Old Guy here what does this mean "failure imminent"

[green grunt]

Hi all...Help .... not very savvy with comp problems... what does this mean ?

[Garv]

Not savvy either, and the picture does not show for me.

I would back up your files onto a thumb drive asap though.

Tagged for answers from those that know.

[green grunt]

had to log out then back in to see the pic...ugh.... already backed up all photos to thumb drive ... it is a 10 year old HP tower , got lots of space on the drives... then this...maybe a new one is in my not to distant future

[Librarian]

When you see the error, consider yourself lucky. In most cases, hard drives fail without prior notice. So, take action as soon as you can.

See https://softwaretested.com/windows/1...ust-try-fixes/ - common problem, search for "1720 smart hard drive imminent failure #05"

[Vinnie Boombatz]

If there's still time run as far away from that machine as you can. It can blow up any second.

[SkyHawk]

It means you are logging a high number of reallocated sectors due to read/write failures and the drive will fail soon.

You need to back up the drive asap, or mirror it to a new drive (best option)

[green grunt]

Thanks All..... guess ill go with a new hard drive and have all transferred over...SOON..

[ibanezfoo]

Theres too much dirt on your hard drive. Take it out and wash it under hot water. Dry it off in the microwave. Should be good for another ~5 years.

[DGoodale]

It means you better have a data recovery plan!

[Robotron2k84]

How old is the drive, OP? That model came out in 2013. General rule of thumb is 3-5 years lifetime per drive before replacement if you want to stay inside the MTBF window.

Just buy a new drive and restore from your backups?

You do have backups, right?

[SharedShots]

Here is how you take care of the problem:

Disconnect the computer from the network/Internet. You do this to prevent any applications from accessing the network/Internet causing the drive to run more than it absolutely needs to. Close all applications. Then - -

1. Stop guessing or accepting guesses as to what the problem is.
2. If possible, backup the drive. - BEFORE you backup the entire drive, copy off the important data like documents, datafiles used by applications like Turbotax etc. The reason you do that is because a backup does just that unless configured to only get your data, it backs up the installation of the OS, applications and everything else. You can always re-install the OS or applications, the data once gone is gone. So get that first.

3. Then, if the drive is still running ok, run a full backup.

4. Now get a copy (as in download, preferably to a different computer and using a thumbdrive) of Seatools. This is a software product made to diagnose Seagate drives and comes from the manufacturer. If you don't have a second computer you'll need to reconnect to the Internet to get the download, so goes and no real issue so long as you've already made your backups.

Here is where you get it: https://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

The tool isn't real difficult to use, take your time and be patient. All the instructions you need are provided there.

When the tool functions on your PC it will diagnose and explain what is wrong (you may not understand it all) and recommend a course of action. If the drive is under warranty you'll be able to return it and Seagate will replace it, they don't repair drives. They also don't save your data which is why you do this yourself first. Before sending the drive in for warranty, if that applies, delete your data.

I would not try to repair the drive or start fiddling with software fixes you download from any source but Seagate, you have no idea what they do or why. There are lots of so-called "free" drive diagnostic programs that are actually scamware, backing up and stealing your data.

What I outlined is about as painless as it gets.

[DaveInOroValley]

If there's still time run as far away from that machine as you can. It can blow up any second.

And take out a lung!

[OlderThanDirt]

Spray it with a little WD-40?

[hunterb]

Your computer is dying of old age.

Backup harddrive and replace before it dies.

[Darto]

I cloned my drive with Macrium Reflect (it was easy and its free), took maybe 20 minutes (a 500GB drive). Then yanked old drive and popped in the new drive. All was good to go. Mine was one of those Mve drives that slides into the motherboard socket, but MR works with any drive HHD or SSD.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=macrium+reflect