SOLVED (in a way): Are these indications my hard drive is going to eat it?

[Gray_Area]

I'm using XP 32bit. Most of the time, I prefer to use thumbnails in directory viewing. When I open a directory that has a lot of items in it, it can take up to thirty seconds for it to 'catch up' so that I can scroll through the whole thing. Disabling 'cache thumbnails' helps this a bit.

However. In the last day or so, opening a folder here and there has crashed that whole part of Explorer. That is, all system/data folders I have open at the time, and the task bar disappears for a little while.

Are these signs of mortality?

[danny_galaga]

While you are waiting for the answer, I think it would be prudent to start backing everything up 

[saint]

I'm not sure those are signs of impending hard drive failure so much as signs of XP failure. I.E. You may need to scan/clean/update your XP, or wipe and reload. Either of those scenarios or actual hard drive failure, or just general best practices of course, is a reason to have a regular backup in place!

[smalltownguy]

Do you hear any whining or clicking with the drive? Those are two tell tale signs I've observed in the past.

[Dervacumen]

Like said, the fact you're thinking about it means it should be backed up just in case.
Then defragment and see if that helps.

[leapinlew]

I agree with Saint - probably just the OS. One thing is for sure, your hard drive WILL die eventually. Of all the hard drives I've had fail, I've only had warnings a few times, slow data transfer is the only clue I ever had of an impending failure.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

+1 to the defragmenting.

A fragmented drive can cause all sorts of odd problems, several of which mimic a failing drive.

Even at that though.. Hard drives are so cheap any more, I'm getting to the point where I replace them if there is even a suggestion they might be going bad.

[RayB]

Run defrag with the error checking/correction. If it reports finding crossed files and bad clusters and stuff like that, you're looking at possible impending HD failure.

[ark_ader]

Stick it in the freezer in a baggie.

[Gray_Area]

I'm not sure those are signs of impending hard drive failure so much as signs of XP failure. I.E. You may need to scan/clean/update your XP, or wipe and reload. Either of those scenarios or actual hard drive failure, or just general best practices of course, is a reason to have a regular backup in place!

This has been occuring to me, also. The drive doesn't make much noise. I do have it backed up, and partitioned so that I can easily wipe and re-install.

Stick it in the freezer in a baggie.

Hah

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Stick it in the freezer in a baggie.

Hah

No. Seriously.
http://www.datarecoverypros.com/hard-drive-recovery-freeze.html

[Howard_Casto]

I'm using XP 32bit. Most of the time, I prefer to use thumbnails in directory viewing. When I open a directory that has a lot of items in it, it can take up to thirty seconds for it to 'catch up' so that I can scroll through the whole thing. Disabling 'cache thumbnails' helps this a bit.

However. In the last day or so, opening a folder here and there has crashed that whole part of Explorer. That is, all system/data folders I have open at the time, and the task bar disappears for a little while.

Are these signs of mortality?

Corrupted thumbnails or thumbnails with a jpeg exploit in them can crash explorer in xp.  Of course corrupted thumbnails can often occur from a thrashed hdd, so that doesn't really help you identify the problem. 


If the computer is important, buy a new hdd immediately, install a FRESH copy of xp on it, install AVG anti-virus and start transferring your junk over.  Worst case scenario you've now got a spare hdd that you can use as a portable drive.

[Gray_Area]

I was also having trouble with Ultramap (I couldn't edit or create maps), nor access msconfig. I was using TinyXP 11. I guess it wasn't that stable. It's not in the usual place anymore.

So, I re-installed XP Pro. I used the same TXP disc, but went for a full install. Bliss. Very snappy....though I have switched to icon view in folders to keep things that way.

I stopped using AVG a few months ago. Every time a scheduled scan time came up, the time in the box would jump an hour ahead. Basically, it wouldn't automatically scan. Since then I've been using MS Security Essentials. I like it.