first alert “I noticed that it was loading way slower than usual”, this might be a problem with the hard drive, it is a typical error when it is about to fail.
Second alert " Now I get the windows repair screen", another typical error when the hard drive is corrupted and Windows can boot up.
Third alert: MSFS downloads hundreds of GB, that might have killed your hard drive if it was already about to fail so it would make sense.
I would open the case, and put my hand on the HDD to see how it spins, I could diagnose quickly if it is failing, if the failure is obvious, like the drive spinning slower than usual, or small little sounds inside. It requires a bit of experience though. Some times Windows can load some parts of the startup sequence, but when it gets to a corrupted sector it is when it fails.
It could be another reason of course! like a bad PSU, CPU temps or corrupted RAM. but well, I was considering the fact that you put the HDD to stress (MSFS lol)
Totally agree. I was having lots of CTD’s with MSFS and it turned out to be the GPU overclocking causing it to overheat. MSFS must be pushing the hardware a lot more as no issues with other games.
I had something similar happening last week. I suspected several programs but in the end it turned out that forgot to disconnect the recovery drive I just made wich made me think my computer broke since it booted directly into recovery mode every time.
Not sure if it helps but sometimes it’s the little things.
I suspect your drive was in the process of failing already since you claimed it was loading slower than usual. That would explain the repair screen on reboot and the inability to repair it. I actually had the exact same happen to a SATA SSD in my old laptop just a few weeks back. It started out being slow, then slower, then BSOD followed by the repair prompt that didn’t fix it.
It has nothing to do with MSFS. At least not directly. Likely the large quantity of data was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”, but your drive was dying and would have failed soon with or without MSFS.
Not surprised at all. Reminds me of the fact that, not long ago, MSFS2020 inexplicably had the GPU run at full power for hours (maybe even a day or so for some) during the installation process.
It turns out it is my one year old Seagate Barracuda 3TB HD. I do feel the demand from the SIM was a strong contributing factor in it’s demise. I’ve actually never had a HD fail.
So asking the HDD to do what it was literally designed to do was a strong contributing factor in its demise? Come on. The drive was bad. Just because it never happened to you doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
I’ve seen a lot of Barracudas going down. Not sure if it’s been just bad luck on my side. I wouldn’t recommend to use an actual hard disk for a software with such amounts of data continuously being read and written anyway.
Well, not entirely. There are different types of hard disks for different purposes. You wouldn’t use an SMR HDD in a data center, would you?
While you technically could use every type of e. g. WD’s HDD product range for any purpose, it does’n mean you should. Different HDD types are not only priced differently but may also have less durability (thus warranty) depending on how you use them.
Not to mention that you’re bottlenecking yourself by using a HDD.
However, technology with moving parts always has a higher risk of failing than technology with no moving parts.
True. Even though they wear out much less than everyone predicted.
My computer runs on a SanDisk from 2012 and it’s still in perfect shape. I can’t say that I haven’t fed it with demanding tasks over the years, though.
