Question Is Hard Disk About To Go Out?

[atifpolitici]

Hello there everyone,

I just purchased a second hand computer today, for personal file storage and movie downloads, of course with a VPN.

I had to reinstall Windows fresh from scratch, as the original installation looked dodgy and couldn't be reset from Windows.

However, after that I opened Crystal Disk Info, and it shows a yellow caution, with reallocated sector count. So I haven't stored anything on here yet, the plan has gone awry.

The HDD is a Hitachi 9 years old.

Can some of you guys, please help me translate what this means?

https://imgur.com/a/Opx92kb

View: https://imgur.com/a/Opx92kb

 

[Lafong]

It means you should replace it ASAP...to the extent you care about whatever is on it.

You should have whatever is on it backed up elsewhere regardless.

It doesn't mean IMMINENT failure, but it is a significant issue.

Decide how important the stuff on it is to you and act accordingly.

 

[Lutfij]

The HDD is a Hitachi 9 years old.
A drive that's that old is lucky to be alive. To add, you're add you're installing the OS onto the drive, which will cause it to degrade further.

 

[atifpolitici]

The HDD is a Hitachi 9 years old.
A drive that's that old is lucky to be alive. To add, you're add you're installing the OS onto the drive, which will cause it to degrade further.

I can't believe that I got a hard drive LOL, I would have expected an SSD. And frankly you're correct that a HDD that old is lukcy to still be active. I haven't had any reach that age. I've only gotten 3 to 4 years max.

 

[fzabkar]

Your drive has replaced 2 bad sectors with spares.

 

[Eximo]

Not to say it is useless. I had a friend who kept a Samsung drive for many years after it started showing signs of issues. It would just slowly get smaller as it truncated bad sectors.

Used it as a scratch drive mostly, and the occasional short term game install.

 

[USAFRet]

I had to reinstall Windows fresh from scratch, as the original installation looked dodgy and couldn't be reset from Windows.

For any used system, your first move needs to be a full wipe and reinstall.
No matter how dodgy or not the existing OS looks.

Full wipe and reinstall.


For that existing drive?
Prepare for it to die.
That death may be 5 years for now, or tomorrow.

 

[atifpolitici]

Are 2 bad sectors so far quite a cause for concern? Should I just replace the drive tomorrow and retire it? What's the limit before it get's real bad?

 

[SkyNetRising]

2 relocated sectors is not that much. Drive is still very much usable.
But deterioration has started. You have to keep checking, if relocated sectors count increases.

 

[USAFRet]

Are 2 bad sectors so far quite a cause for concern? Should I just replace the drive tomorrow and retire it? What's the limit before it get's real bad?

Use it until it actually dies.
Keep good backups in the meantime.


I have a drive attached to my NAS, that showed several 'bad sectors'. 2 years later, it is still in use.
A different drive went from 0 to 14,000+ bad sectors in a week. Total death, 7 months old, warranty replacement.

 

[atifpolitici]

I will keep on monitoring the disk to see what happens, I am not going to be putting anything important, on here or doing my setup properly till I replace the HDD. But the drive transfer rate is slow.

 

[atifpolitici]

I disassembled the drive today, it had bad sectors marked in red that took over 500 MS to read. It wasn't worth keeping it. I didn't lose any data

 

[USAFRet]

I disassembled the drive today, it had bad sectors marked in red that took over 500 MS to read. It wasn't worth keeping it. I didn't lose any data

Fridge Magnet Donor.

 

[atifpolitici]

Is it worth shucking 6 to 8TB External Hard Drives?

 

[fzabkar]

It's too late now, but it would have been an idea to check for oxidisation:

https://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=649