Toshiba HDD SMART PREDICT failure

when the hard drive is running slow as you state it is that is definitely another tell-tale sign that the drive is getting ready to fail. The hard drive has reach its limit of bad sectors and will continue to get worse, you need to back up what ever data you have on the drive or you will lose that if it is not already gone. You have no other options. If you wait too long you will not be able to recover any data.

YOu will continue to get intermittent time when it seems to be booting up although it is slow. Listen to the smart drive warnings it is crucial that you back up your data. Do not continue to use the drive the way it is, shut down the computer until you have a plan to back up the data then do so before your data is gone forever. I been there, and been a tech for over 10 years I know how critical it is at this stage to backup the data, or back up what data you are still able to retreive.

I backed up last night when it said I had the error. ( sending this from my iPad, ) and it didn't finish downloading. I'm doing it again. What would cause this? This is the second Toshiba I own within 3 weeks that the hard drive went out.

The hard drives can be easily damaged if the hard drive is running and something accidentally bumped against the laptop. When the platters are spining the hard drive can only eperience so much gforce and the heads the spin on top of the platters can easily be damaged. Once the heads are damaged they can actually scratch the platters, which will eventually destroy the data stored on the platters. Laptop drives are more subsectible to drive failures because the laptops themselves are portable. People are often carrying them around while the hard drive is still proceessing data, if the laptop is jarred or banged against something while the platters are spinning damage will result. Notice that the heads rest above the spinning platters, there is less a thickness of a strand of hair between the head and the spinning platter, so any bump can cause the heads to slam into the platter, causing damage both the the head and the platter.

It is possible it did not finish backing up because once it found a file that it could not copy (which may of been damaged), the process stopped. I would try to back up smaller portions of data, then you can rule out where the damaged data is that cant be backed up, and you can retreive the rest of the data around the damaged data that will not backup.

Basically your option is to back up as much of your data as you are able to and replace the drive.

If the drive is still under warranty have Toshiba send a replacement, if it's not you will need to purchase one.

i have repaired many reported bad drives; however once you get SMART errors - these cannot be reset, or turned back
so your only option to avoid these, is a new drive
i hope you have a recovery CD for that laptop? if not best contact Toshiba, they may send you it for free under warranty, so you can reinstall everything easily

Second Toshiba in 3 weeks? Did the previous one fail the same way? If yes then think about different machine. I had exactly same issue with Dell machines once replacing them almost every day and then simple googled to find out that the whole series was a crap drive installed.

then you should have a warranty replacement for the laptop itself - imo

Webtracker:
That's making sense. It did not finish when I tried backing up to and external SATA. Now, I have been trying all morning to back up to CDs and I get an error and it has been hung on 25%. I just stopped it.

Noxcho
Yes, it is my second Toshiba machine where the hard drive failed.  The first one, (below) nobus helped me with.

Nobus
The first one was back on 8-15-12 for your answer to use dposoft.net/he'd.html  for hard drive repair on my daughters satellite I675. I held off to see if my credit card had the extended warranty but it doesn't so, I have to take a hit there and order that and try to repair that computer this afternoon.

My computer ( the one we are taking about here) the satellite A665 is the one with the smart error and back up problem. It is not under warranty either. I may have the smarts to change the HD, but I will need to know the exact procedure. I'm Gunna take a hit on that too!  It won't help any if I complain about my Toshibas now anyway...BUT I think I have learned something about the delicate HD spinning issue AND loaning my daughter MY computer after her HD failed. Tsk, Tsk.

What now?

Changing HDD is as simple as possible. At the bottom side there is a cover that is fixed with 1-2 screws. Take them off - open the cover and see your HDD.

Try using WinHex to clone the contents of the drive to a new HDD. WinHex has an option to keep on cloning even if read errors occur, which should allow you to save all data from the drive, except for data that resides in a bad sector. (It appears that the utilities you are using now only allow saving data located before the first bad sector on the drive.)

WinHex requires a specialist license to enable HDD cloning operations, which is quite expensive. Alternately, use a Linux live CD like Parted Magic, with the command-line "ddrescue" utility.

WinHex does sound too expensive for the first try. I'll start with Paragon. Do I download it from the broken computer or use my desktop unto a flash?

the best way is to work on a known good working PC - to avoid problems
if the drive is a sata drive, you can easily connect it, together with the New drive, and perform all the operations
you can even clone the drive then

here the user manual :  http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/download_manual.html

Ok, I'll download that and advise...incidentally, I now have Hdd regenerator scanning the other computer now. Can I use that on this computer? Or is this a better product for this problem?

Thank you,
Art

You can try using HDD Regenerator to repair the drive AFTER you have backed up everything from it. HDD Regenerator can help if the magnetic surface of the drive is damaged / worn out, but if the head mechanism is failing, it will only exacerbate the problem, putting your data at risk.

Ok, I'll advise

take some time apparently. 21 hrs to go.

It will increase and the hdd will get very hot.

It made it through the first partition, the rest said unable to write file source hard disk mgr.
I tried to back up to my network. Now I'm going to try an external SATA drive

If the heads are bad the more you use the drive the more damage you will cause to the platters. I definitely would not use the hdd regenerator until you are sure you recovered as much of your data as possible. Infact noting your condition of the drive I doubt if hdd regenerator can benefit this type of hard drive failure, you are probably just wasting your time or risk damaging the drive further.

The back up finished! Now what do I do?

Were there any errors during backup? Anything it failed to read?

No errors this time since I backed it up to the Sata. I haven't tried any application, following instructions from here.

Already ordered! Thanks for all the help!

did you run HDDRegenerator?  any results from it?
tell it to scan and repair