Bad Sectors: Need some opinions

[silkstone]

Hi Guys,

the 2Tb drive in my main rig is throwing up smart errors (in HD tune) and is unable to run the lifeguard tool (comes up with an unknown error).

After looking in smart it appears i have 1 unallocated bad sector and tried to correct it using check disk (clicked choose to try to fix bad sectors) to no avail.

I'm wondering what the best course of action would be. Either i could buy a second drive to backup this one and go for an RMA, but i really don't need 5Tb of space on my computer at this time.

The second option i could buy a second drive, backup then write all zeros to see if that fixes it.

Thirdly i got a copy of spin right, so i could try that and see if it fixes it.
Otherwise i could just ignore it as it only throw up random BSODs every so often.

The reason i want advice is after having the disk for 4 month and getting a bad sector, is this a bad thing on a 2Tb drive (the re-allocated bad sctor count is zero).

If the drive is likely to fail on me, then a replacement would be better and hope i don't get a re-furbished one, right?

Edit - Thx in advance for all responses.
My laptop drive also has a few bad sectors, but there's no problem getting that replaced via warranty as i can back up the whole drive on my main rig.

[Jetster]

Is the HDtune error in yellow? Which error

Is it the WD Green?

[Widjaja]

Even before I read your thread I was guessing it was a WD Green.
What version is it?
The WD20EARS SATA 3 or the Later revision out of curiosity?

Since life Guard will not get through scanning it, RMA the HDD.
You may get a refurbished hard drive though in which case you could sell it for a low price.
I am sure someone out there will buy it.
Although I don't know if WD relabel their hard drivers after repair like Seagate does.

This incident probably put you off WD Greens and that understandable.

I'm pretty sure WD are churning these hard drives out faster than they can handle.

[Red_Machine]

Spinrite has my vote, it's a godsend for HDD issues.

[silkstone]

Yes, it's a WD20EARS 2Tb drive. It hasn;t really put me off them and i'll probabily replace it with another WD green before i RMA. My laptop drive is a Hatatchi and has like 3 bad sectors + I have other WD drives that work fine.

I dunno, should i go for something other than a WD green? i was thinking because of the size errors are more likely to occur.
Price is a factor as the Green drives are $100 whereas other 2Tb brands are $150 to $200

Edit - oh, it's a yellow warning (C5) Current pending sector = 1
but C4 - Reallocated event count = 0

[Widjaja]

It's up to you as to whether you want to stay with a WD green or not.

Mine is a WD20EARS but it's a SATA II model.
Haven't had a problem.
I only use it for media and storage so it's not like I'm giving it a work out all the time.
But still we should not have to be concerned about how much we use a hard drive.

Up to yuo whether you want to stick with a WD Green.
I don't think the WD20EARS are produced any more though.
So there is a chance you may receive the the next model.

[silkstone]

It's up to you as to whether you want to stay with a WD green or not.

Mine is a WD20EARS but it's a SATA II model.
Haven't had a problem.
I only use it for media and storage so it's not like I'm giving it a work out all the time.
But still we should not have to be concerned about how much we use a hard drive.

Up to yuo whether you want to stick with a WD Green.
I don't think the WD20EARS are produced any more though.
So there is a chance you may receive the the next model.

Does the next model have a better reputation? i can easily ask at the shop for them to take one out and check the model number for me.

[Widjaja]

I don't know much about the new model.
I have only heard complaints about the WD20EARS model though.

I'd say do some google searching.
There maybe some customer reviews on the new model; on newegg.
They are usually a good source of personal reviews

[qubit]

The drive is FKD. Definitely new drive + RMA.

[silkstone]

The drive is FKD. Definitely new drive + RMA.

I'm running the WD Lifeguard software under dos now. I just did a quick scan and it all passed, but it didn't seem to do any kind of SMART check, so i'm running a full scan. I'll report back when it's done if there are any errors.

I'm thinking (hoping) that under windows it may just have been an error with the windows software as i modified the firmware to reduce head parking.

