# New HDD, HD Tune shows warning in reallocated sectors but no error in scan



## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

Hey guys,

I got a new HDD yesterday, Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB and partitioned and formatted it. Now, when I went into HD Tune, I got this warning






But after I did the error scan both with chckdisk and HD Tune Error Scan, I got nothing






I've searched for a possible answer to this but all I got to was "return it, it's going to die". Is this true, or is this just a reporting error?
I appreciate any help.


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## Kursah (Sep 10, 2014)

Try another utility like Crystal Disk Info. Also, reseat your SATA cable. Every HDD has bad sectors, most you'll never know about until the drive's controller starts reporting them when it becomes too common. If it's reporting an error I'd consider a replacement. They can at least give one that's legit out of the chute...but make sure it's not something on your end if possible.


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

Kursah said:


> Try another utility like Crystal Disk Info. Also, reseat your SATA cable. Every HDD has bad sectors, most you'll never know about until the drive's controller starts reporting them when it becomes too common. If it's reporting an error I'd consider a replacement. They can at least give one that's legit out of the chute...but make sure it's not something on your end if possible.



Thanks, I'll try that now.


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## Jstn7477 (Sep 10, 2014)

I think disk scanning utilities only show bad sectors on the full scan if the drive has run out of spare sectors to reallocate to. This would probably make sense as the drive has probably reallocated the sectors already and automatically jumps to the spare sectors when it reaches an area where one has been reallocated.


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

Jstn7477 said:


> I think disk scanning utilities only show bad sectors on the full scan if the drive has run out of spare sectors to reallocate to. This would probably make sense as the drive has probably reallocated the sectors already and automatically jumps to the spare sectors when it reaches an area where one has been reallocated.



That makes sense. Just reseated the SATA cable and changed ports on the mobo, still the same with Crystaldisk Info


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## sttubs (Sep 10, 2014)

Time to return it.


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 10, 2014)

You could inquire about returning it to the retailer but I know Seagate won't touch it unless it fails SeaTools tests (generates a return code).


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

FordGT90Concept said:


> You could inquire about returning it to the retailer but I know Seagate won't touch it unless it fails SeaTools tests (generates a return code).


Ok so it passes SMART check, short drive self test and short generic. I'm going to do a long generic now and leave it to run as I need to go to work. If it passes this test doesn't it just mean seagate is just "hiding" the fact that it has reallocated sectors? I'm asking because I read on different forums that manufacturers don't report errors until it's too late just to the hdd looks ok.

Edit : it has some clicking noises when reading/writing, is this normal for this hdd?


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 10, 2014)

Some sector reallocations is normal.  Lots are not.  So far, it is still inside of normal.

SMART failure means the drive is dead.  It will report normal up until that point.  HDD manufacturers replace defective drives, not drives that are on the brink of being defective.

It will likely pass the long test.  Seagate won't take it back.  It's up to you if you want to bother the retailer about it.  If it were my drive, I wouldn't.  If the drive is truly defective, it will fail SMART soon anyway.  If it isn't, warranties exist for a reason.


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Some sector reallocations is normal.  Lots are not.  So far, it is still inside of normal.
> 
> SMART failure means the drive is dead.  It will report normal up until that point.  HDD manufacturers replace defective drives, not drives that are on the brink of being defective.
> 
> It will likely pass the long test.  Seagate won't take it back.  It's up to you if you want to bother the retailer about it.  If it were my drive, I wouldn't.  If the drive is truly defective, it will fail SMART soon anyway.  If it isn't, warranties exist for a reason.



What a great way to start my day, I was really hoping for a "fresh" start with a new hdd since my current one is old and giving me some problems. 

Thanks for the help everyone!


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## The Von Matrices (Sep 10, 2014)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Some sector reallocations is normal.  Lots are not.  So far, it is still inside of normal.



I disagree with it being normal.  It's not unusual, but its not normal either.  The oft cited Google drive study reports that after experiencing one reallocated sector, a drive is 14x more likely to fail within 60 days and 3-6x more likely to fail prematurely over its lifetime than a drive with no reallocated sectors.  If the drive is under warranty and has reallocated sectors, I always RMA it for this reason; I don't want to be stuck with data loss and having to pay for a new drive when I could have predicted its failure before the warranty was over.


