My Toshiba laptop's HDD Protection program keeps getting disabled

[apairofpcs]

My Toshiba A505-S6965 laptop has a utility that protects the hard drive from impact damage by detecting excess drive movement and moving it's heads to the park location away from the platters. It's called HDD Protection. Is there any reason why this useful program keeps becoming disabling, with no apparent reason? I've installed it many times, discovering a few days later that when I open the dialog box to check the settings, all selections are shaded grey. Re-installing it and restarting solves this problem until I check it again a few days later. I haven't done a System Restore in ages, so that can't be the reason.

 

[Mercutio]

Perhaps it's becoming disabled because the sensor is in some kind of error state? Do you know if the program works when it is installed?

 

[apairofpcs]

Perhaps it's becoming disabled because the sensor is in some kind of error state? Do you know if the program works when it is installed?

I never thought of the sensor on the chassis that detects changes in motion and impact. How can I test it for integrity?

Regarding what happens when a tap or motion occur. Depending on the sensitivity level and the force of a tap or a motion, a dialog box will appear stating "Vibration has been detected in the PC. The hard disk drive head is temporarily moved to a safe position." To remove the dialog box, I have to click the OK radio button. I have purposely tapped the laptop to engage the program. But other than the above statement, how do I really know that the heads are parked?

It appears to me that the head doesn't remain in the safe (park) position, because I can continue using the laptop even though I didn't click the OK button to remove the dialog box. Logic would dictate that to fully protect the drive from repetitive taps or sustained motion, the head should remain parked until the OK button is clicked. Anything less than this scenario is not doing the job right.. Toshiba is not NASA, where every eventuality is considered, leading to built-in redundancy. How hard could it be to lock the heads in park, until the dialog box is released?

 

[ddrueding]

I believe that the park/unpark procedure can happen so quickly that it doesn't need to wait for you. It detects a falling (likely low-g) situation and parks until it is stable again and then resumes. The dialog is just telling you it is working, not waiting for you to interact in any way.

 

[apairofpcs]

I believe that the park/unpark procedure can happen so quickly that it doesn't need to wait for you. It detects a falling (likely low-g) situation and parks until it is stable again and then resumes. The dialog is just telling you it is working, not waiting for you to interact in any way.

This would explain why I'm able to use the hard drive, even though the dialog box is present. Naturally, when the tap or change in motion ceases, the heads are free to move as required from their park position. I stand corrected.

 

[Will Rickards]

I thought this feature was either built into the hard drive or not. Software on the PC would not be required. But my recollection is from the IBM hard drive implementation.

 

[Mercutio]

I think it reads from a gyroscope that's built in to the host device, not the disk drive itself.

 

[apairofpcs]

I thought this feature was either built into the hard drive or not. Software on the PC would not be required. But my recollection is from the IBM hard drive implementation.

Will,

Something on the chassis has to be installed to detect irregular motion or an impact, summoning the drive to park it's heads. The HDD Protection module probably creates a communication channel between the motion sensor and the drive.

 

[apairofpcs]

I think it reads from a gyroscope that's built into the host device, not the disk drive itself.

Merc,

I agree. It must be similar to the accelerometer built into touchscreen cell phones, where the display may be viewed either horizontally or vertically.

 

[apairofpcs]

Until yesterday, the HDD Protection program was becoming disabled without any intervention from me. Since my last post, I've been minding my own business watching it notify me when the sensor detects movement. Yesterday I took drastic steps to stop the mysterious activity. I uninstalled the program, removed every file associated with it from the hard drive, did the same in the registry, rebooted and then re-installed it again. Afterwards, I placed the laptop in sleep mode, in hibernate mode and did a shutdown. Maybe some support files became corrupted as a result of the many uninstalls and installs I did to solve the problem. I noticed in Registry a few entries named "HDD Protection Sensor." I deleted these, as well as every other related entry.

Everything seems fine now!

 

[apairofpcs]

Addendum:
I had a few more unpredictable failures. But ever since I downloaded the Windows 8 (64 bit) version from the Toshiba website and installed it, all has been well. Recall that my OS is Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit). I wonder why the program is working?

 

[Mercutio]

Presumably it's the same program. There's not all that much difference between Vista, 7 and 8.

 

[apairofpcs]

Presumably it's the same program. There's not all that much difference between Vista, 7 and 8.

I've also read that these 3 OSs are similar.. By the way, I had a failure of the Windows 8 installation. I'm still not sure what made it fail. Each installation requires a restart to verify that it was successful. Fortunately I can exist quite well without it, so it's stubbornness is more of an inconvenience than an operational deficit.

