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Dying harddrives (can anyone read SMART values?)

B

Bluescreendeath

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Dec 13, 2010
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System Name Intranetusa PC
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Software Windows 7
So I have 3 harddrives, all of them are in yellow caution according to SMART values. 1 Hitachi 750GB (05 errors), 1 Seagate SSHD 500GB ST500LM000 (C5 and C6 errors), and 1 Seagate 500GB ST500LT012 (05 error). I am not sure what these values mean. Pics:
https://imgur.com/a/QEWgm8w

Which harddrive is the worst off and which is the best off? I want to try to salvage at least 1 for an unimportant storage/transfer drive, or even keep 1 for an unimportant backup laptop. Is that feasible or should I scrap them all?


Edit:
I converted them into raw values and downloaded Seatools. What am I supposed to do with Seatools? I ran the DST (diagnostic self test) and looked the drive info:

1) Seagate with the 4826 hours passed the Seagate DST and WinDST's quick test (reallocated setors 744).

2) The Seagate with the 5207 hours (56 uncorrectable sector/56 current pending sector count) fails the SeaTools DST at 10%. However, in the Computer folder, I did a check disk scan to "automatically fix file system errors and recover bad sectors." Now, it passes SeaTools' ShortDST sometimes and fails other times. Currently doing long generic Seatools test.

3) The Hitachi with 3788 hours (reallocated sectors 1966328) fails SeaTools DST at 10%.


Here are the pics:
https://imgur.com/a/WLwODJl
 
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I would scrap then all personally, but the first seagate image appears best of them from the data.
 
If you see "uncorrectable sector count", you know the drive needs to be trashed. It literally means that it's reallocated so many bad sectors that there are no spares available. Drives with reallocated sectors are also bad news and shouldn't be used for any important data.
 
Yellow does not necessarily mean they are bad. I can't tell what software you used to read the smart values because im at work
But use the manufactures software because Crystal disk will give faults positives for yellow
 
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All these things are a bit worrying, but they are even more if their actual values are increasing. If full format is possible, do it. Sometimes these reports go away. But I'd keep an eye on such drives if they come back and keep increasing. Then it's time for new drives. If it stays the same and you don't have any critical data on them, they are still viable.
 
I also recommend throwing HD Sentinel at them for an approximation of the lifespan, plus a better indicator of what's happening.
 
The first and third drives are 100% fine. The second drive has issues and should not be used.

Let me give you a quick rundown of how to read those SMART readings. Relocated Sector Count, Current Pending Sector Count, and Uncorrectable Sector Count are all read as a percentage of life left. So a reading of 100 means 100% left. CrystalDiskInfo likes to label these as a caution when there is really nothing wrong with them. So, for example, on the second drive, where there really is an issue, it is saying the it has used some of the spare relocated sectors, and only has 96% left. So in this case, sectors on the drive have actually gone bad. Once sectors start to go bad, it is time to replace the drive.
 
I had the same "C5 Current Pending Sector Count" error on my previous and still working WD 3200 BJKT. It appeared somewhere when HDD had just under 12.000 working hours When I finally replaced it with SSD, it had around 19.000 working hours. There were absolutely no problems considering HDD, despite Crystal Disk Info notified about being cautious, like in your case.

It means that your drive might fail in the near future, but it can also mean nothing like in my case. Since both values are at 100, like out of the box, I would say it means nothing. Still, make some backup.
 
Just mouse over where it says caution and it will give you the values. I've seldom seen CDI to be wrong.
 
newtekie1 said:
The first and third drives are 100% fine. The second drive has issues and should not be used.

Let me give you a quick rundown of how to read those SMART readings. Relocated Sector Count, Current Pending Sector Count, and Uncorrectable Sector Count are all read as a percentage of life left. So a reading of 100 means 100% left. CrystalDiskInfo likes to label these as a caution when there is really nothing wrong with them. So, for example, on the second drive, where there really is an issue, it is saying the it has used some of the spare relocated sectors, and only has 96% left. So in this case, sectors on the drive have actually gone bad. Once sectors start to go bad, it is time to replace the drive.
Click to expand...

The third drive has more reallocated sectors than the first drive. Look at the raw column.
 
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Frick said:
The third drive has more reallocated sectors than the first drive. Look at the raw column.
Click to expand...

Nope, different manufacturers handle that differently. Seagate starts at 0 and counts up, Hitachi starts at the maximum and counts down.
 
Utilize Hitachi Disk Fitness Test and Test all drives.

You have some sectors on the drive that are dead as per the tool you are using but still verify those findings with DFT.

If DFT can't read the Seagate drive even though I couldn't imagine it not working as it's tested all brands of drives in the past, use Seatools.
 
Does anyone know what the raw values mean? Eg. What is 2e8?

seagate_surfer said:
Bluescreendeath, for the Seagate drives, it is recommended you use Seatools. It will give you an accurate overview of the health of the drives. Go ahead and run it and share the results.
Click to expand...

I will do so tonight. Does Seatools work for non Seagate drives?

eidairaman1 said:
Utilize Hitachi Disk Fitness Test and Test all drives.

You have some sectors on the drive that are dead as per the tool you are using but still verify those findings with DFT.

If DFT can't read the Seagate drive even though I couldn't imagine it not working as it's tested all brands of drives in the past, use Seatools.
Click to expand...

What is DFT? Is DFT is WinDFT for HGST drives? Do I need a separate utility for every brand?
 
