Hard Drive "Caution" questions and repair

netrate · 22 Jan 2021

I have a slave drive that is giving me Caution (according to Crystal).

I have already backed it up using windows file explorer. MR would not back it up, but since there is no OS and it is not partitioned, it isn't an issue.

I was wondering if this is a case of reformatting to fix it. Can I partition off the bad sectors?

It has yellow beside :

Current Pending Sector Count
Uncorrectable sector count

I ran the WD diagnostic tool QUICK SCAN and it failed almost immediately. I am going to run a full scan as well to see.

Since this is not a boot drive, it still runs. Just wondering before I go and spend another $70 on a hard drive (note : this will be the third hard drive in about 1 month I have purchased!)

Also, is there a recommendation of SSD over Platter for backup/storage devices that are internal

LMiller7 · 22 Jan 2021

I have little tolerance for drives with errors. Considering the drive has errors reported, Macrium Reflect will not back it up, and the QUICK SCAN fails I would simply replace the drive. And I am retired living on a limited income.

The problem with errors on a hard drive is that there may be some underlying cause, usually unknowable. You might have 10 errors today and 1000 tomorrow. That may not happen for a long time or maybe not at all, but you have no way of knowing that. Back in the 1980's you could pay 1000$ US for a 10MB drive. Then it made sense to keep a questionable drive going. But with current prices it makes no sense to me.

SSDs have some major advantages but primarily for use as an OS drive. The biggest drawback to them is the cost is quite high for capacities of 1 TB and higher. For a backup or data drive the advantages are minimal. Retention of data in an SSD over long periods of time has been questioned.

netrate · 22 Jan 2021

Thanks for the advice. I am going to replace the drive, but just not sure when with the lockdown. I will keep making backup and get a new drive when the time is right I guess.

RolandJS · 22 Jan 2021

@netrate - can you go online and order a HDD or SSD - at reasonable costs?

Megahertz · 22 Jan 2021

What you mean by slave drive? Is it a USB external drive?

If you have bad blocks, bad sectors, bad clusters etc your drive is dying. It can't be repaired.
Don't waste your time. Buy a new one.

Internal backup/storage devices for a laptop?

External Solid State Drives

netrate · 22 Jan 2021

It is my desktop. I am often writing messages to the forum from my laptop though. Slave drive meant it wasn't a boot drive, internal just for storage platter drive. Old ide drives used to be called slave drives

Megahertz · 22 Jan 2021

In the 1T capacity, a SSD cost less than first grade HDD (like WD Black or Gold).
I've used many BX500. So far so good. (1T for US$ 84 is a bargain)
Crucial- 1T BX500

spunk · 22 Jan 2021

You can also download Disk Genius in my signature. Select the disk and go to the Toolbar to Disk and select View/Repair Bad Sectors. This will take a while. If all of the boxes are Blue then this drive is healthy. If any of the boxes are Amber, the drive is beginning to fail and should be replaced soon. If any of the boxes are Red, then that indicated unrepairable Bad Sectors and the drive should be replace immediately.

zbook · 22 Jan 2021

From your reports the drive has already failed one test (WD quick scan).
Macrium did not allow backup images.

Replace the disk drive.

Crucial System Scanner

netrate · 22 Jan 2021

Living in Canada has its beneits, but cheap prices are not one of them. A 1TB hard drive SSD will be into the $120 dollar range. A 2TB platter drive is $65.