How to find a HDD's Life?

Thanks for the comments.
The reason that made me to ask this question is,  I have a Seagate 250GB IDE HDD.    I checked the SMART information using  a utlity named HDD SMARTVIEWER present in Hiren Boot CD.  It is showing the capacity of the HDD as just 128GB.     Is it a sign that HDD is about to die and time to backup the data?
Another application in Hirenboot CD (Hard Disk Sentinel) shows that HDD's health as 100%
 I also feel my system works slower than it worked last week. I did surface scans also . Few error's found and fixed.

Some errors could come from the OS that you are using also

I have partioned it as 5 partions. It can be explored and accessed in My computer. It can also be seen  in Bios. and it shows the full capacity.

But my computer hangs often and slow in performance than 3 days before.   My computer hangs when I access my 3rd and 4th partition.  So I doubt abt the life of the HDD.  Any ideas?

it could be that you had small page file, do you had enough RAM?

did you run the drive diag - suggested above?  it shows your disk status
here it is again :  http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287#samsung

yes, all drives die; but i have some running that are more than 10 years old, while others die withing the first 2 years...

Thanks for all suggestions.  I have connected this 250 GB as a slave and another 40 GB as the master. I also noticed(using HD sentinel) that 250 GB HDD's temp is 45' and 40GB's temp is 35'. Both HDD is in same environment but why this temperature variation? Is this an issue?

Thanks for all suggestions.  I have connected this 250 GB as a slave and another 40 GB as the master. I also noticed(using HD sentinel) that 250 GB HDD's temp is 45' and 40GB's temp is 35'. Both HDD is in same environment but why this temperature variation? Is this an issue?

>>"I did surface scans also ."

Tip:  If your HD appears to be failing and you are suspicious of it's condition, the last thing you should do is an intensive procedure such as a surface scan.  Well, that is if there's data on it that you can live without.  Failing hard drives typically hate being spun up for things like this.

The reason for the heat increase:  The drive is 250GB. Larger capacity, but same size as the 40GB.  Did you run an actual SMART test?

Yes. I think gsnshankar is correct. I got following msgs in HD sentinel's overview.

For 250 GB HDD
"Problems occurred between the communication of the disk and the host. In case of a sudden crash or reboot it is recommended to try a different, short data cable (avoid round cables, use 80 wire standard cables instead).
No actions needed."

For 40 GB HDD
"The hard disk status is PERFECT. Problematic or weak sectors were not found and there are no spin up or data transfer errors.
No actions needed."


I will post feedback after trying, replacing IDE cable and will check whether PC hangs when accessing 3 rd and 4th partition.

Oh! Then I will try repairing the partitons and so please guide me how to repair the partitons?  Do I need to backup the data before?  I have HirenBoot CD . But don't have a knowledge to repair the partiton using it or by any means.   So far,  I used to format the disk if I come across such situations.

Sir, before you do anything on a hard drive that is suspected to be failing, you should back up prior.  You need to run a SMART test or Self Test on the drive.  This will tell us if the drive is worth saving or not.

Your question is asking what the symptoms are for a dying hard disk.  Close this thread, and let's get a new one started that will discuss partition MBR repair.

>> Check your BIOS for SMART test or Self Test options.  This initiates a test ran within the hard disk to check for physical errors.  Typical behavior of a dying drive is commonly suspect to random system lock ups, blue screen of death, intermittently starts up (sometimes Windows will load, sometimes it will not), clicking noise, beeping noise, exceptionally slow at loading small files.

I  dont have any above symptoms.  The problem is when accessing my 3 rd and 4 th partition system hangs(sometimes accessible slower and sometimes hang completely). and so I doubt what might be the problem.

 SMART info from HD tune and HD Sentinel says Health is 100%.    But Hiren Boot's HDD Smartviewer says drive is just 128 GB capacity.  Anyway I have a backup of data from those two partitions. Just for a knowledgebase I asked whether it is necessary to backup the data while partition repair else it is not mandatory.

I will try replace another IDE cable meanwhile and then close this thread.
 Thanks for your time.

As i said
The best
HDD health with http://www.hdsentinel.com/dl.php
will give you due warnings about HDD health / backup, etc.  
 
you said

"HD Sentinel says Health is 100%"
100% is 100%
if you buy full version it will show HDD life expectancy too.
Data is precious, HDD life expectancy too.
HDD failure is the greatest cause of data loss.

Your question:

"How to find a HDD is going to die?  What are the symptomps that a HDD is about to go out of its service? Is there any application to find the health of the HDD?"

It has ben answered.

Your problem is elsewhere.
Where?
Please ask a new question & I will be happy to solve it.

Michael, I'm sure with the manner and tone you use in your answers, most would be happy for you not to solve their questions.  If someone is troubleshooting an issue, you expect them to ask a new question per component you work on?  If the problem is *solved*, I then suggest asking any other follow up questions in a new post.  The user is waiting to see if an IDE cable helps.  Why would you light him on fire like that?

IDE cable is the defect. After replacing the IDE cable the disk is okay now. I can access 3rd and and 4th partiton with ease.   Thanks for everyone helped me in this issue.

MrMintanet said:
"I'm sure with the manner and tone you use in your answers, most would be happy for you not to solve their questions"
I'm very sorry you take offense to my writing style.
In my country customers appreciate IT technical infomation to be straight to the point, as short as possible & informative, as IT downtime is costly .
Criticizing anothers comments is not constructive to the customer.
I am very sorry for presuming this E.E. forum is considerate of all cultures & ethnic backgrounds, it's not that I don't want to be polite.
I often post suggestions or links without any explanation or greetings.
Did you read the members agreement: https://www.experts-exchange.com/memberAgreement.jsp ?
I see I got 2 assisted solution credits here from the customer , this does not indicate any offense to my writing style from the customer.
If you wish to scorn me please do it in private" you can get my contact info. by going to my profile.
 
Have a nice Day

I had a S.M.A.R.T. enabled HD, several years ago, which told me it was going to "Fail: in approx 14 hours"

naturally, I backed up -everything- immedaitely.

I then ran-it-into-the-ground to see how accurate the failure time was .... pretty good as it turns out, within about 7 mins as I recall.

What did you do to run it into the ground?  Xfer huge files?  Surface scan?