SupportAsssist Hardware Scan

@Chris-t53 

Delighted to hear that the problem was resolved!  Thank you for posting back and letting me know.

Have a great weekend.

Regards,
-Phil

@Chris-t53 

Thank you for the update.  You should be concerned about HDD hardware test errors on internal or external hard drives.  First thing to do is to back up everything you want to keep that is stored on that hard drive because doing any extensive testing could precipitate a complete failure of the hard drive.

I would recommend downloading Seatools for Windows.  If you click that link, the download will start immediately.  Install the program.  Reboot your computer and then run the S.M.A.R.T test.  Assuming that passes, do the Short Generic Test; and, if it passes, do the Long Generic Test.

It is possible that SupportAssist is not correct, but not likely.  Unfortunately some models of Seagate drives, like the Barracuda, are prone to early failure.  It was the failure of the Seagate internal hard drive in my previous laptop that led me to replace my laptop.  Fortunately it catastrophically failed just after I had finished doing my weekly system image (backup), so I lost no data whatsoever.  It has served me for 10.5 years so I really can't complain.

Depending on the size of the drive and your USB port speed, the Long Generic Test could take many hours, so so schedule that for when you won't need the computer.

Personally, I use Western Digital external hard drives and have done so for about fifteen years and I have only had one go down, and there was lots of warning.  It failed slowly, so again, I did not suffer any data loss.

Please keep us posted.  If you have any questions, please ask.  Good luck and have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

@Chris-t53 

Sorry to be late responding.  I have a large rural property that takes all day to mow, so that was how I spent my Father's Day.

If the Seagate external HDDs passed the Seatools tests, then I would not be concerned about SupportAssist reporting a failure.  Other factors, such as background processes can influence the outcome because it is time-sensitive.

You could also try going to the "Troubleshooting" tab and select "I Want to Troubleshoot My PC" and then select "Check a Specific Piece of Hardware" and then select the specific hard drive that you want to test.  If you hover over the hard drive listings, you can see the details about the hard drive, so that you select the right one to test.  I would also reboot my computer before doing so and launch nothing, to minimize the number of running processes and to ensure that the test will have priority.

I have seen instances, related to other issues, where "Fast Startup" being turned on can cause all kinds of weird and wonderful issues.  I always turn off "Fast Startup" on my computers.

Please let me know how it goes, and good luck.  Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

@Chris-t53 

Thank you for your reply and the "Kudo" 

I think that you are very wise to "retire" the Seagate external hard drive(s), particularly if they cannot pass Seatools diagnostics.

I am impressed by your backup strategy.  So many have no backups and lose everything.  It is all so preventable.

Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

Thanks Phil

I did try running the test under Troubleshooting as you suggested and the drive failed without any details. The fact that a few files could not be read when I was copying the contents across to the new drive confirms my fears about the drive anyway.

Several days ago I was having the computer rebooting itself after about a minute of turning it off and I read that disabling fast startup might solve the issue. I tried it and it did.

The other thing I found just before that was that SupportAssist was suddenly not displaying properly and I couldn't use it at all. It reminded me of a typical responsive web page when the css file doesn't load. Then I remembered I had just installed an old copy of Dreamweaver which I use for maintaining a very old website that uses tables where its owner will not change the design. Somehow Dreamweaver was 'stealing' whatever kind of style sheet SupportAssist uses to display correctly. I uninstalled Dreamweaver and SupportAssist was back to normal.

Happy days.

thanks again for your input Phil.
Chris

The backup strategy came after a near disaster a few years ago. I also have my music on a mirrored NAS playing through the hi-fi and have continuous cloud backup for that along with a local Seagate (oh dear) drive that backs up changes once a day. Overkill perhaps? I have had a few odd things happening with that Seagate drive too where I have had to format it on a couple of occasions because it wouldn't back up. In light of what has just happened, I obviously need to examine that drive more carefully.
Chris

@Chris-t53 

It is always prudent to check hard drives if any anomalies present themselves.  Except on one occasion, the latest when my old Dell XPS Studio 1645 suffered a sudden and catastrophic Seagate HDD failure, after imaging, it has always been my backup programs that have flagged me to possible HDD issues because they report backup issues.

Good luck with our investigation.  Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil