Question HDD bad - - - on a scale of 0-10 how much should I panic ?

[Killerind]

Drive Model: Hitachi HUA722020ALA331 (2TB)
This was initially used as a primary storage drive, later repurposed into a cold storage drive, and currently operates as a backup drive. How bad does its current health report look for the use case?

https://imgur.com/a/f9Z72pF

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

If it's only used for storage, I'd start swapping any data to a new drive ASAP. Whils the drive may not failright now (as in this moment) with such health readings, it's likely it will fail. Is there any notable noise from the drive? Like a ticking sound?

 

[Killerind]

Hey there,

If it's only used for storage, I'd start swapping any data to a new driver ASAP. Whils the drive may not failright now (as in this moment) with such health readings, it's likely it will fail. Is there any notable noise from the drive? Like a ticking sound?

No abnormal sounds.
It only has data written to it once every couple months and data is almost never read from it so it is a bit strange to see a bad health status.
I've just unplugged it until I can get a replacement.
Thanks for your reply.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

No abnormal sounds.
It only has data written to it once every couple months and data is almost never read from it so it is a bit strange to see a bad health status.
I've just unplugged it until I can get a replacement.
Thanks for your reply.

You're very welcome. Let us know how it goes.

 

[USAFRet]

Just like every other drive on the planet, this one is going to die.
But...this one is far closer to the date of death than most.

Is it still under warranty?
Is this the only repository of some of the data?

 

[Rokinamerica]

Bad enough to make sure it is backed up so when you have to replace it, you lose no data.

 

[Grobe]

Is it still under warranty?

Power on hours reads 11EB, translated into decimal numbers --> 4587 hours, but doesn't know the age nor what kind of warranty if any. So, probably not under warranty.

 

[USAFRet]

Power on hours reads 11EB, translated into decimal numbers --> 4587 hours, but doesn't know the age nor what kind of warranty if any. So, probably not under warranty.

4,587 hours is not even a year of 24/7 power on.

 

[MWink64]

There's two ways to look at it. If this is just a backup drive, and everything it contains is still on another fully functional drive, it's time to act, not panic. As for this drive, it's a goner. With that SMART report, it's very bad. It's even tripped SMART, which doesn't even happen in many cases of catastrophic failure. I would classify this drive as unsalvageable and useless. It is already eating your data. It has already detected hundreds of bad sectors and I can virtually guarantee they will continue to spread. I wouldn't even consider trusting a drive that has much more than 10 (non-spreading) bad sectors and no other failing attributes. I strongly advise you to replace this drive immediately (but don't panic).

 

[Killerind]

Just like every other drive on the planet, this one is going to die.
But...this one is far closer to the date of death than most.

Is it still under warranty?
Is this the only repository of some of the data?

Warranty is out of the picture. It was a gift from my father. New in the anti-static bag but no receipts.
It was a secondary drive for my PC which turned into a backup drive (photos, videos, personal and business documents). Been sitting in cold storage for over a year and was recently shipped to me.
Less than 1 year of lifetime use.

 

[Killerind]

I had no idea that NVMe prices spiked while I wasn't looking.
I'm currently in China and looking at the secondhand market. There's a WD SN750 4TB brand new with warranty for 62USD.
I know, too good to be true, so any ideas on how I can wipe it before it interacts with the rest of my PC?
Any other considerations that I should be aware of would also be helpful.

 

[MWink64]

Warranty is out of the picture. It was a gift from my father. New in the anti-static bag but no receipts.
It was a secondary drive for my PC which turned into a backup drive (photos, videos, personal and business documents). Been sitting in cold storage for over a year and was recently shipped to me.
Less than 1 year of lifetime use.

Some companies default to using the date of manufacture to determine warranty coverage. Even without a receipt, it may be worth looking into.

I had no idea that NVMe prices spiked while I wasn't looking.
I'm currently in China and looking at the secondhand market. There's a WD SN750 4TB brand new with warranty for 62USD.
I know, too good to be true, so any ideas on how I can wipe it before it interacts with the rest of my PC?
Any other considerations that I should be aware of would also be helpful.

You know it's too good to be true, so why are you considering it? There's nearly zero chance that drive actually has a 4TB capacity. It's likely been modified to pretend to hold 4TB. If you insist on wasting your money, run something like h2testw to verify its actual capacity, and pray there are no nasties baked into the firmware.

 

[USAFRet]

There's a WD SN750 4TB brand new with warranty for 62USD.

$62 USD does not buy a 4TB NVMe drive that actually has 4TB of space, and has a warranty from WD.
In any market.

 

[Killerind]

Some companies default to using the date of manufacture to determine warranty coverage. Even without a receipt, it may be worth looking into.



You know it's too good to be true, so why are you considering it? There's nearly zero chance that drive actually has a 4TB capacity. It's likely been modified to pretend to hold 4TB. If you insist on wasting your money, run something like h2testw to verify its actual capacity, and pray there are no nasties baked into the firmware.

I'll look into it. Thanks.

