Advice on Hard Drive failing S.M.A.R.T. test

DeadSonRisingxD · Nov 26, 2015

Hi all!

I did a S.M.A.R.T. test on my 4TB Hitachi hard drive. For some time it has been a pain to say the least, with it randomly reconnecting on a constant basis while in use. Dreadfully slow transfer rate at times, and video freezing and being all glitchy, but found these videos worked perfectly on other drives.

At fear of my files, I've transferred to other drives, then completed a S.M.A.R.T. test on my drive, the health status is currently marked as "Caution".

The results say there are errors with Reallocated Sector Count and Current Pending Sector Count.

In lamens terms, could someone explain what this error is? And can it be fixed? or is Black Friday coming to the rescue?

Thanks, Ryan.

thor220 · Nov 26, 2015

Reallocated sectors are parts of the disk that can no longer be read. They are usually imperfections in the disk. The problem with them is that once you have a few, they can start increasing in number. When the drive head is hovering over the imperfections, it could hit them. This leads to the creation of even more. The more you have the higher the risk.

If you are already getting issues like video stutter and poor performance, I would high recommend you request a replacement. If it's not under warranty, retire the drive.

gangrel · Nov 26, 2015

IIRC: a reallocated sector is one the controller marked as bad/unreadable. It's mapped in a spare; all drives maintain a percentage of sectors for this purpose.

Between this report and the fact that *you're* annoyed with performance problems that shouldn't be happening anyway...yes, I'd replace it, Black Friday or not. If you can get a good price, I'd replace it faster.

USAFRet · Nov 26, 2015

This drive will soon be a fridge magnet donor.
What happens to your data before that is up to you.

DeadSonRisingxD · Nov 26, 2015

Thanks you all! You have confirmed my fears! 5TB at £90. Don't mind if I do

Just one more question. Ironically one of the hard drives I backed my data on also has an error. Only a "Reallocated Sectors Count" error. the rest is fine including the "Current Pending Sector Count". Dying or not, clearly is a better shape than my 4TB. Should this be an immediate cause of concern? Can't say there has been any problems in particular I've noticed using it in the last couple months. Though about 2-4 months ago it did reconnect randomly a few times, but nothing since.

Thanks, Ryan

thor220 · Nov 26, 2015

If performance is good, a few relocated sectors aren't an issue. You only have to start worrying if you've got more than a handful or you see poor performance.

DeadSonRisingxD · Nov 26, 2015

Thank you

thor220 · Nov 26, 2015

DeadSonRisingxD :

No problem. Also note, there are programs like SpinRite that can actually recover reallocated sectors (only use on an empty drive or one with back-uped data). If a drive still performs well but has many reallocated sectors, programs like that can be of great use. Of course, SSDs are getting so cheap I don't know how much longer hard drives will even be viable for.

DeadSonRisingxD · Nov 26, 2015

Thank you! I did think of this idea, so will give it a go when my 5TB comes in. I would love to use SSD's but what holds me price on a ratio to their sizes. i have a lot of data to be stored. Depending how the Black Friday prices flirt with me, i might buy two 5TB's

thor220 · Nov 26, 2015

Yeah, Hard drives are dirt cheap this year. I expect SSDs to be 1 TB for less than $80 next year.

USAFRet · Nov 26, 2015

DeadSonRisingxD :

SSD for the OS and applications. Spinning drives for all that other stuff.
My main PC is now SSD only, except for a 3TB WD for a location to hold backups.

gangrel · Nov 26, 2015

If it's just for backups, it's tempting to consider a drive caddy, as long as it supports higher-speed USB 3. But yeah, the prices for SSDs is dropping, and will drop even more with the new drives hitting. Not sure we'll see 1 TB SSDs for $80...$200 would be a pretty major drop.

And 1 TB SSDs are kinda weird...you don't need that much for a system drive, usually (altho that's somewhat dependent on how many big apps you want to install), and it's too pricey for music, games files, etc. where speed isn't critical. So that size of SSD is somewhat hard to place in a home rig. Of course, if you're going for an Extreme Edition MB and processor...or a top Z170 MB, the overclock 6th gen i7, and DDR4...the TB SSD probably wouldn't be a big issue.

USAFRet · Nov 26, 2015

gangrel :

1TB SSD's are $200 today.
A year from now? Much less.

3 years ago, a 120GB SSD was $110, if you found it on sale. They're almost giving them away today.

gangrel · Nov 26, 2015

Mmm...newegg has OCZ Trion for $240, which is less than I'd thought, but that's not a very good drive, IIRC. Samsung 850 is still about $350.

Prices are almost linear with capacity these days, so the smaller drives are going by the wayside. The fixed cost (controller, packaging, assembly costs) kill their cost per GB. That's been an ongoing situation with HDDs; even 500 GB HDDs are pretty much foolish purchases. Even in laptop drives, the incremental cost of a 1 TB is real small, over a 500 GB.

A big question's gonna be, what will the new technologies, do, and will the TLC controllers give enough performance?

thor220 · Nov 26, 2015

You can get a 500 GB for $110 right now. It's entirely possible for an $80 TB SSD next year. It only seems weird right now but SSDs are going to become storage drives soon. SSD prices are lowering and speed is increasing. Someday soon, hard drives might not even be in the average build.

USAFRet · Nov 26, 2015

gangrel :

From last Friday: 960GB SanDisk Ultra II. $200

thor220 · Nov 26, 2015

gangrel :

The base cost of SSDs are much lower. They are smaller, thus requiring less materials. In addition, each iteration of SSD tech brings with it an alternative, more cost efficient to produce SSD. In addition, SSDs can be sold as bare chip. All M.2 Chips are like this.

gangrel · Nov 26, 2015

I agree the base costs on an SSD are lower, but they're still there, so the 120 GB costs more per GG tnan a 240 or 480.

USAF: ok, thanks. I still wonder, tho...is this strictly a closeout price? Or a case of serious overstock? To be sure: if 3D TLC can take over, we might be seeing LOTS of closeouts. This'll put pressure on the standard flash drives, altho not necessarily those using NVDIMMs.

Still, dayum...even if prices 'only' drop to around $175 for the 1 TB, the price on a 500 GB would only be about $90, with 240's around $50. We are getting close to the same argument...there's little reason to NOT get at least a 480. If we do see the $80 for a TB, that will largely kill hard drives of less than 2 or 3 TB.

USAFRet · Nov 26, 2015

gangrel :

3 years ago, a 120GB SSD was ~$125. Today, they are $45.
4 years ago, a 64GB SSD was $100. You can't find one today. Too small.
1 year ago, a 250GB Samsung was $110 on a good day.
Today, a 480GB SSD is $110.

Prices drop. A LOT.

Advice on Hard Drive failing S.M.A.R.T. test

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