[SOLVED] Reallocated sectors increasing very slowly ?

[GoldenPhoenix2006]

i have a 1TB 7200 rpm WD hdd.(762 gb of drive is free)
power on hours=10564
I ran CrystalDiskInfo around 7 months ago
Reallocated sectors count was 481. I kinda panicked but didnt gave much attention.
Checked today and found it rose to 483. In 6-7 months it rose by 2
So my ques: is storing data on this hdd safe?
I have my family photos stored on this hdd. But my parents are not buying a pen drive for creating a backup.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

The bad sectors on that drive will continue to increase until the drive becomes unusable.

You absolutely must backup it's contents to another HDD as soon as posible (pen drive not recommended for long-term storage) or you risk losing your photo collection.
Even if that HDD was perfect condition you should still keep it's contents backed up --- it's just common sense. It'll end in tears if you don't.

 

[USAFRet]

I have my family photos stored on this hdd. But my parents are not buying a pen drive for creating a backup.

Eventually it will die, and you will lose everything on that drive.

That might be next year, it might be this afternoon.

 

[Lafong]

You have about 160 gb occupied space.

You can buy a cheap 256 gb flash drive for 25 dollars.

Take your pick. Back stuff up or not.

 

[amidr]

The number of defective sectors on that disc will continue to rise until it is no longer useable. Even if the HDD was in fine shape, the contents should be backed up. It will eventually die, and you will lose everything on it.

 

[geofelt]

Hard drives are built with spare sectors.
I would not worry about drive failure because of spare sector reallocation.

But, anything can fail.
The rate is perhaps 1% per quarter.
Here are some statistics:

Hard Drive Reliability: A Look at HDD and SDD Failure Rates

We review the quarterly and lifetime failure rates for our 178,166 data drives and compare the failure rates of HDD and SSD boot drives.

www.backblaze.com

Or, you could have a user error and delete items,
or, you could have an electrical event or fire that damages the drive,
Or you could get hit with ransomware.

You really need some sort of EXTERNAL backup since those photos are irreplaceable.

A pen drive for backup is cheap insurance.

In the event of a failed or damaged hard drive, there are data recovery outfits that might be able to recover photos.
They are EXPENSIVE. Perhaps $500 or more.
Buy some cheap pen drive insurance.