[SOLVED] Is my HDD in need of replacement?

[Yrkano]

Hi, I've had a couple of problems with my internal hard drive, and I would appreciate a knowledgeable opinion on my drive's health.

I have a ~200MB internal HDD with my windows installation and my programs (drive letter is C), and another internal HDD that's 2TB, and it has all of my work on it (drive letter is D). Both of these came pre-installed in my desktop PC, which I purchased about 2 years ago.

In late September of 2021, I unplugged my computer's power cord to move it, unaware that it was in the middle of an update. After that, I couldn't access any files on my D drive, and it couldn't be scanned using CHKDSK. The only solution I could find to get it working again was to zero-format the drive, and then partition it the same way it was before it was corrupted. I also used a recovery program called "Recuva" to move all files to an external drive to be transferred back onto the D drive after the problem was resolved.

Jump forward 7 months, and today I couldn't access certain parts of my D drive until I used the Scan and Repair option on it.

I used GSmartControl to get a read on drive statistics right after the drive was reformatted the first time, and once again today. Here's what I got 7 months ago, compared to today. (I'm sorry that the older statistics aren't screenshots, I didn't feel comfortable to have that info stored on the unstable drive.)
Statistics tab: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VyK_pBzx2UOdXvwu5u7ADeC74rl0vHmf/view?usp=sharing
Attributes tab: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zgRgSfQY_IMomU953XjAHJDa9XvytxUV/view?usp=sharing

So with that information in mind, I've got a couple of questions:

Does this drive have any hope for further use, or should I get a replacement as soon as possible?

And if the answer for the above question is "yes", what are the risks if I keep using the current drive for a couple of months before I can spare the money for a new one? Could some of my work be corrupted without me noticing before I back it up on an external drive, or is my work safe as long as I keep backing it up regularly?

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

 

[Jonathan_Steadman]

Hi it does look like you got bad sectors on this drive.
You got 192 relocated bad sectors
You got 104 for pending and uncorrectable errors.
Bad sectors does not mean that your drive will fail but it means that you got read or write errors due to physical damage. (Scratch on the disk).
Personally if it was my external HDD I would replace it as it has my college data.
So I can say that you might want to replace it.
Jusy keep an eye on the attributes though if it increase in a short time then it indeed failing.
Pending sector count does not mean its went bad. Maybe you had an improper shutdown while writing data. So it will try to write or read the sector again. If that failes then it will be known as a bad sector. But if it passes then its a good sector.
Relocated bad sectors are bad sectors that is using backup sectors on your drive. The problem is when you run out of backup sectors.
When a bad sector is found then it will be ignored and no data will be written to it.
Uncorrectable means that it was unable to recover the sector.

Overall: If the drive has important data then it will be better to get it replaced. Bad sectors does not always mean that you HDD is failing. Just always backup as a drive with no bad sectors can fail. But the more bad sectors you have the lower disk space you have and you will get performance issues. When a bad sector is found then it will be ignored and no data will be written to it.

 

[Jonathan_Steadman]

Hi it does look like you got bad sectors on this drive.
You got 192 relocated bad sectors
You got 104 for pending and uncorrectable errors.
Bad sectors does not mean that your drive will fail but it means that you got read or write errors due to physical damage. (Scratch on the disk).
Personally if it was my external HDD I would replace it as it has my college data.
So I can say that you might want to replace it.
Jusy keep an eye on the attributes though if it increase in a short time then it indeed failing.
Pending sector count does not mean its went bad. Maybe you had an improper shutdown while writing data. So it will try to write or read the sector again. If that failes then it will be known as a bad sector. But if it passes then its a good sector.
Relocated bad sectors are bad sectors that is using backup sectors on your drive. The problem is when you run out of backup sectors.
When a bad sector is found then it will be ignored and no data will be written to it.
Uncorrectable means that it was unable to recover the sector.

Overall: If the drive has important data then it will be better to get it replaced. Bad sectors does not always mean that you HDD is failing. Just always backup as a drive with no bad sectors can fail. But the more bad sectors you have the lower disk space you have and you will get performance issues. When a bad sector is found then it will be ignored and no data will be written to it.

Please install Crystal disk info if you are still unsure.
Good means - Use the drive.
Caution means - Has bad sectors but be careful as it can fail.
Bad means - You hdd is failing. Replace it right now and backup.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

192 relocated bad sectors
104 pending and/or uncorrectable errors.

That drive is in the process of failing and you should be backing up in anticipation of full failure at any time. It could fail in the next 0.5 seconds or last another 10 years, either way, it's no longer reliable and will NEVER get any better than it is right now. Save yourself the headache and replace now.

 

[Satan-IR]

I agree, backup anything you can from the drive, it's almost dead.

Again as said above, there' no telling. It might continute to work like this for a while but or it might die tomorrow.

It had a good run while it lasted. Time for it to retire.

 

[Yrkano]

Please install Crystal disk info if you are still unsure.
Good means - Use the drive.
Caution means - Has bad sectors but be careful as it can fail.
Bad means - You hdd is failing. Replace it right now and backup.

Thank you for the suggestion and all of the info in your other message! I'll be trying this program out.

 

[Yrkano]

192 relocated bad sectors
104 pending and/or uncorrectable errors.

That drive is in the process of failing and you should be backing up in anticipation of full failure at any time. It could fail in the next 0.5 seconds or last another 10 years, either way, it's no longer reliable and will NEVER get any better than it is right now. Save yourself the headache and replace now.

That's good to know, thank you for the advice! I won't be relying on this drive, now that I know how unstable it is.

 

[USAFRet]

No matter what SMART or any other report or software tells you....backup backup backup.
From Day 1 out of the box.
A drive can die at any time, often quite suddenly.

 

[Yrkano]

I agree, backup anything you can from the drive, it's almost dead.

Again as said above, there' no telling. It might continute to work like this for a while but or it might die tomorrow.

It had a good run while it lasted. Time for it to retire.

I guess that's it for trusting this HDD. Thank you for helping me avoid a possible disaster in the future!

 

[Yrkano]

No matter what SMART or any other report or software tells you....backup backup backup.
From Day 1 out of the box.
A drive can die at any time, often quite suddenly.

Thank you, very true. I was luckily let off with a warning the first time I had a problem with my drive, so I now back up thoroughly and often.

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you, very true. I was luckily let off with a warning the first time I had a problem with my drive, so I now back up thoroughly and often.

Age of my last 3 dead drives:
HDD at 5 weeks old
HDD at 7 months old
SSD at 3 years old

 

[Satan-IR]

I guess that's it for trusting this HDD. Thank you for helping me avoid a possible disaster in the future!

No problem. As said above, all drives fail, sooner or later. Only way to avoid losing data is proper backup from the get go.