I'm rolling the dice on a 4TB 990 Pro instead. $137. Brand new with warranty. The platform that the transaction is taking place on will give me a full refund if I get a fake. The seller has also given the guarantee and won't dispute the refund.
I plan to wipe the drive on Linux before taking it to Samsung magician for an authenticity check. I'll also do a firmware update on the drive just incase.
Either I get lucky with a great deal or a full refund and some experience.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm rolling the dice on a 4TB 990 Pro instead. $137.

Either I get lucky with a great deal or a full refund and some experience.

Or, you flail about wasting your time on a known scam.

A real 4TB 990 Pro is at least 3 times that price.

 

[Killerind]

Or, you flail about wasting your time on a known scam.

A real 4TB 990 Pro is at least 3 times that price.

I very much understand.
I'm looking at it as a learning opportunity instead of flailing around if you can understand my POV.
If it shows up with a fake box or sticker then sure that's a waste of time but if it is a 99% replica I'll learn a thing or two.
I.e. operating Linux, inspecting physical memory controllers etc.
Worst case scenario, I'll learn how to get a rootkit off the BIOS but what are the chances that the drive will have an infected firmware which can spread to the UEFI? Genuinely asking since I've heard about rootkits but have no experience or in-depth knowledge about them.

 

[USAFRet]

I very much understand.
I'm looking at it as a learning opportunity instead of flailing around if you can understand my POV.
If it shows up with a fake box or sticker then sure that's a waste of time but if it is a 99% replica I'll learn a thing or two.
I.e. operating Linux, inspecting physical memory controllers etc.
Worst case scenario, I'll learn how to get a rootkit off the BIOS but what are the chances that the drive will have an infected firmware which can spread to the UEFI? Genuinely asking since I've heard about rootkits but have no experience or in-depth knowledge about them.

It is known crap.
Fake.
Potentially malicious software in a hidden partition.

Why waste the time, and tie up your money until it is refunded?

 

[Killerind]

It is known crap.
Fake.
Potentially malicious software in a hidden partition.

Why waste the time, and tie up your money until it is refunded?

You are correct.

 

[DSzymborski]

What platform are we talking about? Few offer any kind of actual refund outside of eBay.

I certainly wouldn't want to count on the word of a seller who is selling a fake product.

 

[Killerind]

Translation-Idle Fish. Backed by Alipay. Chinese eCommerce giant. I make the purchase. Alipay holds onto it. After I receive the goods and both parties provide evaluations of the transaction, the funds get released to the seller.

I have since cancelled the transaction and paid off the seller for the shipping which is like $2.

I'll find a way to save up for a few months to get a replacement drive. Hopefully prices drop soon.

What platform are we talking about? Few offer any kind of actual refund outside of eBay.

I certainly wouldn't want to count on the word of a seller who is selling a fake product.

 

[MWink64]

I'll look into it. Thanks.

I'm rolling the dice on a 4TB 990 Pro instead. $137. Brand new with warranty. The platform that the transaction is taking place on will give me a full refund if I get a fake. The seller has also given the guarantee and won't dispute the refund.
I plan to wipe the drive on Linux before taking it to Samsung magician for an authenticity check. I'll also do a firmware update on the drive just incase.
Either I get lucky with a great deal or a full refund and some experience.

Don't waste your time or money. Don't trust guarantees, especially from obvious scammers. You're simply not going to get that lucky. It IS a scam.

Doing a firmware update on a drive requires you to actually have appropriate firmware and a way to apply it.

I very much understand.
I'm looking at it as a learning opportunity instead of flailing around if you can understand my POV.
If it shows up with a fake box or sticker then sure that's a waste of time but if it is a 99% replica I'll learn a thing or two.
I.e. operating Linux, inspecting physical memory controllers etc.
Worst case scenario, I'll learn how to get a rootkit off the BIOS but what are the chances that the drive will have an infected firmware which can spread to the UEFI? Genuinely asking since I've heard about rootkits but have no experience or in-depth knowledge about them.

I understand your attitude of looking at it as a learning opportunity but it's not worth it, especially at that price. There's zero chance it's a 99% replica. At best, it will likely be a 256GB drive of questionable quality. At worst, it could be downright dangerous.

No offense but your comment about learning how to get a rootkit off the BIOS demonstrates your lack of understanding about these things. This is something even most of those with knowledge wouldn't mess with.

The chances of the drive coming with malware probably aren't super high (I don't actually know) but the potential danger is. For example, if the drive came infected with LogoFAIL, and your system was vulnerable (as an enormous number of machines are), the resulting infection could be practically impossible to remove or even detect. Booting to Linux, wiping the drive, etc. may not be enough to prevent it. The infection may take root as soon as they machine is powered on with the drive connected. It just isn't worth the risk.

Translation-Idle Fish. Backed by Alipay. Chinese eCommerce giant. I make the purchase. Alipay holds onto it. After I receive the goods and both parties provide evaluations of the transaction, the funds get released to the seller.

I have since cancelled the transaction and paid off the seller for the shipping which is like $2.

I'll find a way to save up for a few months to get a replacement drive. Hopefully prices drop soon.

It was smart to cancel the order. Don't get suckered into these kinds of obvious scams. That's just too cheap for a good 4TB drive. At last year's lows, you might have been able to get a very low end 4TB for that price. Prices have risen roughly 50-100% since then.