Disk Corruption = Failing Drive/Bad sectors?

Question

I recently replaced my HD with a SATA SSD since my previous one failed. My new SSD is a week old and Windows 7 is already reporting file corruption.

The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume \Device\HarddiskVolume1.

I scanned the drive and fixed the errors. The scan results flashed by very quickly but I'm fairly sure it reported no bad sectors.

What could have caused the corruption on my disk?
Is it a sign that my new drive is failing as well?

Answer 1

Errors in the filesystem (which are fixed using chkdsk) can be caused by hardware issues, but also by software bugs, or even by doing an improper shutdown. Download DiskCheckup to see if there are any reallocated sectors or uncorrectable sectors, which indicates hardware issues. Also, make sure you have the latest firmware for your SSD.

Answer 2

Check your power supply. It may not be providing a clean supply of electricity, which could in turn be killing drives.

Then test your motherboard, and make sure it has the latest BIOS.

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As @BigBio2002 pointed out, make sure you have the latest firmware for your SSD.

Answer 3

Odds are better than 50/50 that the problem is a software or firmware issue, or simply the result of a crash/power failure at an inappropriate moment.

SSDs are not immune to power failure problems -- one variety of SSD (I think the type most often used in larger drives) needs a fairly extended (at least a major fraction of a second) shutdown in order to avoid data corruption.