 

[apairofpcs]

I've had a few incidents where the latest version of the program disabled. I'm thinking that one of the following actions may have something to do with this:

1. As a result of my many attempts to solve a problem where returning from sleep mode delays the connection of the wireless adapter to the wireless router by 50 sec. or more, I was placing the laptop in sleep mode much more often than ever before after I made a change to some aspect of the wireless adapter's or wireless router's configuration. This problem is solved. But I wonder if this represented excessive use of the sleep feature, and could cause the HDD protection program or built-in motion sensor to disable? By the way, I've been entering sleep mode via the OS's Start Menu Sleep option as well as the laptop's power button, which I've delegated as a sleep button in the Win 7 Control Panel Power Options applet.

2. My usual method of giving the laptop a rest when I know I won't be using it for at least 5 hours, is by entering hibernate mode. Can the HDD protection program or motion sensor be failing after I return to desktop?

3. I use my laptop in bed, with it sitting on top of the cardboard box in which it was packed. The box sits directly on one of two twin size mattresses, situated side by side without any space. I "slide" the box across the sheets from mattress to mattress on a regular basis. During the colder months here in NYC, I use a quilted blanket that sometimes comes into contact with the laptop. I'm wondering if the movement of the box on the sheets, or the contact between the laptop and the blanket, can cause my problem by way of static electricity? I've never felt, heard or seen any sparks. Can the motion sensor with which the program works, be incapacitated by static electricity? When I reinstall the program after it's disabled, I have to do a restart to enable the feature. It always works after a restart.

4. From the very beginning of ownership, I've been using a dry microfiber cloth to keep the display and keyboard free from an accumulation of dust and fingerprints. I wipe them down before I close the lid and after I open it. Sometimes I will open the cloth, grab it by 2 sides and slap it a few times over the top of the keyboard to force dust from under the keys, this done ONLY when the unit is in sleep mode or hibernate mode. Recall that I'm in a bed when I take this action. Can my maintenance with the cloth introduce static to the laptop?

The laptop is always connected to the 2 prong power supply, because I removed the battery pack to be used only when it is mobile. Therefore, the unit "should be" grounded to the building at all times. I must admit that I forget to check the program each time I return from sleep mode, hibernate mode, shut down or after I finish using the cloth. My problem is that I'm always expecting the program to continue working. This has proved to be a mistake!

Any ideas?

 

[LunarMist]

Have you replaced the hard drive yet? That's what I would do, although normally I disable the disc protection because it is either overly sensitive or does not do anything. I doubt that static is an issue, especially if the drive was in the case.

 

[apairofpcs]

Have you replaced the hard drive yet? That's what I would do, although normally I disable the disk protection because it is either overly sensitive or does not do anything. I doubt that static is an issue, especially if the drive was in the case.

Yes, I have. I bought the laptop in Aug. 2009, and the drive was replaced under warranty service in Apr. 2012 by a Toshiba authorized service provider.

When the program works, it works properly in compliance with the level of sensitivity I choose. For the purposes of seeing if it is active, I set it for the highest sensitivity so that I can apply a light tap and have the warning box appear. The drive is mounted inside a small door on the bottom of the case. I don't think that this matters, but the original drive was a Toshiba and the replacement is a Hitachi. The important specs. are similar.

 

[apairofpcs]

I received a reply to a post I submitted on the Toshiba Forum. The poster stated the following, "Even if you disable the hard drive notifications, the hard drive protection is still working to prevent the hard drive from crashing. If the sensor feels that the computer is being dropped, it will automatically home the hard drive to prevent the heads from crashing into the spinning disks."

Since the post was written, when I tested the program by jiggling the laptop the dialog box didn't appear. This means that when I clicked on the program in the Start Menu, the dialog box appeared, but showed up all grayed out. To see if the poster's statement holds true, I found the executable file for the Toshiba 3D Animation that shows a hard drive spinning. I clicked on it and jiggled the laptop to see if it registered on the spinning drive animation. It did, but the drive didn't stop spinning no matter how much I jiggled. When the program is working, the drive in the animation stops spinning momentarily and then resumes spinning. The animation was mimicking my jiggling in every direction, as expected, but it never stopped spinning. Logically, this would indicate that the drive never stopped spinning, and that there was no protection against a head to platter collision.

I was not convinced that the program was NOT working, and I wanted to prove that the poster was right. So I started an AVG virus scan, jiggled the unit and observed the progression of the files being scanned. When I kept the jiggling steady, the scanning paused until I stopped the jiggling. Scanning resumed normally at this point. This was encouraging. To further convince myself that the drive stopped spinning, I started an Ultimate Defrag. defragmentation, watching for a pause in file movement when I jiggled steadily. As in the case of AVG, the file movement paused when I was jiggling the unit.

