# (C5) Current Pending Sector Error



## silkstone (Jul 15, 2011)

I recently discovered a single current pending sector error on my laptops hard-drive (7mo). I tried to fix it using a scan disk, but all that did was create a second warning so now i have 2.

My question is this. Should i attempt to fix the error myself, by backing up and re-formatting the drive (writing zeros) or, as it is still under warranty, should i take it to the Acer service center? 

Taking it in for RMA might seem the obvious choice, but if, at the service center, they will just re-format to fix the error rather than replace the disk i may as well do this myself.

[Edit] i would just ignore it, but i have been getting random blue screen crashes with error dumps ever since i got the laptop which i believe are related to this problem and i have important work on here. I do backup quite regularly (1 local copy, 2x usb, 1x cloud and 1x desktop backup) there are times when i forget to do it and would hate to lose any important documents.


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## Sinzia (Jul 15, 2011)

Ask them if they'll replace the drive, bad sectors already is a bad sign.

For a temp fix you can use Spinrite, its like chkdsk/scan disk but it actualy works and saves drives, it'll flag the bad sectors across the drive so you wont have to worry about it (for now)


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## silkstone (Jul 15, 2011)

Yea, i will pop in on the way home from work. But i'll check out that program now, i actually found it before through google searches on my issue, but i read that trying to fix the issue could corrupt files and then i would not have a chance to remove my disk images from this drive to my backup.

I'll take it to the actual Acer service shop rather than the shop i purchased the laptop from as the shops here have notoriously bad service skills and customer service.
A friend's laptop recently broke and her had a nightmare getting it repaired, the shop even charged him for it, after 4 months of hell he took it to the Dell Centre and they fixed it in 4 days.

Edit - I just noticed Spin right is pay for software. I don't think it's worth paying when a backup and format should work too?


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## Sinzia (Jul 15, 2011)

If you look hard enough you can find it on the web, I bought it because its saved my butt a few times with doing data recovery for people.

I'm not sure, but when you format the drive wont it "forget" where the bad sectors are?


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## silkstone (Jul 15, 2011)

Sinzia said:


> If you look hard enough you can find it on the web, I bought it because its saved my butt a few times with doing data recovery for people.
> 
> I'm not sure, but when you format the drive wont it "forget" where the bad sectors are?



From my (incomplete Knowledge) of how the error occurs. I believe it is a read error, in that the disk has not been able to read from that sector. Once the drive tries to write the that sector 2 things could happen, the sector may get written to and the error, in essence fixed, or the write may fail in which case the disk starts ignoring that sector by reallocating something or some other space sector to that address??
apparently, the quikest fix is a re-format, but then there is the danger if the write fails, that the date being moved to that sector would be corrupted. However Formatting by writing all zeros will write data, and force the sector to be reallocated. 

I'm just wondering if anyone here has had any experience with the error, i thend to trust you guys more than google


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## Sinzia (Jul 15, 2011)

Ah, so its gotta be a full format then.
I suppose it all depends if you dont mind turning your money into time saving (spinrite wont need a reinstall of your OS)
or spending time on the format/reinstall from your backups.


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## silkstone (Jul 15, 2011)

Sinzia said:


> Ah, so its gotta be a full format then.
> I suppose it all depends if you dont mind turning your money into time saving (spinrite wont need a reinstall of your OS)
> or spending time on the format/reinstall from your backups.



I'd prefer to get a replacement hard-drive if this error means that my drive is dying.. would 2 bad sectors on a hard drive after 6 or 7mo indicate that, do you think.

The advice on different forums is kinda varied. But, i'll see what the service center say and update here.


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## Sinzia (Jul 15, 2011)

There's always going to be a bad sector or two after months of useage, but if its in an area thats causing stability issues, then I get worried.


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## silkstone (Jul 15, 2011)

Sinzia said:


> There's always going to be a bad sector or two after months of useage, but if its in an area thats causing stability issues, then I get worried.



I have 3 hard drives in my main computer varying from 4yrs to 6mo old that are in perfect condition according to smart (apart from having a CRC error count due do bending of the sata cable).

I was reading some advice, and it was said that this type of error is serious, as the hard disk should automatically reallocate the space and if it doesn't data can be lost if written to it.... that was my interpretation at least. I'm not sure how correct that is but 2 damaged blocks after a few months doesn't sound like a healthy drive 

Scan-Disk fails to fix them, and the second one was actually created after running scan disk 

Oh, and yes, the errors occur at the start of the disk, where my OS partition is located. I don't think that is a good sign either


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## Sinzia (Jul 15, 2011)

I've never seen SMART work right, I dont trust it at all.
If I were you, I'd look into a replacement drive.


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## silkstone (Jul 15, 2011)

Thanks, yea.

I took the laptop to the service centr and they told me they would replace the drive if they found bad sectors. I'm 100% sure there are 2 as i used HD Tune to do an error scan. Now i just need to Ghost my partitions, luckily they are fairly small in size. I better check that my rescue disk is working ok too.


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