Question External Hard Drive "CAUTION" Warning on CrystalDiskInfo

[Fred Wax Bean Lasagna]

Hello,

I have a WD Elements 3 TB External Hard Drive. I just plugged it in to check it with Crystal Disk Info ( Version 8.5.2 x64)

It is giving me a Caution Health status, but it's not showing Total Host Reads, Total Host Writes. (no percentage of life left)

It works just fine.

I rebooted Crystal Disk Info, Rebooted computer. Disconnected / Reconnected external Hard Drive.

I assume I am missing something. Thanks

 

[Grobe]

It is giving me a Caution Health status, but it's not showing Total Host Reads, Total Host Writes.

Because this is a Hard drive with magnetic recording plates, so they have another set of s.m.a.r.t. data compared to a ssd.

(no percentage of life left)

Because the hdd life span isn't directly linked to the number of written bytes to it, as is the case with SSD drives.

It works just fine.

For now, but all of a sudden it can stop working just like that. Hope you have a backup plan for your data.

 

[USAFRet]

It works just fine.

And it might die in the next 5 minutes.
Or last until 2030.

What is your current backup routine?

 

[Fred Wax Bean Lasagna]

Because this is a Hard drive with magnetic recording plates, so they have another set of s.m.a.r.t. data compared to a ssd.

Because the hdd life span isn't directly linked to the number of written bytes to it, as is the case with SSD drives.

For now, but all of a sudden it can stop working just like that. Hope you have a backup plan for your data.

Thanks for the quick response. Yeah, I remember now CrystalDiskInfo shows health differently for Hard Drives vs Solid State Drives.

So I guess an "Uncorrectable Sector Count" of 36 means it's time for a new External Hard Drive? Well that sucks.

I'm trying to find when I bought this WD external hard drive. I think maybe 2014. EDIT: Nope, March 2015. I used it to back up once a week for the most part, so I figured it really wasn't used much. I suppose I was hoping to get 10 years out of it anyway (that's what my last laptop gave me, and it's internal hard drive still has status of "good" with CrystalDiskInfo )

oh well. I guess the more I learn about computers, and peripherals, the more I realize I'm ignorant as hell lol.

 

[Fred Wax Bean Lasagna]

And it might die in the next 5 minutes.
Or last until 2030.

What is your current backup routine?

Hi,

I backup once a week, using Windows Backup & Restore (Windows 7)
It's good enough for me. I have another drive I could use in the mean time. Also 128 GB flash drives I suppose in a pinch.

I guess I'll just order another External hard drive, Desktop (not portable) type.

I don't need a ton of storage. 3TB was fine for me. I figure 5 TB would be so much more than enough.

thanks for the quick response to my post 👍😊

 

[Fred Wax Bean Lasagna]

I installed WD Dashboard diagnostic tool.

It tells me health of the External Drive is good 🙄 yet, also says I have an error code 7.

But I get "Failed with error Code 7" when running S.M.A.R.T. Diagnostic Short Test.
So this utility is rather useless.
Naturally, this diagnostic tool doesn't tell you what error code 7 means.

I then scanned the WD Elements external HDD with HDDSCAN.exe

And it confirms uncorrectable errors. After only 547 power-on hours of use, I guess I need another external hard drive.

My previous laptop, which still works, has original internal HDD with 36326 power-on hours, and still has GOOD status with CrystalDiskInfo.

 

[DSzymborski]

Worrying about "Good" or "Caution" labels isn't a great strategy as the thresholds are fairly arbitrary. What matters is what the readings themselves are, not a subjective description of the readings.

All storage drives should be considered terminally ill from the second they're turned on, and storage/data protection strategies should always be centered around this notion.

 

[USAFRet]

After only 547 power-on hours of use, I guess I need another external hard drive.

I've had brand new drives die sooner than that.
With far less warning than what you're getting.

It happens.

 

[Fred Wax Bean Lasagna]

I've had brand new drives die sooner than that.
With far less warning than what you're getting.

It happens.

thanks for the perspective.