Windows 10: Clean Windows 10 install due to corrupt file system/no boot

Bree said:

FYI, the Windows 10 Setup checks the SMART data too.

I once tried to clean install to a used HDD I had just bought. Setup said the disk was about to fail and I shouldn't use it. There was an option to continue regardless (which I took, as this was just a test run). After installing I ran CrystalDisk Info which showed more that 24,000 reallocated sectors (took that HDD back for a replacement).

If Setup didn't warn you then there's probably a bit of life left in it yet, but don't rely on it long-term.

Thanks Bree. I knew that but I wasn't going to mess with installing Windows 10 if there was a serious issue with the hard drive. While it may fail in time there can be no set timetable as long as the reallocated sectors don't climb at a express rate. Like I said in my last post....I have one drive in my setup (that I've been watching for 3 years) that's constantly getting reads/writes and it's still setting at 195 (024 Raw Value) and the threshold is 140 and it was 194 when I first discovered it so you never know.

That said I monitor it closely and data is backed up on a regular basis! :)

zbook said:

Bree,
What information have you seen on failure of hard drives not due to hardware failure?

Not sure I understand your question. What sort of HDD failures would not be down to hardware?

Backblaze seem to have gathered the most HDD data, their 2017 review was published last month. If you'd like to search their entire data set....

...the complete data set used to create the information used in this review is available on our Hard Drive Test Data page. You can download and use this data for free for your own purpose...

Backblaze Hard Drive Stats for 2017

HD can fail for malfunctioning hardware or software.
Software for example could be: normal tests of HD Sentinel, HD Tune, Crystal Disk, SeaTools for WIndows, Crystal Disk in all of the testing categories (Health (SMART), Benchmark, Surface or Error scan, and temperature. The test results could be excellent for the parameters tested and the drive could e failing as the component was not tested. These problems could include recurrent failure to boot, or chkdsk drive file system corruption, etc.

The computer that I am using in this post had all of the above test passes (SMART, temperature, benchmark, full error scan and has had recurrent chkdsk problems.

So I am looking for information on how to test for drive software failure and what information is in the literature.
I think they categorize the software HD failures as logical errors.

HP will RMA warranty drives for hardware failure but will not for software failure.

The article that was posted seemed to have information on hardware failure of drives. In the article I didn't see any comments on drive software failure.