Storage Solutions My HDD woes

J

jampack

Adept
I have got a WD 250 gb 16mb buffer hdd that i bought back in May 2007.
It has been holding up ok till a few days back when my windows became slow and started behaving strangely.
I feared a virus attack inspite of using KIS and tried to backup all the data and start afresh. When i was trying to backup the data, i couldnt copy some of the files and windows would give error messages of being unable to copy.
I tried to check the file in utorrent and when force rechecked, it gave error "couldnt find disk sectors" or something like that.
Then i downloaded HDtune and ran error scan.
attachment.php

It now shows a block as damaged. I tried to reformat but it still shows the same area as damaged.
What to do guys? :huh:

Regards
 

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so i had decided to go for rma and downloaded WD diagnostic tools as advised on the site.
first it could not complete the scan, but after writing zeros on the whole drive, it can complete the extended test now, and hdtune also gives no error.

here are the screenshots of error scan and benchmark.
i m totally confused.
should i go for rma and if so, what r the things to take care of while going in for an RMA.

please help:huh:

regards
 

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Most probably, it's hiding the bad sector from your OS now as a bad sector cannot be repaired (I think). Personally, I wouldn't keep a drive after bad sectors have cropped up, but now that it's not shown, I dunno if RMA will be accepted.
 
Maybe you can try talking to your dealer for getting it replaced? I don't really know the options cos whenever I see a bad sector in a HDD with warranty, I straight way give it to the dealer/ disti for RMA. In your case, since the bad sector no longer shows up, I'm not sure what one should do.

Anyone else can confirm that bad sectors cannot be repaired? And if my belief that one bad sector means the HDD cannot be trusted for data is correct?
 
masterz, This is what exactly i want to do.
But the WD diagnostics utility isnt reporting any error now.
Also, i didnt have a very good experience with the WD distri from whom i had bought it. Dont think he would be of any help.
Would have to contact WD directly for RMA.
 
Naga said:
Anyone else can confirm that bad sectors cannot be repaired? And if my belief that one bad sector means the HDD cannot be trusted for data is correct?
Click to expand...

In some cases a full format will repair bad sectors and drive will work without any problem for yrs.
 
Thks for the helpful replies.
What does the hdtune diagnostic screenshot convey of the health of hdd? Is it of any significance here?
Screenie is in previous attached thumbnail
 
jampack said:
But the WD diagnostics utility isnt reporting any error now.
Click to expand...

This is a dos based utility ?

I think the HD firmware might be hiding it, but there must be some info in that util that will expressly show there was a problem with it.

HDtune wont help here.
 
@blr_p
i used the windows based WD diagnostics utility.
At an earlier attempt, it couldnt complete the test.
but after writing zeros, the test was successfuly completed without any errors.
 
just give it for rma.

you wont have any issues. there've been people who've successfully given perfectly fine working hds for rma
 
So i should just call the WD service number and they will collect the hdd?
what should i tell that what problem i am experiencing?
and i hope that they give me a new hdd as a exchange. will they?
any other things to take care of while going in for rma?
 
-=Unreal=- said:
In some cases a full format will repair bad sectors and drive will work without any problem for yrs.
Click to expand...

A full format doesn't repair, it hides the bad sectors. But, yes, it might work for years. But what are the odds, say if we compare the reliability of a healthy disk and one with bad sectors? I assume it will be more at risk. Any statistics, for or against, anyone??
 
jampack said:
So i should just call the WD service number and they will collect the hdd?

what should i tell that what problem i am experiencing?

and i hope that they give me a new hdd as a exchange. will they?

any other things to take care of while going in for rma?
Click to expand...

1. yep

2. dont fret over it soo much. just tell them that you are getting bad sectors.

3. afaik you get a new hd with wd
 
Naga said:
A full format doesn't repair, it hides the bad sectors. But, yes, it might work for years. But what are the odds, say if we compare the reliability of a healthy disk and one with bad sectors? I assume it will be more at risk. Any statistics, for or against, anyone??
Click to expand...
No, it(formatting) do repairs bad sectors as i said in some cases.And in most cases reliability is same as a healthy Hdd.
Data errors can also cause bad sectors,like when only partial data is written into a sector with missing ECC (checksum) due to sudden power loss, Hdd firmware mark this as bad sector.In this case formatting will repair the sector n its not different frm a healthy disk.In the case of physical damage(caused by hdd head) particular sector is marked as bad and a new spare sector is used in its place,again this hdd is not different frm that of an healthy hdd in terms of reliability.
Weakening of magnetic field can cause bad sectors and it usually spreads,formatting can isolate these sectors n drive will work,but it will fail eventually,new hardisk rarely causes this type of weakening.

In the case of jampack its only one bad sector and its already masked by the hdd firmware ,so i dont know wt will happen if he sends his drive for RMA,i think they will send back the same drive.
To be on safe side backup all ur data and RMA the drive,u may get new drive if u r lucky:)

Note- Some of us may never find out that our hardisk hav bad sectors,because firmware hides it and replaces it with a spare sector without showing any problem:)
 
There was a post here sometime back on a similar HDD thread that spoke about some table that gets updated when those bad sectors are marked up.
 
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