Is my HDD failing?

I have magnetised my screwdriver's blade by wiping a magnet along it a number of times. Screws stick to it now, reducing the risk of dropping them inside the machine. And should they ever drop then it is easier to retrieve them, picking them up with the magnetic tip of the screwdriver.

The problem with magnetized tools was highlighted for me when first starting building computers back mid-'90s, pair of needle-nose pliers and laying floppy disks on them, quickly learned to pay attention when losing DOS boot disks. I have the extendable magnets at hand not only for picking up screws but also convenient in lifting out the CMOS battery when released. Also handy to have is the magnetize/demagnetize device.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-M...6424/203613158

Megahertz said:

@jumanji, you don't have to be worried about the cloned drive.
You didn't mention if you cloned with the default (intelligent copy) or sector by sector.
If you use the intelligent copy every partition will be created and have a new ID so the boot manager on the EFI partition will look for an ID of the Windows partition that doesn't exist any more on the new drive but does on the old.
At the end of the cloning process, new Macrium versions will modify the BCD on the EFI partition with the new Windows partition ID.
So I don't think you will have any issue with the new drive. Just detach the old drive and boot from the new.

Sorry If I haven't understood what you call as "Windows Partition ID".

Do you mean to say that I need not change the "Unique ID" of the SSD to that in the HDD? I did the default intelligent copy that copies only the data carrying sectors of the partitions.. Had I done a sector to sector copy, it would have cloned the sector 0 exactly as in the HDD with the same Unique ID.

And if I had done such a sector to sector cloning , on the next boot Windows in my system will not recognise the Cloned SSD, throwing out a message "signature collision" and I wouldn't be able to check my SSD as I have done now (until I change its unique id to be different from the System disk)

The protective MBR at sector 0 has nothing to do with GPT. Apart from'the Unique Disk ID, it carries a partition table for a 2TB volume. A GPT unaware program will show the disk as a 2TB drive. So if you are using a larger than 2TB disk but the disk shows it as 2TB, you know that the program is not compatible with GPT disks. That is the purpose for the Protective MBR.

Bree said:

This damage may be a one-off event, perhaps due to a shock to the drive. If so then the drive may have many years life left in it.

A full format of the whole drive (or the DELLSUPPORT partition, at least) would give the drive's internal controller the opportunity to reallocate those bad sectors and replace them with good ones from its pool of spares. That would give a clean surface test again, but the SMART data will now show the count of bad sectors that were replaced in 05: Reallocated Sector Count. Keeping an eye on SMART 05 and SMART C5: Current Pending Sector Count. will give an indication of whether the drive is stable, or continuing to deteriorate.

My system One is over 11 years old now and still has its original HDD. That developed a bad sector at least 5 years ago, but has remained fully reliable ever since. I'm leaving it in use, intrigued to see just how long it will remain in full working order. At nearly 4 years powered on use it's proving remarkably difficult to kill

I also feel that it is a localised defect in the disk platter ( my system has not been moved at any time in the last 3 years since it was placed on the desk on 25 Dec 2019) and expect the bad sector count will flatten at some point. At the moment, the bad sectors are automatically getting remapped to the reserved sectors. So I am going slow and as I had said earlier I will replace the HDD only if it becomes inevitable and with the cloned disk I am ready for it.

Referring to the CrytalDiskInfo screenshot you have put, the reallocated sectors count RAW value is shown as 000000000001 which incidentally is decimal 1 . You have just one bad sector that got relocated. In my case it is 000000000015 which is decimal 53. I have 53 bad sectors that got relocated. ( HD Sentinel also indicates 53 sectors remapped)

To convert the RAW value being shown in hexadecimal to decimal in CrystalDiskInfo, go to Function > Advanced Features > Raw Values > select 10[Dec]



My HDD in CrystalDiskInfo showing decimal values



I am putting it here since many people do not know that it is a hexadecimal and misinterpret.

jumanji said:

Sorry If I haven't understood what you call as "Windows Partition ID".

To be honest, I don't know what is the "Windows Partition ID".
Long time ago I read something about the issue that a cloned drive sometimes needed a Boot Repair due to different "Windows Partition ID".
Even Macrium Reflect had its own Boot Repair. For what I know, now it's done automatically.

Megahertz said:

To be honest, I don't know what is the "Windows Partition ID".
Long time ago I read something about the issue that a cloned drive sometimes needed a Boot Repair due to different "Windows Partition ID".
Even Macrium Reflect had its own Boot Repair. For what I know, now it's done automatically.

I'd think the drive size may be involved in that as MBR and GPT are choices but only GPT at 4TB and larger? Maybe some info. here:
How to Partition 4TB Hard Drive in Windows 11,10, 8, 7

Hi @jumanji,
What did you installed to replace the HDD, a 2.5" SATA SSD or a M.2 NVMe SSD?

@Megahertz

I have only cloned my HDD to a SATA SSD using Macrium Reflect. I will retain Optane on the NVMe interface and replace the HDD with the SATA SSD only when the need arises..

I haven't done it so far since my HDD is stable and hasn't shown any increase in bad sectors. Even those bad sectors are still confined to just one block and have been remapped into the reserved sectors.So no data loss.

There has been no increase in bad sectors since 30th Nov 2022 as seen in the Hard Disk Sentinel log file.





In the case you are dealing with, if the OP wants to clean install Windows 10 on a NVMe SATA drive I would think he may have to disable Optane in the BIOS, change from RAID to AHCI mode and do the clean install on the NVMe SSD replacing the Optane.module.

As I have said earlier in this thread, I would be retaining Optane till it dies. OS on the coupled SATA SSD replacing the SATA HDD when the need arises.

Thanks Jumanji.
I only don't understand why don't you use the SSD as the main drive and install the HDD for data only. That is a personal choice, not asking for explanations.

The disk ID is written by windows so it know what disk it is it has no effect on booting if you have several drive in a pc it then know what drive letter is set for each disk etc

May be true but to be on the safe side I will change the unique ID of the cloned SSD to that of the present HDD 59 95 78 81.

Not a big job. I only have to edit the four Unique ID fields in the cloned SSD to 59 95 78 81 and save it to the SSD ( using bootice)

( Yes, I see people rushing to say that it can easily be done with diskpart but jumanji will do it in his own unique style - the fact is jumanji is a weakling in using diskpart )

Right now I will not change it since I will be doing a Macrium Reflect Rapid Delta clone once in two months to keep the clone updated.. If I Change it now on the cloned SSD , I will have a signature collision while trying to update the clone)

Unique ID of the present HDD:

OK. my last post on this subject was on 23 Feb 23.

I now think the Toshiba HDD is in its last leg counting 938 bad sectors. The bad blocks are now spread all over the disk.So I am gearing up to open the Dell Inspiron 3280 AIO when it takes a deep breath and collapses. I hate doing it on my 78th year.

Surface Test done on 20 Jul 23



Hard Disk Sentinel Overview just a while ago



The log:



Graphical view of the Progression of Reallocated Sectors count. Hitting 1K now. Real time news! How is that?



Guess how many days will it survive!

Saving grace: My Beelink MiniPC SEi12 with Windows 11 Pro - which I bought in amazon .com while I was in US (April-May 23) is all set up and going good. A new onetime paid version of Macrium Reflect 8 ( USD17.63 INR 6640.70) and one year licensed bitdefender total ( bought in amazon.in for INR 320 (approx. USD 4) are the only software in it now.