trying to save old hard drive, Test results included

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allanmcnish

allanmcnish

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I accidentally dropped my WD elements 320GB then gave it to local repair as no warranty was left. Now I want to keep the drive and please dont care about protecting the data and i want to experiment a little.

I ran SMART, HD Tune error scan, HDD regenerator, and also WD life guard quick test which failed after 8 seconds on my drive after i got it from repairs.. have a look below.

I have doubts on how to best use this drive now?

1. I assume the reallocated sectors are pulled from spare sectors? as the usable size looks the same.. so if no more spares left then can i just cut off the entire bad sector cylinder and use the rest of the drive with less storage capacity? burry them in a hidden partition so they wont be accessed anymore?

2. Are the limits of this drive saturated? or how long till it does.

3. Should i write it with zeros first then use HDD regenerator as it will remove current partition i guess? so i might have better chance with dealing with bad sectors in start?

what should i do.. i appreciate your help very much.

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10s526g.png
2hclssk.png

2h8cr3t.png

these are before and after regeneration.
 
Solution
Spectre694
1) no hard drives control the location through the firmware can't change that.
2) Not yet but once bad sectors begin appearing they will continue to appear until the drive dies. There is no way to predict how much longer that drive will last.
3) it could last a little longer no guarantee there though it will go out sooner rather than later.

Fridge magnet donor: Drive is going out and soon the only use for it will be to take the magnet out and stick it to the fridge.
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allanmcnish

allanmcnish

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come on guys i need answers in reference of 1,2,3. and many thanks for the quick reply and i know the disk is showing signs where u usually replace it but i dont want to.

Instead i want to clip off the bad sectors from the partition and never access them.. not just perticular bad sector but adjacent cylinders too.. can you help me with that? also whats Fridge magnet donor?
 
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Spectre694

Spectre694

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1) no hard drives control the location through the firmware can't change that.
2) Not yet but once bad sectors begin appearing they will continue to appear until the drive dies. There is no way to predict how much longer that drive will last.
3) it could last a little longer no guarantee there though it will go out sooner rather than later.

Fridge magnet donor: Drive is going out and soon the only use for it will be to take the magnet out and stick it to the fridge.
 
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Solution
allanmcnish

allanmcnish

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So i cant use specific sectors and put them in unallocated partition space? I only need to add blocks twice as first half of row and then in middle somewhere.. and if that doesnt let me create 1 then i can make 2 usable partitions and left bad physical sectors were marked as unpartitioned...that cant happen?

yea thats why i wanna logically group bad sectors in no access partition if possible

My hope came from here http://diligent.tripod.com/ninelives.htm
guy used this trick to mark bad sectors but still the process is very new to me...

I know people dont wanna go through long posts as many idiots like me post before searching too much but i did it to confirm the steps i need to do.. like format the drive or put zeros everywhere then partition and use HDD reg. again?
 
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allanmcnish

allanmcnish

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umm... "Selling" :D

Once i know its safe to use for a 4-5 couple of months i will put it on ebay or something.
Also the speeds look just fine.. its very responsive upto 30MBps in USB 2.0... there's just few files corrupted i would like to keep their cylinder numbers out of main partition and use the rest of the drive with less storage space.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Selling a 320GB drive, that was dropped, and now has known bad sectors?
Really? Really??

Fridge. Magnet. Donor.
 
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allanmcnish

allanmcnish

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I am using my smallest hope in keeping that drive alive and there you 2 are doing their best in planning the funeral for my drive.

Besides I dropped it from about a feet and the back cover got apart...
So if the drive got reading errors i would like to think the USB connection part must have got disturbed hence the reading errors are in beginning of the drive which got away once i used HDD regenerator..still few left.
In case of accident the damage should be in random sectors why in the start.
even if they are physically damaged then why not just stop head accessing the whole cylinder(s) by blocking the entire ring of those sectors in hard drive surface?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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I'll give you $3 for it, if you pay shipping.
 
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allanmcnish

allanmcnish

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thats the thing.. not all ebay users works as moderators on tomshardware.. plus how you gonna know the drive is bad once i make the whole sectors look green in HD tune if possible ofc.

Also i dont want my mum chasing me with a broom once she finds out the magnet... Instead i will pack it in original packing and give it to a random guy and make it his lucky day ;)
 
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allanmcnish

allanmcnish

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Just tell me any way you think there might be then i will wait for other members to say their ways and using the best method Eeny, meeny, miny, moe I will give it a try. So if u think it can work i will assume it will work :)
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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So you want to scam someone, selling a known broken drive.
The label on it says 320GB. Does it actually give 320GB?
If not, and you do not disclose its condition, then you sir, are a scammer.

Please don't do this.
It's a dead drive. Let it go.
 
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allanmcnish

allanmcnish

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Naa i am not a scammer but the opposite. And i would mention exactly how much space is available on it and that it has been repaired, out of warranty already and will give a demonstration to the user that it performs well as of now.. you would be surprised how many people like to go for 2nd hand products in India.

But from your response it looks like i am being overconfident.. which btw came from current performance of the drive and i do have a hope it will work for atleast 4-5 months.. so i wont sell it but will experiment instead.

If anyone can recommend me the correct steps i would apperetiate it..
I.E. should i format drive 1st then use HDD reg. or should i fill it will zeros then use HDD reg. and for the resulting bad sectors i will try to adjust them into allocated space.. google can fill my lack of knowledge in the latter part.
 
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