# HDD busted

## Buffoon

The drive is apparently dying. What I do not understand is why it is not remapping the bad sector? Reallocated sector count is 0.

```
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16

Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE

  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       3

  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   179   172   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       4050

  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       424

  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0

  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   065   065   000    Old_age   Always       -       26246

 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       421

192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       370

193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       53

194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   104   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       43

196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       1

198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   194   000    Old_age   Always       -       95

200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1

```

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## russK

Do you need to write to the sector to cause the remap?

It says there is a Current_Pending_Sector.

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## Buffoon

I tried, the disk is almost full and I filled up the empty space. Pending sector is not going anywhere.

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## frostschutz

Then maybe it's in the middle of a file or outside of the filesystem. A long self test might tell you the sector number (failed at LBA 456xyz)

Either way, unless you like to gamble with your data, you should just get a replacement for your disk.

Make a backup of your stuff while you still can.

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## Roman_Gruber

 *Quote:*   

> not remapping the bad sector?

 

Is this not a firmware feature of the drive? Which is done silently. The reason for the spare sectors of those SSds for example these days. 

 Is this not a feature when you run badblocks and the sector gets marked bad?

I am quite sure some geeks now the answer more accurate or better.

--

Personal opinion:

Regarding old age and dying

Smart just tells something. can be true or not. 

My main motivation why I sold all surplus drives I had and why i do not purchase ordinary platter drives anymore. I Think its a design flaw, when the protective gas leaves the HDD case and the drive gets itself bad because it gets older.

I asked plextor about my SSD which has 5 years guarantee with those smart values and they told me it is nothing to worry about. The drive function so far. I just use it as backup drive now...

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## NeddySeagoon

Buffoon,

The pending sector count is a count of the number of sectors the drive knows about that it cannot read.

There may be more. It only ever tries to read allocated sectors.  There may be failed unallocated sectors too. 

The sector is not being relocated because it can't be read.

Any attempt to read it will leave a dmesg entry like

```
[415787.257222] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0xfff000 SErr 0x0 action 0x0

[415787.257229] ata1.00: irq_stat 0x40000008

[415787.257243] ata1.00: cmd 60/08:60:08:d4:f4/00:00:bd:00:00/40 tag 12 ncq 4096 in

[415787.257246]          res 41/40:00:08:d4:f4/00:00:bd:00:00/40 Emask 0x409 (media error) <F>

[415787.267041] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133

[415787.267075] ata1: EH complete
```

unfortunately that example does not include the LBA address.

A write to the offending LBA may force a relocation, but you will have lost the data there.

It might matter ... it could be a block of a file, a block from a directory, a block from the free block list.  The possible filesystem damage gets worse.

A drive that can no longer read its own writing is scrap.  Check your warranty status.

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## Buffoon

NeddySeagoon,

thanks for reminding me about warranty! I was sure it was expired ... but I checked and I'm covered! Purchased for $79.99 on 8/29/2013, WD 1 TB Black, 5 years WD warranty ... Hmmm, are drives more expensive now?

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## NeddySeagoon

Buffoon,

WD will replace that drive. I put the smart log and dmesg fragments into the RMA website.

I had two greens in raid5 fail within 15 min of one another :(

I gave them a credit card number, they shipped a replacement and gave me 30 days to return the dud before they charged my card.

That meant I could 

```
dd_rescue old_drive new_drive 
```

without ever paying for new_drive.

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## frostschutz

ddrescue takes three parameters (mapfile/logfile that records progress).

WD shipping replacement first is the main reason why I have WD drives (all greens). Haven't had one fail in years though, they're all out of warranty by now.

Two disks failing in 15min of one another is quite a rare occurence. But you have to run selftests regularly, otherwise you will simply not notice errors until it's too late. Without tests, disk errors can go unnoticed for a very long time. (SMART only shows errors that the disk happened to get across... if your disk has a rusty spot in the middle of that video of your aunt's birthday party that you never watch, you will never know unless you run full surface scans).

----------