So although there is no indication from Toshiba that their HDD Protection program stops the drive from spinning when the dialog box is grayed out, it is clear that it does so when watching dynamic programs pausing as soon as the shock sensor detects motion. I am impressed that the poster knew this undocumented fact, and I thank the poster for easing my mind about the way the feature operates. Since the dialog box gives the user the choice of shock sensitivity, what do you suppose is the sensitivity level of the program, since the user no longer has control of it when the dialog box is greyed out?

 

[CougTek]

If the ultimate goal is to enhance your chances to have a laptop and a drive that last long, one of my first recommendation would be to stop jiggling it all the time, because no matter if the drive protection software works or not, you sure don't help the drive by shaking it like you do.

 

[timwhit]

If the ultimate goal is to enhance your chances to have a laptop and a drive that last long, one of my first recommendation would be to stop jiggling it all the time, because no matter if the drive protection software works or not, you sure don't help the drive by shaking it like you do.

Or replace it with a decent SSD.

 

[apairofpcs]

If the ultimate goal is to enhance your chances to have a laptop and a drive that lasts long, one of my first recommendation would be to stop jiggling it all the time, because no matter if the drive protection software works or not, you sure don't help the drive by shaking it like you do.

Oh, the jiggling action I use to see if the warning box will appear, is very mild. I do NOT apply sharp jolts or anything of the sort. In fact, when the program works, a gentle change in vertical movement makes the box appear. It's pretty sensitive. So please don't think that my testing represents potentially destructive testing, which would not make any sense if I'm trying to increase the laptop's lifespan.

 

[apairofpcs]

Or replace it with a decent SSD.

I'm not entirely comfortable with the overall level of reliability of the SSD technology, although the ones with a reasonable price tag would accommodate my capacity needs nicely.

 

[timwhit]

I'm not entirely comfortable with the overall level of reliability of the SSD technology, although the ones with a reasonable price tag would accommodate my capacity needs nicely.

No backups?

 

[apairofpcs]

No backups?

Would you clarify your question? Or did you intend on making a statement?

 

[timwhit]

Would you clarify your question? Or did you intend on making a statement?

If your data is backed up, why is perceived drive reliability a problem?

 

[Mercutio]

Losing a drive is still lame either way.

 

[timwhit]

Losing a drive is still lame either way.

Yes, but which is more likely, losing a decent SSD (Intel) or a mechanical disk?

 

[apairofpcs]

If your data is backed up, why is perceived drive reliability a problem?

Yes, I back up my data onto a mechanical drive on the desktop pc. But there are still a few kinks to be worked out by the SSD manufacturers to make their much higher price per GB worthwhile. Theoretically, they are superior to mechanical drives. But they haven't been around long enough to see "the big picture." Otherwise, there would be no pc manufacturer offering strictly mechanical drives!

 

[LunarMist]

By kinks, you mean the 10 or 20x cost difference?

 

[apairofpcs]

By kinks, you mean the 10 or 20x cost difference?

No, not that. The cost "difference" is well known. But the amount of wear and tear of electrical/non-moving parts, and the number of write cycles before a drive goes to SSD Heaven, are still unknown. More research has to be done, and it will take a few more years to predict a typical lifespan and be accepted as a viable replacement for a mechanical drive.

 

[LunarMist]

That is well known and can be tested by the user too. If there were economical 4TB drives I would buy them.

 

[apairofpcs]

That is well known and can be tested by the user too. If there were economical 4 TB drives I would buy them.

You have big eyes, my good man. They're barely 1 TB in capacity. Break open your piggy bank. Newegg is "almost giving away" an OCZ 1.2 TB SSD for a mere $6,200 (plus $6.00 shipping, of course). May I take your order. How many would you like? No limit!

 

[LunarMist]

All of my OCZ drives are in the parts drawer. I would not spend good money on anything OCZ.

 

[apairofpcs]

All of my OCZ drives are in the parts drawer. I would not spend good money on anything OCZ.

Logic dictates to me that no one manufacturer has a death grip on the existing SSD consumer base. They're all struggling to perfect the technology to the point where it drives pc users to sheer madness, with them dying to get their hands on the drives and placing their mechanical drives "into a parts drawer."

I hope that my opinions about SSD drives haven't offended current owners. Even if the prices dropped drastically, a lot of us would still wait for them to improve. Nothing wrong with this!

 

[LunarMist]

A major problem is that SSDs are trying to emulate hard drives. Although there has been some progress, the traditional SATA interface should go or be revised significantly.

 

[apairofpcs]

A major problem is that SSDs are trying to emulate hard drives. Although there has been some progress, the traditional SATA interface should go or be revised significantly.

I'm not sure what technology is being utilized to engineer a long lasting, reliable SSD, so I can't make any comments on this matter. What format do you think will make the project a success, if not SATA?

