Old hard disk.

[android171]

I had a WD caviar green 1TB 32mb cache 5400rpm SATA II But it became really slow, Now I have bought a new WD10EZEX caviar blue 1TB. Could you suggest me what to do with my old hard disk ? I think its C partition's sectors has gone bad. But D partition is good. Crystal disk info is showing CAUTION.

 

[BadActor]

I would take it apart and play with the magnets!

 

[azaran]

If the disk is having problems, which Crystal Disk seems to show, then its not worth using. A drive on its way out is not something you want to be storing data on. Like Badactor said, pull it apart for the magnets. Thats really the only worthwhile thing you can get out of it at this point.

 

[USAFRet]

Fridge magnet donor.

 

[johnnyb105]

lOl

 

[FunSurfer]

To OP - I am investigating the correlation between PSU quality and HDD longevity, can you please post how long the broken HDD was working and your CPU, GFX and PSU specs?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there android171,

Sorry that you are facing some issues with your WD drive. 🙁
As it has some bad sectors, I would say that you can use it for storing only unimportant data as it could fail at any time.
One thing you can try is to write zeros on it and retest. Sometimes, this can slow down the dying process. You can do so with WD's DLG(you can test it with that one as well) tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=UStFxK

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[android171]

It was showing caution for about 6 months. But I took it for granted. Then started problem in boot-process.
My CPU is i5-2500, Graphics - Nvidia GTX 750Ti, PSU- 500Watts.
P.S - PSU isn't of good quality.

 

[android171]

Hi there android171,

Sorry that you are facing some issues with your WD drive. 🙁
As it has some bad sectors, I would say that you can use it for storing only unimportant data as it could fail at any time.
One thing you can try is to write zeros on it and retest. Sometimes, this can slow down the dying process. You can do so with WD's DLG(you can test it with that one as well) tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=UStFxK

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

I ran a Quick test.
"Quick test on Drive 2 did not complete!
Status Code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 97
(unknown test)
SMART self-test on did not complete on drive 2!"
This message appeared.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Yeah, this means that there are multiple bad sectors on the drive and it can fail at any time. 🙁 You can use it for storing really non important data.

D_Know_WD

 

[android171]

Yeah, this means that there are multiple bad sectors on the drive and it can fail at any time. 🙁 You can use it for storing really non important data.

D_Know_WD

Would it help if I write zero to it?
Can it be be used for backups?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Sometimes it could help(logical/software bad sectors), sometimes it won't(physical ones).
It will not hurt to try and retest.
You can use it for back ups as long as it operates just fine and you have the data stored somewhere else.

D_Know_WD

 

[android171]

I think it has failed. It has stopped showing 😉
May be it is because of the failed drive or the SATA cable.

No it didn't LOL

 

[android171]

Sometimes it could help(logical/software bad sectors), sometimes it won't(physical ones).
It will not hurt to try and retest.
You can use it for back ups as long as it operates just fine and you have the data stored somewhere else.

D_Know_WD

I wrote zero on the disk and after it still showing caution on crystal disk info. Although there were two errors before but now it's showing "Uncorrectable sector count current : 199 worst :199 Threshold : 0 Raw values : 0000000000AA".

 

[D_Know_WD]

I believe the drive has 170 uncorrectable sectors(the tool most probably reports hex values). My guess would be that the drive may fail soon. 🙁

D_Know_WD

 

[android171]

Well, in that case I need to buy one more new hard disk. I think caviar green is better for storing data. Any suggestions?

 

[azaran]

Well, in that case I need to buy one more new hard disk. I think caviar green is better for storing data. Any suggestions?

Yes, not getting another Green. Go for a Blue or Black (5yr warranty) if you stick with Western Digital. Otherwise the Seagate desktop models would be a good alternative, also the HGST Deskstars have gotten great reviews on reliability.

 

[android171]

I'll buy caviar blue, Black makes too much noise.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Actually, the latest WD Blue and WD Black 1TB 7200 RPM drives have the same acoustics levels.
Check the spec sheets out:
WD Black: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=t0EZfw
WD Blue: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Ld5xod

D_Know_WD

 

[android171]

My friend bought a caviar blue HDD and it failed just after connecting for the first time. Then he got a caviar black after replacement, which has started showing CAUTION in less than a year.

 

[D_Know_WD]

That's unpleasant. 🙁
WD Black has 5 years of limited warranty. So, your friend's drive should be under warranty. As it is most probably failing, he can contact the place he got it from or WD's Support and eventually RMA it.

WD's Support: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=QIzZdz

D_Know_WD

 

[android171]

That's what I suggested him but first he is gonna have to move the data to another disk. That's pretty inconvenient.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Yeah it is.
If he can borrow a drive from somebody, he can clone the failing drive onto it. Wait for the replacement drive and clone the borrowed drive onto it.
As it is a WD drive, then he can try Acronis True Image WD edition: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=jMjcxg

D_Know_WD