Is my HDD going to die ?

divJ

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I have a WD Caviar Blue 500gb. Since some time my PC has gotten slow.... Programs open slowly, close slowly, google chrome lags a lot . even task manager is slow now !!.

So, I ran some tests to check the HDD.
I tried WD lifeguard Diagnostics which failed. Here are the results :-

SMART Status is OK.

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number: WDC WD5000AAKX-001CA0
Unit Serial Number: WD-WMAYUS221377
Firmware Number: 15.01H15
Capacity: 500.11 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 08-Unable to repair bad sectors.
Test Time: 23:13:49, November 03, 2014

Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WDC WD5000AAKX-001CA0
Unit Serial Number: WD-WMAYUS221377
Firmware Number: 15.01H15
Capacity: 500.11 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 06-Quick Test on drive 1 did not complete! Status code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 97 (Unknown Test) SMART self-test did not complete on drive 1!
Test Time: 23:14:35, November 03, 2014

After that I ran seatools which failed as well in short test and long test both.

Then I tried HD Tune Pro.. Which shows 1 Bad block and here is the rest :-

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I have also ran chkdsk /r. Took a lot of time.

HD Tune shows Reallocated Sector Count as 140. What does this mean ?

My Questions are :-

Is the Hard Disk going to die ?
Why has my PC gotten slow ? My Config is :-

AMD FX 6300
Corsair Vengeance 8 GB
Seasonic ECO 600

What should I do ? Replace the current one ( If its gonna die) ?
The Disk is not under warranty so no option of RMA.
I have been using this since 2.5 years.
The temps are fine.
 
Solution
1) Your Reallocated sector Count is not 140 its 0. Ignore the Threshold. The collum that says Data is what the number its 0

2) For the Current Pending sector count read below for more info but to sum it up it means there is a sector that it is having a hard time reading from has has flagged it as so. If it can recover the data it then becomes a Reallocated Sector. If it can't recover the data it then gives up and counts it as a Uncorrectable Sector or Bad Sector and depending on where it is it can cause a lot of damage (Windows will never start again) or it could be in a harmless place and never bother you ever.

Count of "unstable" sectors (waiting to be remapped, because of unrecoverable read errors). If an unstable sector is...
1) Your Reallocated sector Count is not 140 its 0. Ignore the Threshold. The collum that says Data is what the number its 0

2) For the Current Pending sector count read below for more info but to sum it up it means there is a sector that it is having a hard time reading from has has flagged it as so. If it can recover the data it then becomes a Reallocated Sector. If it can't recover the data it then gives up and counts it as a Uncorrectable Sector or Bad Sector and depending on where it is it can cause a lot of damage (Windows will never start again) or it could be in a harmless place and never bother you ever.

Count of "unstable" sectors (waiting to be remapped, because of unrecoverable read errors). If an unstable sector is subsequently read successfully, the sector is remapped and this value is decreased. Read errors on a sector will not remap the sector immediately (since the correct value cannot be read and so the value to remap is not known, and also it might become readable later); instead, the drive firmware remembers that the sector needs to be remapped, and will remap it the next time it's written.[35] However some drives will not immediately remap such sectors when written; instead the drive will first attempt to write to the problem sector and if the write operation is successful then the sector will be marked good (in this case, the "Reallocation Event Count" (0xC4) will not be increased). This is a serious shortcoming, for if such a drive contains marginal sectors that consistently fail only after some time has passed following a successful write operation, then the drive will never remap these problem sectors.

3) The Ultra DMA Count is just saying there there was an error getting data from the hard drive and got corrupt in the process. It could have been the pending sector and went out as it was reading from it. This one isn't on the "OMG" list of my hard drive is going out.


So your question. Is it dieing? Yes and No. It is showing signs that it will most likely fail in the future, but then I've had drives with bad sectors that keep going (A lot of time backing up your data, doing a 3 pass wipe on the whole hard drive can fix the issue or it can make it worse). You an replace it if you are worried or just keep an eye on it (Me i'd just make sure I have everything backed up and keep an eye on it)

Next time get a Western Digital Black. 5 Year Warranties on those suckers.
 
Solution
I would say that could be likely, so back up your data. In the short term you could run AV, defrag, and diskcheck. That may fix dome bad sectors. You like Western Digital, I recommend getting a WD black drive. They are a little more but to me its worth it for 5 years of peace of mind. I don't buy mechanical drives anymore without 5 year warranties, just not worth it. I picked up a 750GB black drive (2.5inch) for $62 US a cpule of weeks ago on AMazon.


HAHA Dr tweak posted almost at the same time.
 

divJ

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The Seatools and WD Lifeguard both failed on all tests. What does that say ?

And the major problem is that why is my computer running slow ? I ve done all the basic things to optimize my pc.

Update - The benchmark feature also keeps failing in HDTune with an error
 

divJ

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I am thinking of replacing this disk drive with a new one .. Is that ok ? What could be the merits and demerits ? I ll store less important things on the old disk
 
Yea the fact that the disk is being slow could be other signs of failure and not just bad sectors. Hard drive fail for many reasons. Bad Sectors, PCB Failure, Read/Write Head failures.

Sounds like your better off buying a new driver, install windows, and start from scratch. You could try to clone it and keep everything the way it is but don't know how well it will take it. I think it would clone okay. I've cloned/Backed up many failing hard drives some with success some without and/or partital recovery.

I'd get a new one, move ALL your files off the old one, then use something like CCleaner and wipe the ENTIRE Drive, not just free space, at least 3 times. If it seems better / the same after then go for it. Use it to install programs/games too and keep important stuff on new drive. If it got worse then toss the drive. with a 3 pass wipe it will be very hard for any normal person to get any data off of there. I have MANY file recovery programs and after a 3 pass wipe using Active Kill Disk None of my programs can see anything (Power Data Recovery, Recuva, EASEUS Partition Recovery, Active File Recovery, and Pargons Recovery program) so don't worry too much about data after doing a 3 pass wipe. Also! Do a 3 Pass wipe on the new driver before you even use it. If you do a 3 Pass wipe and the SMART is good go for it. If it shows any Reallocated, Pending, Uncorrectable sector counts RMA it. It will only fail.
 

divJ

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Driver ???
 

divJ

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Mar 25, 2012
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The Seatools and WD Lifeguard both failed on all tests. What does that say ?

And the major problem is that why is my computer running slow ? I ve done all the basic things to optimize my pc.

Update - The benchmark feature also keeps failing in HDTune with an error
 


Drive*** My bad. Just get a new drive. This one is most likely on its way out.