Replaced Faulty HDD with New One but still seeing S.M.A.R.T Message saying Drive is Bad.

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ganymede-

ganymede-

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Jul 25, 2008
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Hi,

Two weeks ago when I turned on my computer I saw a message during the POST process that read like this: Port 2: WDC3003FZEX, S.M.A.R.T. Status Bad, Backup and Replace. Press F1 to Run Setup. I pressed F1 and it brought me to the BIOS that I exited out of and into the computer operating system and everything loaded fine.

I decided to Google the WDC code with the attached numbers and it took me to the Amazon page showing the Western Digital Black 3TB Performance HDD - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch that I had purchased only three months earlier. Then I looked up S.M.A.R.T. and what it meant. I found out that it was a warning alert that something was wrong with my hard drive, and that it was going to fail at some point in the future, could be tomorrow or two months from now, it read. I fortunately had almost the entire drive backed up on another drive because I was only able to move a couple large folders off the Wester Digital drive before it stopped functioning. So the S.M.A.R.T alert had been totally spot on right!

I called Western Digital customer service and I they replaced the drive with a re-certified drive, in another words a refurbished one. Even though the my hard drive was only a few months old there was zero possibility of acquiring a new drive. So I received the new drive a few days ago and immediately after installation I moved 2TB of data to this new drive. Today, this morning, I saw another S.M.A.R.T alert showing the same warning as indicated above in bold. S.M.A.R.T is now saying that this drive is going to fail too.

There is no way that there is something wrong with this new drive already, or it seems so unlikely, right? So there must be something else wrong with my system? I am wondering if the S.M.A.R.T system in showing me a false positive warning sign for the replacement Western Digtial drive when there is nothing wrong with it. I am guessing the S.M.A.R.T system is part of the MB system, so does that mean that I might need a new MB?

I am totally blindsided by this whole thing. I do not how to proceed with this problem and I could really use sage advice on my situation, like what I should do I next. Thank u for taking the time to read about my problem(s), and I am grateful for any good feedback.
 
Solution
SuperSoph_WD
Hello, ganymede-!

I'm really sorry to hear about your bad experience with the WD Black drive! :( This seems very unfortunate that your replacement drive is giving you the same errors. I'd advise you to get in touch with our customer support again and let them know about it.
Meanwhile, I'd strongly recommend you to backup that 2 TB of data elsewhere and proceed with the troubleshooting. I think you should start by changing the SATA cable connecting the WD Black and even try changing the SATA port.
If you have access to another computer, I'd also suggest you to try plugging the HDD there and see what the SMART data results will show there.
It's highly recommended to use WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostic tool to test the health and SMART...
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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Jul 30, 2014
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Hello, ganymede-!

I'm really sorry to hear about your bad experience with the WD Black drive! :( This seems very unfortunate that your replacement drive is giving you the same errors. I'd advise you to get in touch with our customer support again and let them know about it.
Meanwhile, I'd strongly recommend you to backup that 2 TB of data elsewhere and proceed with the troubleshooting. I think you should start by changing the SATA cable connecting the WD Black and even try changing the SATA port.
If you have access to another computer, I'd also suggest you to try plugging the HDD there and see what the SMART data results will show there.
It's highly recommended to use WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostic tool to test the health and SMART status of your WD drive.
Here's a link to the software on our Support page: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=4zWMtk

WD Support contacts: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=EwTZUt

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting and SMART results, please!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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ganymede-

ganymede-

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Jul 25, 2008
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Hey SuperSoph_WD,

Thanks for responding to my post. I feel fortunate that I found myself a Western Digital specialist w drive issues. With that said, I am disappointed that a BLACK series drive would fail me after just three months. It was a real inconvenience, but at least I was able to save all my data, mostly because it had been PREVIOUSLY backed up, because once the S.M.A.R.T alert warned me of the imminent failure of the drive, I had only a small window to transfer data from the BLACK drive to another location before the drive stopped functioning.

