[SOLVED] Reallocated Sector Warning

[trekkedout]

I have a Toshiba HDTC940XK3CA external hard drive and CrystalDriveInfo is showing a Reallocated Sector Warning with a raw value of 8. I ran Toshiba's Diagnostic tools full test and it passed. I also did the diagnostic tools 6 months ago and the raw data was 8 then as well. It is still in the limited warranty period so my question is is the drive failing since the number has remain low and the same for 6 months? Since it passed the diagnostic tool I am wary of returning it and getting a refurbished one as a replacement that may even a higher count and passed their tests.

 

[USAFRet]

Data storage - The real valuable part is your data on the drive.
That physical drive is trivially replaceable, either warranty or buy something new.

Your particular drive could go from "8 reallocated sectors" to completely dead by this time tomorrow. Or it may last another year or two.

Reallocated sectors means that it has found some, and moved that data to places that are "not bad".


So....institute a good backup routine, and use hat drive until it actually dies.
When it does die, get a new drive and recover from the backup.

 

[fzabkar]

It may be that the drive is counting reallocated logical sectors (LBAs) rather than reallocated physical sectors, in which case your drive has recorded 1 bad physical sector.

 

[USAFRet]

It may be that the drive is counting reallocated logical sectors (LBAs) rather than reallocated physical sectors, in which case your drive has recorded 1 bad physical sector.

My personal opinion...1, 8, 300, or 0 bad sectors is irrelevant. Storage devices can die at any time, and if you wait until "bad sectors" are being reported, you've waited too long.

Always have a known good backup and know how to recover it.

 

[popatim]

Always have a known good backup and know how to recover it.

Best advice right there!

 

[Mario Italia]

Get a new harddrive.



Those errors can't be fixed if they are physical which means your HDD has a real dead sector which couldn't be repaired.



Usually HHDs as well as SSD have spare sectors so they can handle a few bad sectors. But with HDD as soon as it starts with one, more will follow.

 

[fzabkar]

I would run a full surface scan with a tool such as Victoria or HDDScan. Look for any "slow" sectors.

http://hdd.by/victoria/
https://hddscan.com/

 

[Mario Italia]

I would run a full surface scan with a tool such as Victoria or HDDScan. Look for any "slow" sectors.

http://hdd.by/victoria/
https://hddscan.com/

Such programs can't fix a dead sector but mark it offline so the OS won't write anything to it.

And this is not the actual issue; the real problem is that once your HDD developes bad sectors.......will...let's just say it's an early warning that your hdd is failing.

 

[fzabkar]

If there are no slow sectors, I would feel more confident about continuing to use the HDD. The OP has to decide whether 1 reallocated physical sector (?) is preferable to a refurbished warranty replacement HDD with an unknown history. That's a tough call, IMHO. As it is now, the drive has run for 6 months without developing additional defects.

 

[Mario Italia]

If there are no slow sectors, I would feel more confident about continuing to use the HDD. The OP has to decide whether 1 reallocated physical sector (?) is preferable to a refurbished warranty replacement HDD with an unknown history. That's a tough call, IMHO. As it is now, the drive has run for 6 months without developing additional defects.

I had an external Adata 4tb that didn't last for 4 months when it started to develop one bad sector, so I replaced it under warranty .