Hi
I got a 9% reading for a hdd. It showed around 2500 bad sectors and around 50 weaks sectors.
I ran seagate's own test tools and it passed.
Thank you.
9% Health, how bad is it?
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Re: 9% Health, how bad is it?
Thanks for your message and excuse me for the confusion.
The "bad sectors" reported in the text description are no longer used by the hard disk: they are already reallocated.
So the spare area is used for all reads and writes targeting those bad sectors.
This means that disk surface tests (even the tests in Hard Disk Sentinel) do not access those sectors, but test the remaining data area and the spare area.
This is good, as this way you can be sure that the original (bad) area does not contain important data and can't risk data loss.
This is why the detected and reported bad sectors can NEVER cause problems, regardless of their position because that problematic area is never used any more. This is why manufacturers (really shame but work this way) "allow" some bad sectors and may not offer warrantly replacement.
However, according the text description (weak sectors reported) the status of the hard disk may not be stable at this moment. It means that there may be further reallocations possible and also the high number of bad sectors reported indicate that (for example neighbour sectors may be affected in later use).
The problem is that re-allocations may risk data and cause system instability. So having high number of reallocated sectors can be risky - even if the spare area may have free space.
For more information about these "bad sectors", please click on the "?" next to the text description (red area describing the issues) and check
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#health and
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_ha ... _drive.php
The tests described on the above webpage help to
- identify further disk problems
- repair possible problems
- verify if the hard disk is now stable and error-free
(in this case you can even acknowledge the problems reported by Hard Disk Sentinel and clear the errors from the text-description)
The tool(s) provided by the manufacturer is designed for different purpose: to verify if the drive is eligible for warranty replacement.
They do not care about the stored data on the drives and do not check if the status changes in any ways, for example if new problem(s) reported.
If you prefer, please use Report -> Send test report to developer option, so it is possible to check the status of the hard disk and advise about best ways to diagnose the drive for other problems and how to fix them if required.
The "bad sectors" reported in the text description are no longer used by the hard disk: they are already reallocated.
So the spare area is used for all reads and writes targeting those bad sectors.
This means that disk surface tests (even the tests in Hard Disk Sentinel) do not access those sectors, but test the remaining data area and the spare area.
This is good, as this way you can be sure that the original (bad) area does not contain important data and can't risk data loss.
This is why the detected and reported bad sectors can NEVER cause problems, regardless of their position because that problematic area is never used any more. This is why manufacturers (really shame but work this way) "allow" some bad sectors and may not offer warrantly replacement.
However, according the text description (weak sectors reported) the status of the hard disk may not be stable at this moment. It means that there may be further reallocations possible and also the high number of bad sectors reported indicate that (for example neighbour sectors may be affected in later use).
The problem is that re-allocations may risk data and cause system instability. So having high number of reallocated sectors can be risky - even if the spare area may have free space.
For more information about these "bad sectors", please click on the "?" next to the text description (red area describing the issues) and check
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#health and
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_ha ... _drive.php
The tests described on the above webpage help to
- identify further disk problems
- repair possible problems
- verify if the hard disk is now stable and error-free
(in this case you can even acknowledge the problems reported by Hard Disk Sentinel and clear the errors from the text-description)
The tool(s) provided by the manufacturer is designed for different purpose: to verify if the drive is eligible for warranty replacement.
They do not care about the stored data on the drives and do not check if the status changes in any ways, for example if new problem(s) reported.
If you prefer, please use Report -> Send test report to developer option, so it is possible to check the status of the hard disk and advise about best ways to diagnose the drive for other problems and how to fix them if required.