Is my hard drive going to fail?

Inverse · Oct 26, 2016

Hi

I ran CrystalDiskInfo and saw the health status saying caution. Here's the image to show the problem. Is this hard drive about to fail?

If it looks like the drive is about to fail, is it safe to copy data from this drive to a new one or is the data corrupted?

Thanks

Phillip Corcoran · Oct 26, 2016

Whatever condition your HDD is in, even if it's only a few day old, you should always keep at least one backup of the data that's on it. Never wait until it shows signs of wear or you get worried about it's condition.

SuperSoph_WD · Oct 26, 2016

Hey there, @Inverse!

The caution from the diagnostic test indicates that there are currently pending sectors on the drive. This parameter shows the count of unstable sectors waiting for remapping. It is possible that later on some of these sectors could be read successfully and the value might decrease. If, however, errors still occur, the HDD will try to restore the data and transfer the it to the reserved disk area (spare) and mark the sector as remapped (a.k.a. bad sector).

I'd definitely advise you to always keep at least one copy of your files on another drive (storage location). Always make sure that you have duplicates of your data, transferring it from one location to another IS NOT A BACK UP.

After you copy your files on another drive, It would also be a good idea to run your HDD manufacturer's brand-specific diagnostic utility and run the disk tests from there as well.

I'd not consider your HDD failing just yet. Let us know what the brand-specific tests show about the SMART data as well.

Keep us posted.

SuperSoph_WD

10tacle · Oct 26, 2016

You can't get any better than having a Western Digital rep answer a question about storage on Tom's!

Awesome stuff.

TMTOWTSAC · Oct 26, 2016

The way I see it, so many drives fail with no SMART warning at all (36% in that 2007 google study) you should be thankful any time you get some advance warning. Copy your data, and always keep backups.

spat55 · Oct 26, 2016

I've had the same things with my Seagate for the past 6 months, I've been using it daily and no issues but I always back everything up to one or two external HDD's.

Inverse · Oct 26, 2016

SuperSoph_WD :

Hello, thanks for the response.

I ran Seatools and these were the results I got:

short drive self test passed
short generic passed
long generic failed

The SMART test wasn't even an option to test, so I couldn't do it. The program is very slow and buggy :/

What is the probability if I copy the data off this drive to a new one that there will be data corruption. Is there a way or program to find which files may be corrupted?

I realise now I should of made a backup.

SuperSoph_WD · Oct 26, 2016

Inverse :

Hello again, @Inverse!

This sounds pretty unfortunate.

If the HDD fails any of the diagnostic tests from the manufacturer's tool, you should definitely replace it. Make sure you get in touch with their customer support and check your warranty status. If the HDD is still covered, you should be able to send an RMA request and get the replacement from them.

Copy all your data somewhere else immediately. Unfortunately, you cannot determine what kind of data is stored on those particular unstable sectors. They might not even contain any piece of data. However, there's no utility available to my knowledge that you could use through Windows. If there's such a thing, it's most probably Linux-based. I believe that professional data recovery companies might use such tools, but you will have to ask them for assistance first. What you can do by yourself is check if all the media files at least are opening and playing properly, once you back them up on another hard drive.

To avoid such unpleasant situations in the future, I strongly recommend keeping at least one more copy of your files stored on a different storage drive. Moving data from your system drive to an external or another internal hard drive is not a backup, unless there is already a duplicate of the file on a different drive.

Good job with the monitoring of your hard drive. If the HDD damage was any worse, you might not even be able to retrieve your files without a professional data recovery help.

Best of luck & let us know if you need further assistance.
SuperSoph_WD

Inverse · Oct 26, 2016

Thanks for your help.

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