How many bad sectors are dangerous?

[agalpha]

Hi, I have a hard drive which is a few years old. Its a WD 250GB. I can't really afford a new one right now so I'm asking that are a few bad sectors dangerous? My drive has recently got 2 bad sectors. Should I worry?

 

[antishill]

The issue is not how many bad sectors, the question is how are you getting the bad sectors? If it is just some sectors with manufacturing defects from day 1, which should NOT happen in the this day an age, after all this not the 1982 with RLL drives which had know defects mapped and tracked. But we are not privy to what is going on in your drive. The worry is that it is loose microscopic particles inside your drive that is destroying the drive sector by sector. Worse it is because the drive head and the platters are somehow coming into physical contact which may create even more microscopic particles, and the those particles can get snagged between drive head and platter leading cascading failures of more particles and more bad sectors.

As to whether you should worry, that entirely depends on you. Do you have valuable data on this drive? If you do, you better start backing up right now. And if you can't afford $10 for harddrive like this:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/485410/Assorted_250GB_7,200_RPM_35_Desktop_Hard_Drives_(Refurbished)

I really don't know what solutions are available for you.

 

[agalpha]

The issue is not how many bad sectors, the question is how are you getting the bad sectors? If it is just some sectors with manufacturing defects from day 1, which should NOT happen in the this day an age, after all this not the 1982 with RLL drives which had know defects mapped and tracked. But we are not privy to what is going on in your drive. The worry is that it is loose microscopic particles inside your drive that is destroying the drive sector by sector. Worse it is because the drive head and the platters are somehow coming into physical contact which may create even more microscopic particles, and the those particles can get snagged between drive head and platter leading cascading failures of more particles and more bad sectors.

As to whether you should worry, that entirely depends on you. Do you have valuable data on this drive? If you do, you better start backing up right now. And if you can't afford $10 for harddrive like this:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/485410/Assorted_250GB_7,200_RPM_35_Desktop_Hard_Drives_(Refurbished)

I really don't know what solutions are available for you.

These bad sectors have been there since 15 days now. These happened after a sudden power outage. So far the sectors have not increased with 10-15 hours of PC use for the last 15 days. The drive partition with the sectors is only 68GB with the operating system.

Drives are fairly expensive where I am and at the moment I can't get a new one because I used up all my money paying my tuition.

 

[k1114]

It's not going to die anytime soon, at least not from bad sectors. And when I mean soon, I mean it'll probably last the year. Caution means it's getting a bit high so keep an eye on it. It has extra sectors to reallocate but when those are used, bad things happen. You should look at getting a new one when you can.

 

[agalpha]

Thanks for the help. I can probably get a new one by end of March. I'm actually planning on moving to an SSD. I am keeping an eye on it and there is nothing on this drive except the OS and a few songs. I was worried that it might give up and fail any minute.

 

[k1114]

When it turns red and says bad, that's when you want to worry. Right now it's just yellow/caution.

 

[agalpha]

Thank for the time. I'll just launch the program daily to see of its getting worse. Keep any important data off it. Thanks again.

 

[k1114]

There's no need for that much attention. Windows will give a popup saying it detected a hdd problem when it goes red.

 

[agalpha]

alright. thanks

 

[RolandJS]

As long as you routinely copy data onto any affordable external media, you should be fine -- until the infamous red alert pops up.