Hash check results in less than 100%. Hard drive going bad?

[maxxjulie]

I've never done Hash checks of downloads manually after the torrents finished.  lately, i did one a couple weeks after i finished the download and the file was 99.7% complete.  i thought that's weird.  i've done it with maybe 20 other downloads on the same drive and probably 1 out of every 3 result in less than 100%.  does this mean my hard drive is going bad?  i know of the original torrent is changed in any way it could cause this, but i'm seeing this occur in all different kinds of files from dvd video folders to mp3's.  i'm the paranoid sort so now I'm thinking my need a new hard drive.  i did a error and bad sector check with windows 7 and it came back clean.   however, all the failed checks are for files on my main boot drive.  i've done about ten checks so far on my second drive i use for storage and they all came out 100%.

-update-  i just googled this problem and now realize it could be anything from bad hardware to a software thing.  i don't install new software hardly ever so i doubt that's it.  i already ordered a new hard drive from newegg and it's too late to cancel so i hope that fixes the problem.

[Stsin]

What files are failing the hash check?  If it's system files like thumbs.db or desktop.ini, then that's normal and shouldn't have been included in the first place.  Also may be some other file that changes when used, like MP3s with Windows Media Player.

[maxxjulie]

well, one was a video that was broken up in winrar files and a couple of them were 99.7 % and some mp3 tracks were also 99.whatever% instead of 100%.  i said i'm doing forced recheck, but that's not right.  i'm actually download the torrents again to check that way.

[kitamesume]

might be because of transfering files and the transfer failed? theres three possibilities, hdd is failing, OS is failing and PC is failing. if what you meant is that you downloaded it and getting fail hashchecks then it might be your internet or your downloader failing.

[maxxjulie]

i'm gonna run memtest for a while and see how my ram is.  if that passes then a fresh install on a new hard drive should clear this up.  at least i hope so.  i've so far only noticed this on my boot drive and not my secondary storage drive.  my boot drive is a few years older so that's probably it.

[vuzedome]

Set file properties to read only, then rehash and download the missing parts, windows is changing the properties every now and then especially with the ratings and all on windows media player.

[kitamesume]

ahhhhhhh that, actually, check MWP if its configured to update your file, if does, disable it, might fix your problem, well most of them.

[rkruger]

-update-  i just googled this problem and now realize it could be anything from bad hardware to a software thing.  i don't install new software hardly ever so i doubt that's it.  i already ordered a new hard drive from newegg and it's too late to cancel so i hope that fixes the problem.

I had a similar problem a long time ago, and then it was a problem with the main memory.
I suggest that you run http://www.memtest86.com/ or something similar to check.

[Sakura90]

Ahhh, the mysteries of hashing. I still remember my 4 hash-failed files. I keep a hash record of everything, CRC32 for video in filenames and SHA1 for music in a FVA. I have a "main" drive and a "backup" one with the exact same files.

Not so long ago I decided to hash everything from my "backup" HDD. Out of 7500 files (~1.2 TB), 4 MKVs failed hash. The HDD seemed fine (no SMART probs or anything), and everything else in the PC was fine. I checked the files on the "main" HDD only to see it was the same 4 bad ones. No wonder, I was dumb enough when I switched my old, "main" 1.5TB with the new 2TB HDD, to copy everything from the "storage" drive and not from the disk being replaced. So both drives would have the content from a "same source". Should the backup had been corrupted and the main remained safe, the "good" files would have been saved. But in what I did if the "backup" was bad, the "main" would carry the bad files.

Lol, long story short. Whenever the files got bad, or I copied the wrong CRC32 in the files from start, I have no idea. I still have the 4 bad files that seem to be ok. I have to watch them to see how they play (I muxed them myself, and 3 of them are not available anymore to DL again).

That was my only case of bad hashes. I continued on the same system, same OS, drives, everything and never had a fail again. If I do a hash now I'll get the same results. Anyone else had bad hashes out of the blue?

[moonlight]

Mwa, don't think your HDD is dieing. If it did, you probably would have gotten a device I/O-error.

If you really think your HDD is about to die, use a diagnostic tool on your HDD. They actually work (although I have no idea how they work).
I guess somewhat new BIOS version already include such tools, or you can download one from the following links:
I haven't checked all these links, just copy-paste from HP support forum which I came across when my HDD died. The Seagate link works, but you can only use it on Seagate disks of course XD

For Maxtor or Quantum hard drives:
http://www.maxtor.com/products/DiamondMax/techsupport/TechnicalProcedures/20014.htm

IBM hard drives:
http://www.storage.ibm.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

Seagate hard drives:
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/

Fujitsu hard drives:
http://www.fujitsu.ca/download/hard_drive.html#diagnostic

[HiddenJumper]

As moonlight says, the signs of a HDD failure is more obvious than that. You would potentially hear weird noises, I/O input error, constant chkdsk consistency checks upon boot, etc etc, plus it wouldn't pass the SMART tests 100%.

I agree with the following people that said its simply Windows adding information to your files. Any changes made to a file, from a simple IDv3 tag change to a rating change will have the file fail hash checking.