Bluescreendeath said:
Does anyone know what the raw values mean? Eg. What is 2e8?



I will do so tonight. Does Seatools work for non Seagate drives?



What is DFT? Is DFT is WinDFT for HGST drives? Do I need a separate utility for every brand?
Click to expand...
2e8 is a hexadecimal address space where faults lie on the drive. DFT is also WinDFT, I prefer a bootable version of dft.
 
eidairaman1 said:
2e8 is a hexadecimal address space where faults lie on the driv
Click to expand...

I do believe, It is the amount of counts... not the address space where the faults lie on the drive.

Bluescreendeath said:
Does anyone know what the raw values mean? Eg. What is 2e8?
Click to expand...

2e8 is the hexadecimal number that is equal to the decimal number 744.
If you are referring to the Seagate ST500LT012 relocated sector count, you have 744 relocated sectors.
Probably bad ones moved to good sectors and the bad would/should be marked bad in the drives internal table.

Hexadecimal to Decimal Converter

To change the value output to "decimal" in Crystal Disk Info...

Open Crystal Disk Info
1. Click on the "Function" menu
2. Click on the "Advanced Feature" menu
3. Click on the "Raw Values" menu
4. Choose the "10 (DEC)" option
and it will change to decimal read out for the raw values.

cdiinfo.png
 
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Bluescreendeath said:
Does anyone know what the raw values mean? Eg. What is 2e8?



I will do so tonight. Does Seatools work for non Seagate drives?



What is DFT? Is DFT is WinDFT for HGST drives? Do I need a separate utility for every brand?
Click to expand...


Yes, Seatools also works on non Seagate drives.
 
I converted them into raw values and downloaded Seatools. What am I supposed to do with Seatools? I ran the DST (diagnostic self test) and looked the drive info:

1) Seagate with the 4826 hours passed the Seagate DST and WinDST's quick test (reallocated setors 744).

2) The Seagate with the 5207 hours (56 uncorrectable sector/56 current pending sector count) fails the SeaTools DST at 10%. However, in the Computer folder, I did a check disk scan to "automatically fix file system errors and recover bad sectors." Now, it passes SeaTools' ShortDST sometimes and fails other times. Currently doing long generic Seatools test.

3) The Hitachi with 3788 hours (reallocated sectors 1966328) fails SeaTools DST at 10%.


Here are the pics:
https://imgur.com/a/WLwODJl
 
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newtekie1 said:
it is saying the it has used some of the spare relocated sectors, and only has 96% left.
Click to expand...
Even this is not a serious problem. In HDD's and SSD's alike, sectors go bad. Most have a few defects to start with fresh from the factory and this is accounted for by the firmware.
newtekie1 said:
So in this case, sectors on the drive have actually gone bad. Once sectors start to go bad, it is time to replace the drive.
Click to expand...
Perfectly normal. If that number drops below 50% of a drives total reallocation Z-sectors, or it drops by a more than 5% in a given month, time to get critical data off that drive. Otherwise there is plenty of life left in that drive. The other two drives are not a problem.

@Bluescreendeath All of those drives are ok. Keep an eye on the second one but you should be fine. No worries.
 
lexluthermiester said:
Even this is not a serious problem. In HDD's and SSD's alike, sectors go bad. Most have a few defects to start with fresh from the factory and this is accounted for by the firmware.

Perfectly normal. If that number drops below 50% of a drives total reallocation Z-sectors, or it drops by a more than 5% in a given month, time to get critical data off that drive. Otherwise there is plenty of life left in that drive. The other two drives are not a problem.

@Bluescreendeath All of those drives are ok. Keep an eye on the second one but you should be fine. No worries.
Click to expand...

Which are you referring to as the second one? The Seagate with 4826 hours? That one has 744 reallocated sectors (decimal) and that is the only one to pass SeaTool's DST.

Is it ok for them to fail SeaTool's DST test? 1 passed, 1 sometimes passes/sometimes fail, and the other fails. Not sure if it matters for uncorrectable sectors or reallocated sectors, but I'll be using these drives to make store 100-200GB max (so that's like 20-40% space with the rest free)
 
Bluescreendeath said:
Which are you referring to as the second one? The Seagate with 4826 hours? That one has 744 reallocated sectors (decimal) and that is the only one to pass SeaTool's DST.

Is it ok for them to fail SeaTool's DST test? 1 passed, 1 sometimes passes/sometimes fail, and the other fails. Not sure if it matters for uncorrectable sectors or reallocated sectors, but I'll be using these drives to make store 100-200GB max (so that's like 20-40% space with the rest free)
Click to expand...
Yup. SeaTool's are generally not the most reliable as they tend to spend to much focus on problems that really aren't. My personal fav utility for checking drive fitness is HDDscan; http://hddscan.com/
The lastest version is 4.0 and is a very accurate gauge of drive health. Try it out and see what is says on all three. Very interested to see what it says about them.
 
lexluthermiester said:
Yup. SeaTool's are generally not the most reliable as they tend to spend to much focus on problems that really aren't. My personal fav utility for checking drive fitness is HDDscan; http://hddscan.com/
The lastest version is 4.0 and is a very accurate gauge of drive health. Try it out and see what is says on all three. Very interested to see what it says about them.
Click to expand...

How do I gauge drive health? HDD scan's SMART info, or one of their tests (short vs extended)?

I also downloaded HD Sentinel. It says my Seagate 500GB (with 56 uncorrectable sectors) is at 26% and has a bit over 100 days left...
 
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