Do you realize that we've been speaking of SSD drives and not the topic of this thread, for a long time? Sooner or later, our fellow forum members will be throwing rotten tomatoes at us. We better get back on track. So far, I've had no failures since I wrote post #17 above. It probably doesn't matter anyway, because my testing demonstrated that the safety feature works even when the warning box doesn't appear and the dialog box is all shaded. I'm at peace with this outcome!

 

[ddrueding]

Since the topic of the thread is "solved", we may as well keep talking about SSDs.

When it comes to hard drive reliability, I'm quite confident that SSDs are "good enough". Here is my reasoning:

1. Regardless of drive, only a fool would not have a backup, so data retention is a non-issue.
2. Warranty periods are long enough, and (at least Intel) have a good RMA process and experience, so there will be no significant financial hardship.
3. I've been running all kinds of SSDs for years, from the first 8GB model to the latest Intel and OCZ PCIe drives, and have only had two failures. I'm not saying that this makes them bulletproof, but it does mean the won't be failing every other month and impacting your productivity.

If you are expecting more than that from any drive (or anything with moving parts and fine tolerances for that matter), you are being a bit optimistic.

 

[jtr1962]

I would personally feel more comfortable with my data on an SSD than on a mechanical drive. In the latter case, all I have is a few microns of air between the heads and platter separating my data from disaster. It's really amazing mechanical drives work at all, let alone that they are as reliable as they are. SSDs have no such mechanism for sudden failure. Of course, they're affected by power spikes and surges, but those same surges will affect the electronic parts of a mechanical drive, and probably all the other parts in the computer.

SSDs do have a finite number of write cycles, but any good SSD will have spare sectors and a wear-leveling algorithm to compensate for this. Outside of enterprise users, it's very difficult to use an SSD enough to actually wear it out. You'll most likely be replacing it with a newer model long before it wears out.

For me personally, the only downside of SSDs is the cost, but that's been dropping rapidly. ~$1 per GB seems to be the norm, and sometimes Newegg has deals for $0.60 to $0.70 per GB (I just missed out on one such deal-a 180GB Intel 330 drive for $110).

 

[apairofpcs]

Since the topic of the thread is "solved", we may as well keep talking about SSDs.

When it comes to hard drive reliability, I'm quite confident that SSDs are "good enough". Here is my reasoning:

1. Regardless of drive, only a fool would not have a backup, so data retention is a non-issue.
2. Warranty periods are long enough, and (at least Intel) have a good RMA process and experience, so there will be no significant financial hardship.
3. I've been running all kinds of SSDs for years, from the first 8 GB model to the latest Intel and OCZ PCIe drives, and have only had two failures. I'm not saying that this makes them bulletproof, but it does mean they won't be failing every other month and impacting your productivity.

If you are expecting more than that from any drive (or anything with moving parts and fine tolerances for that matter), you are being a bit optimistic.

I know very little about SSDs, so I welcome you to discuss this technology.....with my blessing. Just one point to make. I'm not one of the fools to whom you are referring. I back up my Win 7 Ultimate drive data on two other drives in the desktop's case. I'm expecting that both of these drives will NOT fail at the same time.

Carry on.....

 

[apairofpcs]

I would personally feel more comfortable with my data on an SSD than on a mechanical drive. In the latter case, all I have is a few microns of air between the heads and platter separating my data from disaster. It's really amazing mechanical drives work at all, let alone that they are as reliable as they are. SSDs have no such mechanism for sudden failure. Of course, they're affected by power spikes and surges, but those same surges will affect the electronic parts of a mechanical drive, and probably all the other parts in the computer.

SSDs do have a finite number of write cycles, but any good SSD will have spare sectors and a wear-leveling algorithm to compensate for this. Outside of enterprise users, it's very difficult to use an SSD enough to actually wear it out. You'll most likely be replacing it with a newer model long before it wears out.

For me personally, the only downside of SSDs is the cost, but that's been dropping rapidly. ~$1 per GB seems to be the norm, and sometimes Newegg has deals for $0.60 to $0.70 per GB (I just missed out on one such deal-a 180GB Intel 330 drive for $110).

Thank you for the additional education on SSDs. The best service offered by forums is "general education."

Yes, you missed out on a good deal. Newegg is dynamic, so there will be other deals. Just don't fall asleep at the helm again, OK?

 

[Mercutio]

dd has had better luck, reliability-wise, than I have. He's also experienced a lower percentage of failures than I have. I've had four Intel drives fail and four OCZ, out of perhaps 120 drives purchased in the last four years. OCZ's support experience is so bad that I decided not to even pursue RMA replacement of the most recent failure. Intel's RMA depot is located close enough that I get RMAs back two business days after I ship them, which really means it's my first choice for anything I need to rely on.