FordGT90Concept said:


> You could inquire about returning it to the retailer but I know Seagate won't touch it unless it fails SeaTools tests (generates a return code).





FordGT90Concept said:


> It will likely pass the long test.  Seagate won't take it back.  It's up to you if you want to bother the retailer about it.  If it were my drive, I wouldn't.  If the drive is truly defective, it will fail SMART soon anyway.  If it isn't, warranties exist for a reason.


While it's not directly related to the topic, that is a good thing to know about Seagate's return process.  I'll have to see if Seagate requires a minimum number of reallocated sectors in order to issue a RMA; if so I may not consider buying Seagate drives in the future.


FordGT90Concept said:


> SMART failure means the drive is dead.  It will report normal up until that point.  HDD manufacturers replace defective drives, not drives that are on the brink of being defective.


In the past few years I have RMA'd at least three Western Digital RED drives for having reallocated sectors but no SMART failure, and when WD asks for the RMA reason, one of the choices on their site is reallocated sectors.  There is no minimum number required, and they have replaced the drive every time.  This policy must be exclusive to Seagate.


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 10, 2014)

RAID is the better way to protect data.  Never expect a drive not to fail because they all do eventually.


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

FordGT90Concept said:


> RAID is the better way to protect data.  Never expect a drive not to fail because they all do eventually.



I always expect a drive to fail at one point, I don't expect it however to have reallocated sectors directly "out of the box".


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## Frick (Sep 10, 2014)

z1tu said:


> I always expect a drive to fail at one point, I don't expect it however to have reallocated sectors directly "out of the box".



Agreeing 100%. And while the drive may work flawlessly for years to come, I would RMA if possible.

And there's no protection like backup Ford.


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

Tried making an RMA request on their website but it says warranty status unknown, I guess because I bought it from a retailer?

I also stumbled upon this in their KB :
"Please remember that these third-party programs do not have proprietary access to Seagate hard disk information, and therefore often provide inconsistent and inaccurate results.  SeaTools is more consistent and more accurate and is the standard Seagate uses to determine hard drive failure."

Edit : nevermind, I was adding some numbers that were showing up in the model number in seatools so I just removed them and it recognized it.

Edit 2 : "Please do not return a healthy drive. Seagate reserves the right to return a good drive back to its owner and to charge for all associated shipping costs.

Test with SeaTools to verify the drive is failing and save the SeaTools Test Code result number to validate the drive failed SeaTools testing."

So no test code, no return?


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 10, 2014)

z1tu said:


> So no test code, no return?


That's what I said; that's their policy.  As I said, if you really want to do a return you have to do it with whomever you bought it from.  You'll be returning it under the guise of consumer satisfaction, not a defect.  Seagate goes by SeaTools and if SeaTools doesn't detect it is in failure condition, it is still a functional drive.  Granted, SeaTools can generate a code even though the drive is perfectly healthy (e.g. bad cable, bad port, poor power supply, etc.) but, as you copied, the onus is on you to make sure the drive is the reason, not Seagate.


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

FordGT90Concept said:


> That's what I said; that's their policy.  As I said, if you really want to do a return you have to do it with whomever you bought it from.  You'll be returning it under the guise of consumer satisfaction, not a defect.  Seagate goes by SeaTools and if SeaTools doesn't detect it is in failure condition, it is still a functional drive.



So I just say, "I'm not satisfied with this product, I want another one just like it?"


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## zsolt_93 (Sep 10, 2014)

Cant't you talk with the store from where you bought it? If it is that fresh you likely have the ability to return it in the first 48 hours or 15 days depending on the shop policy. You don't need to deal with Seagate until your warranty from the shop expires, they might accept this in for a return. And have you bought it as a new product or with a discount with it being resealed/refurbished, many online shops around here use. It might have already been returned by someone else and then resold at a lower price because Seagate wouldnt replace, well in that case you are probably stuck with it.


