[Katsunami]

Three weeks ago, my 5.5 year old notebook started crapping out; random freezes under Windows 7. Ran all tests I could think of (memory, SSD, HDD, graphics, stress test), and found no errors; afterward, the notebook worked as it should, up until yesterday.

It started crashing, freezing, and showing weird behavior in general. When running the Windows 7 CD repair CD/console, nothing was wrong. Live Linux distributions seemed to work fine as well.

However, checking the SSD made CHKDSK hang.

Totday, I took out the SSD and HDD, and checked them with CHKDSK, HDTune, and the programs of the respective manufacturers. The SSD makes them all hang. It can't even be formatted beyond 10% anymore, even though the SMART data is completely OK and health is stated to be 100%. The old 250GB HDD is fine.

Point of learning 1: SMART data is stupid. It's unreliable.
Point of learning 2: An SSD can fail.
Point of learning 3: An SSD can even fail faster than an HDD. (3 years DEAD vs. 5.5 years and still RUNNING.)
Bad news: New SSD needed. It's on the way and should be delivered tomorrow.
Good news: I needed a bigger SSD in my desktop. So, the new 120GB will be built into the desktop, and the old 64GB will move to the notebook, which needs a lot less storage for programs. (That 64GB one is actually the same model that crapped out in the notebook.)
Better news: Damn, these things got cheap in the last three years.

Then: €100 for 64GB.
Now: €62 for 120GB.

Great news: I always have backups. (That was a HUGE learning point in 1995, when I had my first HDD headcrash, losing days and days of high school essay work and hundreds of savegames.)

For €62, I'll fix the old beast and restore the image. It has served me very well in 5.5 years, and if it doesn't utterly fail, it'll be some day retired to become a dedicated computer to run my DGT chessboard and accompanying software.