What to do with a not-quite-dead HDD?

Commander Zoom

I recently got a replacement for the 2TB (SATA) drive where all of my Steam games live. For a while now it's had the occasional issue with bad sectors, but of late I'd also been noticing lots of slow reads, which was causing said games to hiccup, freeze, or in some cases actually crash. I figure it's probably hitting the far side of the bathtub curve. I've now copied everything off it to the new one (and everything seems to have come across okay; if I find out later it hasn't, I can always repair and/or redownload the files through Steam), but this leaves me with the dilemma of what to do with a decent-sized drive of uncertain reliability, other than simply throwing it away disposing of it responsibly.

One thought I've had for extending its remaining life, however long that might be, is using it for a backup drive... with the small problem, of course, that some of the backup may end up corrupt, and I'd likely not know it until and unless I need to restore it. This is something that can be hedged against by making more than one backup - which, perhaps, I should be doing anyway - but it seems like that might end up being more bother, not less.

I'm well and painfully aware that the utility cost of trying to get the last bit of toothpaste out of this tube, as it were, may exceed the benefits. Some of it is just fretting over the "waste", even though there are probably better things to spend my time and attention and effort on. So I'd appreciate any advice you have, including "let it go".

Apothe0sis

There is pretty much nothing worthwhile to be done with a known bad or otherwise failing hard drive

You could take it apart to play with the platters and magnets, I guess?

Hevach

Using an iffy hard drive for backup is a bad idea. Really, with the issues you describe, my strongest advice is to put the drive out of your misery, any use other than backup is going to be more pain than its worth.

If you really want to get some use of it, I do have a 1TB laptop drive in my desktop which has some bad sectors, but no slow reads or CRC errors or the like, which is a dumping ground for large downloads and unmodded copies of Steam game folders as well as the individual mod downloads. Things I could easily replace, but still appreciate the opportunity not to.

Great Scott

The best use for a failing drive that you need/want to keep in service is for a Steam library, or otherwise utterly-replaceable data. It's going to fail, it's just a matter of time.

Commander Zoom

Right. Which is what I've been doing, but the hiccups from bad/slow reads mean it's no longer good for that. So...
*sigh*

spool32

Apothe0sis wrote: »

There is pretty much nothing worthwhile to be done with a known bad or otherwise failing hard drive

You could take it apart to play with the platters and magnets, I guess?

Trash it with prejudice.

Look at it this way: the only thing it's good for is storing data you don't care about losing. If you have some of that kind of data... delete it. Anything you do care about, it has to go somewhere else.

All you are doing by keeping the drive is weighing down your mind with calculations about the marginal value of data you don't care enough about to protect, but keep lying around for reasons you would reject on conscious consideration.

Foomy

Rip it open for the magnets, that's about all the use you'll get out a hdd that's failing.

tinwhiskers

Use some kind of secure delete utility on it. Then break it apart and take the magnets out to use on your fridge. Its nice being able to stick an entire stack of papers to the thing at once.

Hevach

If you're going to crack it open, take the hub off the spindle and then plug it in to fire up. The platters are supremely balanced, and will do near tricks when they fall out at speed.

https://youtu.be/yISqCAnROh8

Commander Zoom

I didn't bother with a secure delete, 'cause it's just Steam files (and SWTOR). I just gave it a couple of quick formats and pulled it.
Maybe later I'll disassemble it or other shenanigans, or plug it into someone's test rig and really make sure, but... for now, I'm done with it.
Thanks, all.

azith28

Commander Zoom wrote: »

I recently got a replacement for the 2TB (SATA) drive where all of my Steam games live. For a while now it's had the occasional issue with bad sectors, but of late I'd also been noticing lots of slow reads, which was causing said games to hiccup, freeze, or in some cases actually crash. I figure it's probably hitting the far side of the bathtub curve. I've now copied everything off it to the new one (and everything seems to have come across okay; if I find out later it hasn't, I can always repair and/or redownload the files through Steam), but this leaves me with the dilemma of what to do with a decent-sized drive of uncertain reliability, other than simply throwing it away disposing of it responsibly.

One thought I've had for extending its remaining life, however long that might be, is using it for a backup drive... with the small problem, of course, that some of the backup may end up corrupt, and I'd likely not know it until and unless I need to restore it. This is something that can be hedged against by making more than one backup - which, perhaps, I should be doing anyway - but it seems like that might end up being more bother, not less.

I'm well and painfully aware that the utility cost of trying to get the last bit of toothpaste out of this tube, as it were, may exceed the benefits. Some of it is just fretting over the "waste", even though there are probably better things to spend my time and attention and effort on. So I'd appreciate any advice you have, including "let it go".

Porn archive.

That way your not missing anything you cant replace quickly if it dies.

(Not that I would ever need such a thing).

see317

Fill it with your favorite classic games and secretly gift it to your worst enemy.
Watch as the drive eventually dies on them, sending them spiraling into madness.