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 10, 2014)

You can tell them why specifically.  It's likely above their head/don't care though.  If I wanted it replaced, I would tell them because they have a right to know.  They'll have to deal with Seagate instead of you and if they forward that the reason for the return was reallocated sectors, Seagate will get the message that customers don't like that.  It's win-win (except you losing by going out of your way to perform the exchange).


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

Guess that's what I'm doing then. It wasn't refurbished and I'm sure they'll replace it, it's just that they'll probably be huge dicks about it since that's what retailers do in my country. I doesn't seem like they have an office here so I'll have to pay the postage for the return (YAY!).

Anyway, thanks for helping me out, you guys are great!


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## zsolt_93 (Sep 10, 2014)

I recently bought a Surface Pro 1 from the online store of one such company through my dads business. When it arrived it came with no warranty certificate from the shop. After a call they just said  you have 2 years and if you want to get a paper get to the local store and they fill out one for you. Of course this did not work and i still dont have any evidence of warranty from the shop and  these products aren't even sold by MS in the country. And it came in Spanish. Could have returned it but the price was a steal, many baytrail computers are more expensive than that.
It is worth a try, if its one of the retailers that care about customers then you will get it replaced. Otherwise, meh.. not sure and you just waste your time on them.


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

jdwcongdb said:


> make sure it's not something on your end if possible.



I tried everything that was suggested, don't know what else I could do :-/ I've already spoken with the store and I'm waiting for them to send me RMA form and all.

Edit : Long test passed BTW


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## Sasqui (Sep 10, 2014)

z1tu said:


> I tried everything that was suggested, don't know what else I could do :-/ I've already spoken with the store and I'm waiting for them to send me RMA form and all.
> 
> Edit : Long test passed BTW



I've seen a disk with bad sectors slowely self-destruct with more and more bad sectors over time.  If you can't RMA because of SeaFools, keep doing walking bit read-write tests.  No doubt bad sectors are the reason it was refurbished.


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

Sasqui said:


> I've seen a disk with bad sectors slowely self-destruct with more and more bad sectors over time.  If you can't RMA because of SeaFools, keep doing walking bit read-write tests.  No doubt bad sectors are the reason it was refurbished.


It wasn't advertised as refurbished and the spin time is spot on (don't know if that can be reset). They seemed pretty ok with the return and giving another one in exchange, I'll wait for their response in the next days.


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## Athlonite (Sep 10, 2014)

z1tu said:


> Tried making an RMA request on their website but it says warranty status unknown, I guess because I bought it from a retailer?
> 
> I also stumbled upon this in their KB :
> "Please remember that these third-party programs do not have proprietary access to Seagate hard disk information, and therefore often provide inconsistent and inaccurate results.  SeaTools is more consistent and more accurate and is the standard Seagate uses to determine hard drive failure."
> ...



You say you bought it retail then just take it back to them for exchange that who your contract for the warranty is with it's only after the obligatory 12 months warraty period that you should have to deal directly with seagate


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## z1tu (Sep 10, 2014)

Athlonite said:


> You say you bought it retail then just take it back to them for exchange that who your contract for the warranty is with it's only after the obligatory 12 months warraty period that you should have to deal directly with seagate


Yep, I'm already in contact with the retailer.


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## z1tu (Sep 11, 2014)

UPDATE : Ok so it seems I have 2 options with the retailer : either I send it back on claims that it's defective and they will take a look at it and if it's not working within parameters(which it is) they will send a new one, or I return it without reason and pay a return fee which is roughly a third of the HDD's price. Basically with that money on top I could have bought the 3TB version instead.

EDIT : I might just take @Sasqui 's advice and hope it fails soon


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## ne6togadno (Sep 11, 2014)

z1tu said:


> UPDATE : Ok so it seems I have 2 options with the retailer : either I send it back on claims that it's defective and they will take a look at it and if it's not working within parameters(which it is) they will send a new one, or I return it without reason and pay a return fee which is roughly a third of the HDD's price. Basically with that money on top I could have bought the 3TB version instead.
> 
> EDIT : I might just take @Sasqui 's advice and hope it fails soon


make sure you dont exceed workload rate limit or they wont accept warranty


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## z1tu (Sep 11, 2014)

ne6togadno said:


> make sure you dont exceed workload rate limit or they wont accept warranty


So 55 Tb worth of data within a year, how much would it take anyway?


