Which HDD is on its way out???

[riddellcomp]

Twice in the last few days my computer has frozen with the hdd light staying on solid. A reset has fixed the problem but Im suspecting that my HDD could be on its way out but I have 2 ATA drives and 1 SATA drive.

Would it be my main hdd with the operating system on it if the hdd light is staying on solid like that or could this still happen even if it was one of my other drives??

Also if I get another SATA drive so Ive got 2 x SATA and 1 ATA whats my best option to install the OS on, the SATA or the ATA?

Thanks for the help.

[Matridom]

A chkdsk /r is probably going to be your best best for determining which drive has failed.

As for where to install? SATA for sure

[riddellcomp]

But can I assume it is hdd related? I mean would an OS problem do this? Even Vista surely wouldnt cause a lock up where the hdd light stays on??

I did a chkdsk but it locked up twice at 27% so its not looking good. Im currently running Seagates disc tools on the drives now.

[arch0nmyc0n]

Any questions with HD failure and I use the manufacturers diagnosis utility. The Seagate utility is one of my favourites as it actually can run a RAM test first to make sure it's not a RAM issue. I wouldn't use it as a definative RAM test, but it helps make sure it's not something silly like bad RAM.
Lock ups like that that I've seen tend to be hard drive and obviously the fact a chkdsk is freezing points to the drive. I have seen HD controllers go in the past too though.
As for where to put the OS. SATA hands down. You'll get a much more responsive system. Keep in mind to have the SATA controller drivers handy on a disk when installing windows just in case you need them.

[Gabriel]

But can I assume it is hdd related? I mean would an OS problem do this? Even Vista surely wouldnt cause a lock up where the hdd light stays on??

I did a chkdsk but it locked up twice at 27% so its not looking good. Im currently running Seagates disc tools on the drives now.

Hi,
Let me shoot some Ideas for you,
1. this might be related to temprature - so you better
Try http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

2. did you connect any new hardware to the machine? if Yes this might be related to the new hardware you connected.

3. PSU related problems - is there enough "juice" to the PSU? I have seen the
same problem you describe on machine When PSU is not strong enough.

4. Electrically Related probelm - does the computer connected to a reliable Power source? UPS? or just plain AC outlet?

5. how are the HDD's Set up? (does the ATA HDD is connected on the same riobbon cable as the optical drive?)

Hope I helped,
Gabriel