Shelling out more $$ on a second drive i don't need will be a bitch, but i will do it if it's gonna die. I've lost too much data in the past due to failed hard disks (ants ate 2 of them!) so if the full DOS scan throws up errors, it's RMA time.

the reason i'm actually trying this instead of going straight for an RMA is that the shop will probably run the same software and then write zeros to the drive before RMA'ing it. From how i understand how they work, bad sectors occur quite frequently, but they are reallocated and then ignored, but this only happens when you try to write to that sector.
As the reallocated sector count is zero in smart, it seems like it has never had a single bad sector before.
This is just from the powah of google, so i don;t know if it's correct. Some people say a bad sector now and again is to be expected and others say to RMA straight away with any bad sectors.

Thx for your opinions and i'll report back later.

[qubit]

Ok, I was at work when I initially posted, so didn't have time to look over the whole thread, plus you've given us an update. :)

Yes, it's possible that modifying the firmware could cause errors to come up. How did you do it - was it a case of flashing, or setting the parameter with a WD utility? If it's the latter, it shouldn't really cause errors like this and the drive is suspect. Bad sectors do not occur quite frequently. If they do, then the drive is failing.

I've got three of these drives and they all work like a champ. The new model is the WD20EARX and the only difference, is that the interface is twice the speed, real world performance is identical and so is the price.

It's not clear to me if you have a backup of your data. You should always always have a minimum of two copies of your data, or you're gonna lose it. I've got two 2TB Greens in raid 1 in my main rig and another one in another rig that I back up to every night - and I'm considering making more backups. In other words, if you don't have a backup drive, get one now. I can't stress it enough.

Finally, how did ants kill a hard drive?! :eek: I've never heard of this before.

[silkstone]

Well, this is very strange.

WD Life guard, both the quick and full scan, failed to detect any errors. Didn;t ifnd the bad sector and correct it afaik as there were no error messages.

I restarted windows and ran HD Tune, now the smart errors are gone. I'm 33% through a surface scan, so i'll see if that detects anything. Otherwise it seems the drive may have fixed itself.

Another strange thing is that the reallocated sectors is still at zero.

[Widjaja]

Weird!

Something to think over I guess.
All you did was run WD Diag under dos then the problem disappeared.
How?

And how can SMART errors disappear?
First time I have ever heard of this.

[AsRock]

I'm running the WD Lifeguard software under dos now. I just did a quick scan and it all passed, but it didn't seem to do any kind of SMART check, so i'm running a full scan. I'll report back when it's done if there are any errors.

I'm thinking (hoping) that under windows it may just have been an error with the windows software as i modified the firmware to reduce head parking.

Shelling out more $$ on a second drive i don't need will be a bitch, but i will do it if it's gonna die. I've lost too much data in the past due to failed hard disks (ants ate 2 of them!) so if the full DOS scan throws up errors, it's RMA time.

the reason i'm actually trying this instead of going straight for an RMA is that the shop will probably run the same software and then write zeros to the drive before RMA'ing it. From how i understand how they work, bad sectors occur quite frequently, but they are reallocated and then ignored, but this only happens when you try to write to that sector.
As the reallocated sector count is zero in smart, it seems like it has never had a single bad sector before.
This is just from the powah of google, so i don;t know if it's correct. Some people say a bad sector now and again is to be expected and others say to RMA straight away with any bad sectors.

Thx for your opinions and i'll report back later.

Maybe just a faulty or loose cable did it hell maybe windows did it HA..

[silkstone]

Yes, i get quite frequent random power cuts here. So it may have cut out while writing to a sector and the Dos version of Life Guard was able to fix it.

I ran a quick scan + full scan using life guard in windows prior and it all passes now. I still have 1 smart error, but i know that is due to bent cables. I also did a full surface scan using HD Tune and the bad sector has dissapeared.

re: a previous question - i updated the firmware using the WD tool, so i guess that wouldn't have caused a smart error.

Well, all is good now (for the time-being at least) but i'll keep an eye on the drive.
I'm saving for a i5 system atm, so i really didn't want to spend another $150 on a second drive that i didn't need. Data loss is not a big deal, i have nothing i can't recover (mostly DVDs, Music and steam games) and all my essential stuff is backed up in around 5 different places.
It's just a shame i only get a 1yr warranty here :(