Bad Sectors

[manormortal]

I ran Disk Utility in Linux Mint 12 and it said that my Western Digital external hard drive has 4 bad sectors. I also ran the Western Digital diagnostics tool and it too said the drive had bad sectors. Should I be concerned? Should I buy a new drive now or wait too see if the prices drop?

 

[rolli59]

I would be concerned!

 

[LordConrad]

Back up your data, then run SpinRite on your external drive. Unless the disk is physically flawed or damaged, you have a read error and not a bad sector. SpinRite can fix read errors that other programs cannot, and can often recover data from damaged sectors as well. If you don't have a copy or don't wish to buy it, see if a friend or relative has it and will loan it to you.