jim" <bojimbo261(a)aol.com> wrote in message
>>>>> news:2paqf5t8nru1qlgh5m2npnbi1hu27m3njb(a)4ax.com...
>>>>>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:27 -0000, "Broooz"
>>>>>> <Broooz(a)nospamplease.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Please do you know why system restore would fail periodically. I
>>>>>>> cannot
>>>>>>> tell how often it happens because I don't use SR very often. But
>>>>>>> every
>>>>>>> time
>>>>>>> I decide it would be easier to use it than trying other methods, I
>>>>>>> get
>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>> message saying SR unable to restore to the selected point, try
>>>>>>> another.
>>>>>>> Others don't seem to work either later or earlier.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am using XP SP3, I virus check regularly. I have checked in event
>>>>>>> viewer
>>>>>>> for any relevant errors but cant find any. However I suppose any
>>>>>>> relevant
>>>>>>> error might be at the time the restore point became corrupted (if
>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>> is
>>>>>>> the problem) and I cant see that far back.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have since deleted all the restore points and tested SR now and it
>>>>>>> all
>>>>>>> works but I think that the next time I need it, I wont be able to
>>>>>>> use
>>>>>>> it
>>>>>>> again. This has happened before.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Not to start a flame war : I use ERUNT system which does a restore
>>>>>> point every day .
>>>>>
>>>>> I do too, but ERUNT is just a registry backup. It will not revert
>>>>> system
>>>>> files back to what they were 3 or 4 days ago like SR does. I may be
>>>>> overly
>>>>> cautious, but I use ERUNT, SR, and make an image of my HDD regularly.
>>>>> Hopefully, I'll be able to recover from just about anything that way.
>>>>> I
>>>>> know
>>>>> the imaging has saved my butt on 2 different machines when the HDD's
>>>>> crashed. (One gave me warnings for a while that I stupidly ignored;
>>>>> the
>>>>> other crashed with no warning 15 minutes after booting up one
>>>>> morning.)
>>>>>
>>>>> SC Tom
>>>>
>>>> Agreed, having all three backup tools works out the best depending on
>>>> the
>>>> situation. :-)
>>>>
>>>> Just out of curiosity, how old were the drives, and what were the
>>>> warnings you got before it died?
>>>>
>>>> And for the one that died afer 15 minutes, did you possibly try out
>>>> putting it in the refrig (that some say may work to temporarily
>>>> resurrect
>>>> it), or wasn't it even worth bothering with, since you had a backup
>>>> anyways?
>>>>
>>>
>>> The one that died after 15 minutes was in my notebook, and I don't know
>>> if
>>> the 'book got banged or something the night before, but when I booted up
>>> the next day, it came up fine, but as soon as I started working with it,
>>> it "crunched" a few times, then Vista locked up. Not having any recourse
>>> except to power it down, I did so, only to have it not do anything on
>>> reboot. I tried a few things like booting to my UBCD and trying chkdsk
>>> and
>>> the Seagate disk checking utility, and it confirmed the drive was toast.
>>> I
>>> had a 2 day old image, so I went to Best Buy, bought a drive, and 45
>>> minutes after installing it, I was up and running again.
>>>
>>> The other drive was in my desktop, and would give me a read error every
>>> now and then, but not often. Since I seemed to be out of the house more
>>> than in, I wasn't using the desktop as much as my notebook, so I kinda
>>> GAF'd them off. Then one day while working on the desktop, the errors
>>> started coming more frequently. Then the death rattle started and I knew
>>> I
>>> couldn't put it off any longer. I bit the bullet, bought a new drive,
>>> and
>>> restored an older image to it ( about 2 weeks old). I tried making an
>>> image of the failing drive first, but it was too far gone. Since I had
>>> been working mostly on the notebook, I really didn't lose much by using
>>> an
>>> older image.
>>>
>>> I've heard of the fridge method, but have never tried it myself.
>>>
>>> SC Tom
>>>
>>
>> Oh, and, the notebook drive was less than 3 months old, and the desktop
>> drive was at least 4 years old.
>
> Probably the notebook drive did accidentally get banged then, and the
> other one that lasted 4 years may be par for the course.
>
> I don't know what the typical life expectancy of a standard HD is, but
> I've heard it's normally only a few years, from what some in here have
> indicated. It would be interesting to know if anyone has one that has
> lasted 10 years or more. Of course by that time, maybe most have moved
> on to a new computer, so that's why we don't hear much about it.
>
I would guess 5 or 6 years would be somewhat of a norm for the average home
user.
I had a SCSI drive (actually 2- it was a RAID setup) in an old NT server at
work that was turned on and running for 9 years without losing power and
never had a disk error. I was muchly impressed! It would have been on a lot
longer than that if we hadn't gone to a new CAD system that needed a newer
OS, and the blueprint viewer and plotter setup finally got upgraded, too.
After it was no longer needed, it was relegated to a dark corner in the
server room with the power removed. Two years later, it was dragged out and
turned on ( one of the bosses thought there might be a file on it that had
never been backed up. Yeah, right!). It fired right up, but one of the
drives had a squeal that soon went away when it locked up. The other drive
ran for a couple of days before it was turned off forever and shipped to our
main office for destruction. It was a Compaq server with, I think, Maxtor
SCSI's.

SC Tom

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