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[--DANNY--]

I have a Western Digital 250 gb hdd that's only 4 months old. Model # WDC WD2500JB-00GVA0. I bought it and put it in my xbox and partitioned it up and put all my music, videos, pictures, all 83 games, apps, and an @SS load of NES/SNES roms with emulators on it.

I've been perfectly content and practically in love with my perfecty working 250 gb hdd in my xbox with it running as a webserver occasionally hosting files for some friends to download.

But recently (within the past week or two), it started to act up on me.
After being on anywhere from 2 minutes to 2+ hours, it will make a semi-loud click, then the game will freeze if it's being played of the HD and it pretty much just locks up and freezes my xbox. If it's playing a video or song, it'll play another 5 seconds and then freeze.
So I'll shut it off let it sit for a mintue, and turn it back on and sometimes it will click again and lock up seconds after turning it on.

I know that it's not the IDE cable, I've tried several new ones and a couple cables that came with my Xbox's.
And it's definately not overheating or anything, It's not even in the case, I have it sitting beside it without a lid even on the case.

And sometimes it wont make a clicking noise or anything, but it will load REALLY slowly. But then 2 minutes later it will be back to being that super awesome badass 250 gb hd that it has always been...


So can anyone tell me if my HD is dying? Or what's going on with it? Can it be fixed?
I'd be highly appreciative if anyone could offer some advice/answers,
-Danny

[xcitor]

Sorry man, but it sounds like it most certainly is dying. If I were you I would back everything up before its too late. I had the ( Click of DEATH ) happen to my old HDD. Got a new one and everythings been good since. That HDD did end up dying, about a week later. Same symtms as well freezing, clicking, slow load times evrything. Course without actually being there I can't say for sure, but thats definitly what it sounds like. Just my 2 and a half cents.    Sorry  

[Jameson42]

Yeah, sounds like it's prolly dying... but its possible that your power connection's a little flakey...  I had some problems with one of my computers recently where the HD would click on boot up, but I jiggle the power cable a little and it starts working just fine.  So there could be something wrong with your molex connector.   My xbox HD stopped functioning for a little while too... opened the box up and found that the inverter I was using for EL wire was overheating severely... took out the inverter and the HD started working again.

[TKramka]

It might be heat shock failure, check and see how hot it gets when it clicks...

[--DANNY--]

Nooooooooooooooooooo! I only have like 1gb free on my pc and no dvd's. So I'm not going to be able to back up everything...

The Western Digital Drive came with a waranty and a "Data Lifeguard Tools" cd. It sais it has "Drive installation, diagnostics, and user documents"...

So should I try running that with my HD set as slave in my pc?

If so, it wouldn't reformat to check or anything would it? Cuz I'm not sure if it will be able to test it since it's in FATX format...

Any ideas?

And is there anything that I can do to prolong my HD's life? Oh, and I'll check the power cables...

EDIT: I forgot to say, it's not that hot at all for a hard drive that's been running for an hour or two when it clicks. It's just warm.

-Danny

[minnow]

No, your XBOX drive can't be read by a windows pc.

If you have an XENIUM chip, you can piggy back your new and newer hard drives together on your XBOX and the chip will upgrade it for you.

Now, a little maintenance tip:

Always use a surge protector in conjuction with your precious electronic devices, XBOX and tv included.

Use a UPS (battery backup) in conjunction with your precious computing devices.

Always make sure your XBOX is in a well-ventilated area to prevent heat damage to the Hard drive and components.

[--DANNY--]

QUOTE(minnow @ Jul 20 2005, 09:04 PM)

No, your XBOX drive can't be read by a windows pc.

If you have an XENIUM chip, you can piggy back your new and newer hard drives together on your XBOX and the chip will upgrade it for you.

Now, a little maintenance tip:

Always use a surge protector in conjuction with your precious electronic devices, XBOX and tv included.

Use a UPS (battery backup) in conjunction with your precious computing devices.

Always make sure your XBOX is in a well-ventilated area to prevent heat damage to the Hard drive and components.

I know that my drive can't be read by a windows pc. I want to know if the diagnostics utility that came with my HD for testing it's performance will work with my HD in FATX.

If I use the warranty to get a new HD, don't I have to send in my current one? So I wouldn't be able to piggy back shit. And I have an X2.6.

I have a Monster (brand) Home Theater power filter unit. It's the size of my DENON avr 5800 reciever... so basically it's big, powerful, and does it's job damn good, providing clean, filtered energy.

A UPS isn't needed if you never have any loss of power is it?

And my xbox is very well ventilated... in fact...right now I have the top off of it and the HD sitting in a separate tray outside of the case with an 80 mm fan on it.

any other opinions/tips?

Thanks for your replys guys!
-Danny

[minnow]

Kudos on the setup. A UPS helps keep a steady stream of electricity flowing to your components not just during power outages. . . but also during power blinks and brown outs. You know. . . the times when your A/C kicks in, or your wife turns on the iron or vacuum.

I swear by them. I have had UPS's running my gear for about 6 years now, and I have NEVER had electrical issues with any of my sensitive components.

You won't be able to use the diagnostic disc because it won't diagnose fatX Xbox drives, unless it specifically says it will.

You'll have a tough time getting the diag disc to run in the XBOX's DVD drive. . . and you can't take your XBOX HDD and put it into your computer to diagnose.

One more solution. . . can you clear just a little space on your computer HDD. . . so you have about 5 GB of space? If you have a DVD burner, you can back up your games onto DVD and then reload them onto the replaced hard drive. Oh. . . what am I talking about? I'm sure you still have all of the original discs of all of those games. Just use those.

[xboxgamer733]

QUOTE(sephiroth989 @ Jul 20 2005, 10:53 PM)

my xbox sorta does the same thing but it wont even load the evox dash does this mean thats its finally dead and i get error code 7

Yes, your hard drive is probably dead.

[xboxgamer733]

There are companies that can take the data off of dead hard drives, but the prices that they can charge is sometimes quite outrageous.

[IAmCanadian]

my xbox does that... and then you can hear a zzzzhhh

I think thats the hdd spindown I have though... because it does the same when I turn the xbox off..

[--DANNY--]

QUOTE(IAmCanadian @ Jul 21 2005, 12:31 AM)

my xbox does that... and then you can hear a zzzzhhh

I think thats the hdd spindown I have though... because it does the same when I turn the xbox off..

Ya, is the sound afterwards kind of like a "sigh"?
That's what I hear after the click. If this is the HD spindown, then why the fuck is it spinning down in the middle of activity?

UGH! This pisses me off soooo badly!

If anyone has any insight on how to save a dying hard drive, please share!

-Danny

[xcitor]

 Sorry about the drive once again.

[Heet]

[ronqqqqqqq]

i have two xboxs with bad HD. they just click,,click,,,how can I put in a new drive and fix the broken box. IE I can't get the eeprom.bin so am I doomed?