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## Jetster (Sep 11, 2014)

That is normal for Seagate in HDtune. As long as Crystal Disk shows green and Seagates software shows go then you have nothing to worry about. Its a Seagate thing


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## z1tu (Sep 11, 2014)

Jetster said:


> That is normal for Seagate in HDtune. As long as Crystal Disk shows green and Seagates software shows go then you have nothing to worry about. Its a Seagate thing


Crystal Disk shows the same as HD Tune, a warning at the reallocated sector count with the same values.


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## Jetster (Sep 11, 2014)

Then test it with Seagates software. Its just a warning not a failure


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## z1tu (Sep 11, 2014)

Jetster said:


> Then test it with Seagates software. Its just a warning not a failure


I've done all the tests with SeaTools(mentioned in earlier posts) and they're all ok but as most people on here said, this could more likely mean a failure sooner than an hdd without that warning. I mean, my previous hdd's never had this and they didn't fail either, heck, the one I have now doesn't have any warnings and it's almost 4 years older than this one.


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## ne6togadno (Sep 11, 2014)

z1tu said:


> So 55 Tb worth of data within a year, how much would it take anyway?


dependes on how fast data will be writen but if 1gb data takes 5min to write, cicled 24/7 will take about 191days.


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## z1tu (Sep 11, 2014)

ne6togadno said:


> dependes on how fast data will be writen but if 1gb data takes 5min to write, cicled 24/7 will take about 191days.


Thanks, any idea how much it would take to break it?


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## ne6togadno (Sep 11, 2014)

z1tu said:


> Thanks, any idea how much it would take to break it?


hmmmm
let me check my crystal ball


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## Jetster (Sep 11, 2014)

z1tu said:


> I've done all the tests with SeaTools(mentioned in earlier posts) and they're all ok but as most people on here said, this could more likely mean a failure sooner than an hdd without that warning. I mean, my previous hdd's never had this and they didn't fail either, heck, the one I have now doesn't have any warnings and it's almost 4 years older than this one.



I'm just saying Ive seen this with Seagate and it had no effect on the life of the drive. Seagate will determine is an RMA is appropriate so that's all you can do.


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## z1tu (Sep 12, 2014)

Jetster said:


> I'm just saying Ive seen this with Seagate and it had no effect on the life of the drive. Seagate will determine is an RMA is appropriate so that's all you can do.


So, I've done some testing and I think the drive is dying each time it tries to write something. First, I wasn't able to clone my other harddrive onto this new one, it gives me errors saying it can't write to sector x at one point, I know this isn't an issue with the other drive because I've tested it and it doesn't have any reallocated sectors and gives no errors. Second, after each write test with hd tune, it reports more and more reallocated sectors (I've taken some screenshots yesterday but I'm at work now, will upload when I get home). Still SeaTools says the drive is ok even though it clearly has issues with writing. Should I just keep testing it until it crashes or is this enough proof?


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## ne6togadno (Sep 12, 2014)

z1tu said:


> So, I've done some testing and I think the drive is dying each time it tries to write something. First, I wasn't able to clone my other harddrive onto this new one, it gives me errors saying it can't write to sector x at one point, I know this isn't an issue with the other drive because I've tested it and it doesn't have any reallocated sectors and gives no errors. Second, after each write test with hd tune, it reports more and more reallocated sectors (I've taken some screenshots yesterday but I'm at work now, will upload when I get home). Still SeaTools says the drive is ok even though it clearly has issues with writing. Should I just keep testing it until it crashes or is this enough proof?


i say keep testing till dirve fail on seatools. if reallocated sectors gorw so fast it should reach acceptable limits soon.


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## z1tu (Sep 12, 2014)

ne6togadno said:


> i say keep testing till dirve fial on seatools. if reallocated sectors gorw so fast it should reach acceptable limits soon.


