Surface Scan Test.

[brinny]

My computer ran a Hardware Diagnostic Tools -Scheduled Maintenance test, and the "surface scan test" failed.

What is that and what does it mean?

Thanks.

 

[tampasteve]

Usually it means that there are bad sectors on the drive, essentially it is starting to fail. All hard drives have a lifespan...might be a good idea to do a full backup and plan on migrating at some point.

 

[brinny]

Usually it means that there are bad sectors on the drive, essentially it is starting to fail. All hard drives have a lifespan...might be a good idea to do a full backup and plan on migrating at some point.

Thank you so much. I understand. I've had this computer since 2008. She's had a good run, and fought the good fight (and has survived much).

 

[paul1149]

Immediately, without using the machine otherwise, do an up to date back up of all user data you don't want to lose, if you don't have one already. You can put it on an external drive, a usb stick, or a network drive, or even up to the cloud.

Next, if you want to preserve the system, do a full system image.

Now you can either test the drive, get a new drive, or something else.

I still say there's a good chance the machine, with an SSD, would shine on Linux.

 

[brinny]

Immediately do an up to date back up of all user data you don't want to lose. You can put it on an external drive, a usb stick, or a network drive, or even up to the cloud.

Next, if you want to preserve the system, do a full system image.

Now you can either test the drive, get a new drive, or something else.

I still say there's a good chance the machine, with an SSD, would shine on Linux.

Thanks Paul!!! You may have already told me this, but what is an SSD?

 

[paul1149]

Solid State Drive. It will double/triple the overall performance of the machine.

 

[Wookiee]

As others have pointed out, it means the drive is likely failing. Back up anything important as soon as you can and look into replacing the computer. You could replace the drive with another hard disk or SSD but since it's 10 years old you're going to be better off replacing the whole thing in the long run - at this stage anything else could die (power supply, motherboard, etc.) and you'll keep eating money to keep it alive.

So the difference between a hard drive and a SSD (Solid State Drive) is how they work. Basically a hard disk drive writes to a platter magnetically and reads the data from different parts of the disk - sort of similar to how a CD or vinyl works. Because of this, it has to continually rotate the disk to find the data you're trying to access. Often times chunks of the same file can be written at completely opposite ends of the disk, which is why it might take longer to load sometimes - this is what a defrag program tries to fix.

A Solid State uses flash memory. So the data isn't something it physically has to find in the same sense. It's just... there. So it loads up the data ridiculously faster. The trade-off is that flash memory is more expensive, and can't hold as much as easily as a hard disk. So for what you pay for 120GB solid state drive, will cost the same as a 1TB HDD. It's much faster, but holds much less.

In short: if you're getting a new computer and don't need a lot of space, getting one with an SSD is preferable. But if general speed isn't a particular worry to you then don't worry about it.

 

[mnorian]

Thank you so much. I understand. I've had this computer since 2008. She's had a good run, and fought the good fight (and has survived much).

Hi Brin;
I thought you were going to get a new PC long ago?
If you haven't yet; get a HP LT or desk top from Bestbuy; they are selling them ridiculously cheap for good Win10 with a 500GB (or bigger) HD. Last you for many years.

 

[brinny]

Hi Brin;
I thought you were going to get a new PC long ago?
If you haven't yet; get a HP LT or desk top from Bestbuy; they are selling them ridiculously cheap for good Win10 with a 500GB (or bigger) HD. Last you for many years.

Thanks.

 

[brinny]

Thank you Paul, and Wookiee, and ev'ry one