I clicked on the link you provided to use the WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostic tool to test the health and SMART status of your WD drive. When I opened up the diagnostic program is showed the S.M.A.R.T status as PASS for all my drives, and I took that as a auspicious start. The QUICK TEST, however, would not work not matter what I did. I kept receiving an error message that read: Error 2 - Interrupted by soft or hard reset. Even after multiple reboots I still got the same message. The good news, however, is that the EXTENDED TEST did work and over the course of about 13 hours the test was completed and it showed a green check mark. Now after multiple reboots I have not seen the same S.M.A.R.T message warning about a problem with the Western Digital BLACK drive.

I am hoping that the S.M.A.R.T alert I received with the new BLACK drive was a misread and that the new drive is stable. Still, I am on edge about the BLACK drive and I am backing up pretty often which is really a pain. I need to have a strong conviction that this drive will not fail because at the very least it is only a week old and should be dependable.

If I have another problem with the BLACK drive, how do I contact you through the forum? Is there a way to send you a message directly if I have a question(s)? If I have issues in the future I rather deal directly with someone who is a Western Digital rep. Let me know. Thanks again for your assistance.
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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Jul 30, 2014
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Hey there again, ganymede-!

I'm sorry to see that you are disappointed with your current WD Black HDD! However, if it's not passing both tests in the Data LifeGuard Diagnostic utility, I'd strongly recommend you to get in touch with our customer support again! :(
However, check the SATA cable and try connecting the WD Black with a different one. If you have access to another computer, I'd also try plugging the HDD there and see how it will perform. (Even try running the DLG tool there as well) Another thing you should check is the SATA controller/chipset drivers from your motherboard manufacturer's website. Make sure you've updated those as well.
I'd strongly recommend you to do backups on a regular basis, regardless of the HDD model. Having a copy of your data will definitely give you some peace of mind and it will also protect you from a potential data loss in the future.

You can PM me if you have any concerns whatsoever, you should be able to see the message link under my profile picture. Once you open my profile there's a 'Send a private message' button as well.

Hope this helps you. Let me know how it goes! :)
SuperSoph_WD
 
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ganymede-

ganymede-

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Jul 25, 2008
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Hi SuperSoph WD:

I think you breezed over my reply based on your response. Yes, I disappointed that my WD Black drive failed after only three months, but the new drive appears to be stable. I did run the tests you suggested via the link you provided. The results were as follows: The QUICK TEST would not work not matter what I did. I kept receiving an error message that read: Error 2 - Interrupted by soft or hard reset. Even after multiple reboots I still got the same message. The good news, however, is that the EXTENDED TEST DID WORK and over the course of about 13 hours the test was completed and IT SHOWED A GREEN CHECKMARK. Now after multiple reboots I have NOT seen the same S.M.A.R.T message warning about a problem with the Western Digital BLACK drive.

I am hoping that the S.M.A.R.T alert I received with the new BLACK drive was a misread and that the new drive is stable. Still, I am on little on edge about the BLACK drive and I am backing up pretty often which is a bit of inconvenience but I rather be safe.

Since I received a GREEN CHECK MARK following the EXTENDED TEST, I would assume that the drive is in fact working correctly and is NOT likely to fail. DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT, please let me know since you are an expert with the WD drives. I look forward to your response to this post. Again, thank you for your help.

 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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Jul 30, 2014
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Hey there again, ganymede-!

As I mentioned, it's probably best to try a couple of more troubleshooting methods! The WD Black is supposed to pass both the QUICK and the EXTENDED tests. I'm afraid that you're not safe if the HDD is not passing the QUICK one. Please, consider replacing the HDD again and send an RMA request to our customer support. I'm not sure why the quick one is failing, so I'd suggest you to try plugging the WD Black in another computer, and perform the test from there again. If the test fails again, better get in touch with these guys: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=iw7BdI

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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