2 identical HD: one is failing. How do I tell which?

[conticreative]

My apologies for a possible double post. My chrome browser crashed right while I was submitting this post and since I usually copy my text before posting, I am trying to post again since there is no trace of my original post in the forum. But it could be just a delay.
Admins, please delete the older one and l;eave this or whatever you feel is best. They are identical.

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I purchased HDS because I had an external drive failure and after some research I figured HDM was the best software for me not to get caught with my pants down again.

Thanks to HDS I was able to discover that my E: drive has a 20% life span remaining.

My computer is setup as follows:

Disk 0: C: 500GB Samsung SSD
Disk1 : (?) Seagate Barracude 2000GB 1863.02 ST32000542AS ATA Device
Disk2 : (?) Seagate Barracude 2GB (FAILING) 1863.02 ST2000DM-1-9YN164 ATA Device
Disk 3: Z: HGST HM65 (etc.) 4GB

Disk 1 and 2 are the same brand and from my disk software (HDS or Disk Management) I cannot tell what the difference is except for some of the numbers that show up in properties.

Those numbers don;t seem to be available on the Disk Drive itself.

The problem is that while one is failing, the other is healthy and I use it as my "Documents" drive (while Z I use as backup and gaming repository)

I need to disconnect the failing drive, but I cannot tell which is which. Is there a way other than SATA port number (that too is a mystery to me) to tell which drive is which so I will remove the right hard drive?

I just rebuilt my entire Windows installation and the last thing I want is to mistakenly corrupt something.

Thank you.

[hdsentinel]

Generally, Hard disk Sentinel detects and shows which physical hard disk contains which of your logical drive(s).
If you check the Information page of the problematic hard disk (where 20% hard disk health displayed), you can see the associated logical drives / partitions listed. I suspect you saw the E: drive there.

Now the best way to identify the failing drive is to check the "Hard Disk Serial Number" field on the top of the list, it is in the very first section on the Information page, designed exactly to offer the proper identification of the drives.
Write down the "Hard Disk Serial Number".

Then when you power off and disassemble the computer, you can use this information: just check the stickers printed on your hard disks and compare the serial number printed with the one previously displayed on the Information page in Hard Disk Sentinel.
If you find the matching serial number, you can be sure that you found the drive to be removed.

> I just rebuilt my entire Windows installation and the last thing I want is to mistakenly corrupt something.

To be honest, personally I'd remove the drive _before_ rebuilding.
A new Windows installation may install the boot loader and some system data on the very first hard disk (even if we select an other hard disk to contain Windows system). So in theory, it is possible that even if you remove a secondary drive, if it's detected first by the system, it may hold the boot loader data.
The result is that after removing the hard disk, the system may not be able to boot.

So personally I always feel the best is to only have that ONE hard disk in the system where we prefer to install Windows for the duration of the system installation. This way we can be sure that the boot loader, the system will be on the same drive.
This is especially true if a hard disk drive planned to be removed completely (for example because of its low health).

If you use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, I can examine the current situation and advise about both the hard disk serial number (to identify the proper hard disk drive) and about the reported problems / health, for example to check if things can be improved in any ways (so the HDD could be used as secondary storage).

[conticreative]

Thank you for the reply. initially I wasn't able to find the serial number from HDS, so I remember I had an old copy of Everest and since I am more familiar with how that program works, I was able to find the serial.

Then after reading your response, I found it on HDS as well. It was there all along, just a case of partial blindness.

Indeed when I installed the new system, I disconnected the other drives. But since over the years I created a bit of a SATA spaghetti, and with the computer off I couldn't tell which drive was which, I had to reattach them all.

My next piece of surgery is changing the Liquid cooling unit for my CPU, which it starting to sound like it's grinding coffee, so at that stage I'll remove the offending drive as well. I know I should have done all this before installing windows again, but I also had work to do of a urgent matter which I was able to accomplish in between windows updates.

Thank you so much for the help.

[hdsentinel]

Me thanks too, I'm glad if I could help

Also I forgot to mention that (exactly to help identification of the drives) the serial number of the currently selected hard disk is displayed on the top, in the title of the Hard Disk Sentinel main window, exactly to find it easier, without checking the list of details on the Information page.

Also when multiple drives used, the "Click to add comment" field on the middle of the main window can be helpful. There it is possible to enter any comment for the current hard disk which can help in identification.
Some users prefer to enter the location of the hard disk drive (eg. "upper bay") others prefer to enter the date of order/installation of that hard disk and/or the end of warranty date. These information can be helpful later.