CrystalDiskInfo showing "Caution" on HDD

[rijadkatardzic]

Hello, I just checked out my HDD with CrystalDiskInfo, and it shows Caution..
Caution [C5] Current Pending Sector Count : 1
Caution [C6] Uncorrectable Sector Count : 2
What should I watch out for?And what is that supposed to mean?
Thanks.
It has 38464 hours of work times (Power On Hours)

 

[vapour]

It means it is time to back up all the data and buy a new HDD. Currently the bad sector is small portion, may get larger.

 

[Solandri]

Bad sectors are normal as a drive gets older. A pending sector is one which is marked as possibly bad. The drive needs to test it once the data on it is moved. An uncorrectable sector is one which has been tested and can no longer reliably hold data. It has been mapped out so it's not used again, and a reserve sector substituted. Bad sectors are normal and expected behavior, especially in an old drive, so manufacturers took steps to counter the issue. Several thousand reserve sectors are included on every HDD to substitute for sectors which go bad with age.

So this could be a sign the drive is going bad. Or the pending sector could be cleared up and everything goes back to normal. The thing you want to watch out for are bad sectors which appear and increase in number suddenly. That's a sign of imminent drive failure.

Assume the worst and backup your data just in case. Check it again in a few days to see if it's gotten better or worse. (The exact meaning of the numbers varies with each manufacturer and sometimes with different drives. Often it's a logarithmic count, so 1 may mean 1-10 pending sectors. 2 may mean 11-100 bad sectors.)

 

[vapour]

^+1

Very thorough and clear explanations

 

[rijadkatardzic]

Thank you, gonna buy new HDD and SSD as soon as my budget heals!