Question Failed 8,3 Years old WD Red drive 3TB (EFRX) - what now...?

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thomas81br

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Failed 8,3 Years old WD Red drive 3TB (EFRX) - what now...?

So couple of weeks/months ago one of my HDDs- WD Red 3TB - EFRX - 8,3 Years old (!) failed on me. I had backups and was still able to get vast majority of the data directly from the drive. So data-wise im ok.
My questions is other: What to do with the drive now...? I took several pictures from SMART and hdd tests etc. and im posting it here. HD Tune pro and other programs (MiniTool Partition Wizard) found damaged sectors on the drive. The copying from these sectors were even like 2 Kb per second speed wise :-D...

So what can i do with this drive now...? Can it be "saved" somehow? Can i "fix" the damage sectors somehow? Can i at least "mark them" so the HDD doesnt use them anymore... (and still use the drive)? Will the damaged sectors "spread"...?

It appears that like the 1st half of the drive, or even first 2 terabytes (out of three) are OK... Can i make new "partitions" on the drive and use the 1st partition somewhat safely , and do NOT use the 2nd one with the damages sectors...?

Like its a 3 TB drive, I dont wanna just throw it in trash like that...

Can i fix the drive somehow? Can i still use the drive somewhat reliably...? Or is the drive now good only for like a doorstop?

https://prnt.sc/jultghOArCkk
https://prnt.sc/NHuRwUBvT3_n
https://prnt.sc/2xVf57TQXkTt
https://prnt.sc/QnfDFcHUzHdJ
 
What do you mean "what to do"? Drive fails, drill holes in it and throw it in the trash. Or just throw it in the trash. There's nothing else of value you CAN do with it, unless you're into hardware art.

Once a drive starts failing, even just losing significant space to bad sectors, you count that drive as done. Period. There is no way for you as an average person to fix anything about it, and even if you had a lab, it would not be worth your time if you COULD.

I mean, you can get 3TB drives for like 40 bucks these days. They aren't worth fixing even if you could and you could never trust it with anything anyhow.
 

Eximo

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What do you mean "what to do"? Drive fails, drill holes in it and throw it in the trash. Or just throw it in the trash. There's nothing else of value you CAN do with it, unless you're into hardware art.

Once a drive starts failing, even just losing significant space to bad sectors, you count that drive as done. Period. There is no way for you as an average person to fix anything about it, and even if you had a lab, it would not be worth your time if you COULD.

I mean, you can get 3TB drives for like 40 bucks these days. They aren't worth fixing even if you could and you could never trust it with anything anyhow.

You can't trust a new one either. Always have a backup.
 
True. Actually, it's a good idea to have MORE than just one backup. Especially if your backup is attached to the same machine as your primary. Having a third external, or NAS box, or cloud, or even optical disc copies is a really good idea too. But I guess more my point was it just an exercise in futility trying to even bother with storing data on a drive that you already know is failing much less has half the drive gone.
 

thomas81br

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I was recommended elsewhere to do a full format under windows to see if these issues wont resolve themselves (there is a chance that they might) and than i could still use the drive (but only for nonessential data/as an additional backup drive for example etc). what do you think abotu this (full format under windows, these issues are still temporary and the full format might resolved them)...?
 
I was recommended elsewhere to do a full format under windows to see if these issues wont resolve themselves (there is a chance that they might) and than i could still use the drive (but only for nonessential data/as an additional backup drive for example etc). what do you think abotu this (full format under windows, these issues are still temporary and the full format might resolved them)...?
NO! There is absolutely nothing that you can do to resurrect a dead drive. It's absolutely, positively NOT usable, in any capacity, as a backup drive of any kind. It's nothing more than a fridge magnet donor now.
 
I mean, it's worth a try I guess. I'd probably recommend using something like the free community edition of Paragon partition manager to remove ALL existing partitions on the drive first, then try to create a new partition using the full drive size. Then format that partition. If any of these operations is unable to be accomplished then the drive is likely done. If the available capacity does not match at least reasonably close to what you know the full size of the drive is, then the drive is likely done. And IF you are able to create a new partition of the correct size, and then format that partition, it would be a good idea to then download and run WD lifeguard tools or whatever WD is calling it these days and run the Long/Extended test on the drive.

But I'm VERY doubtful you'll be able to do any of those things given the information you disclosed in the original post.
 
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