I don't know exactly how many sectors a 2TB hdd has, I'm assuming much more than the 19k it had reallocated at the beginning. Right now it was at about 20 something k, it grows with about a few hundred each time. I tried just copying a large folder(battlefield 4), but it just stops at one point and doesn't give any errors, it just copies until one point and then the copy window disappears as if it was done.


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## ne6togadno (Sep 12, 2014)

z1tu said:


> I don't know exactly how many sectors a 2TB hdd has, I'm assuming much more than the 19k it had reallocated at the beginning. Right now it was at about 20 something k, it grows with about a few hundred each time. I tried just copying a large folder(battlefield 4), but it just stops at one point and doesn't give any errors, it just copies until one point and then the copy window disappears as if it was done.


hm then you can try to clame warranty with reason that you cant copy files on drive. seatools mark drive as ok but you cant copy anything on it.
this isnt normal performance for hdd.


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## z1tu (Sep 12, 2014)

ne6togadno said:


> hm then you can try to clame warranty with reason that you cant copy files on drive. seatools mark drive as ok but you cant copy anything on it.
> this isnt normal performance for hdd.


For folder for example, it copies maybe a part or an entire folder(depending on size), but I definitely can't clone another drive (700 gb) because it gives an error. Does Seagate have any cloning software? Maybe if I try to clone with one of their tools and it gives an error, I can use that?


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## ne6togadno (Sep 12, 2014)

z1tu said:


> For folder for example, it copies maybe a part or an entire folder(depending on size), but I definitely can't clone another drive (700 gb) because it gives an error. Does Seagate have any cloning software?


check their site. i havent used clone software fom drive manufacturers so far.


z1tu said:


> Maybe if I try to clone with one of their tools and it gives an error, I can use that?


make screenshots on error msg and ask in their support forum. they will adivce you what to do


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 12, 2014)

z1tu said:


> I don't know exactly how many sectors a 2TB hdd has, I'm assuming much more than the 19k it had reallocated at the beginning. Right now it was at about 20 something k, it grows with about a few hundred each time. I tried just copying a large folder(battlefield 4), but it just stops at one point and doesn't give any errors, it just copies until one point and then the copy window disappears as if it was done.


They usually have 512 KB per sector so 2,000,000,000/512 = 3,906,250 sectors.  I could be wrong though (might be thinking clusters).

Have you checked with SeaTools again?  It may have gone beyond the threshold.


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## z1tu (Sep 12, 2014)

ne6togadno said:


> check their site. i havent used clone software fom drive manufacturers so far.
> 
> make screenshots on error msg and ask in their support forum. they will adivce you what to do


I tried cloning with Acronis True Image 2014 Premium but it required a restart into a WinPE environment(I think that's what it was, I might be wrong) because it looked like when you install windows for the first time. So I can't take a screenshot unless they accept photos taken with camera?



FordGT90Concept said:


> Have you checked with SeaTools again? It may have gone beyond the threshold.


I have, it passed the tests.


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## ne6togadno (Sep 12, 2014)

they have something called freedisk wizzard. check it out
http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/internal-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/desktop-hdd/


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## z1tu (Sep 12, 2014)

ne6togadno said:


> they have something called freedisk wizzard. check it out
> http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/internal-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/desktop-hdd/


Nice, will try this out, thanks! 

Lol it says "powered by Acronis" in the installer and it's prompting me to uninstall Acronis True Image 

Edit : Ok so this is just Acronis True Image with the Seagate logo on it , it has the same buttons and options, same interface!

Update 1: It's still going, right now it's saying 21 hours remaining but it also said 1 day and 15 hours a few moments ago. Still no errors 

Update 2: It's almost done, I can't understand why it didn't work with neither macrium nor acronis


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## z1tu (Sep 12, 2014)

Update 3 : Ok, so I got an 3 errors right at the very end of the clone process out of which 2 were the same error. This took 4 hours and some change.
First one, I pressed Ignore





And the second one which appeared twice after hitting Ignore





After this, the computer shut down and I booted up again. The drive was unpartitioned and Seagate Discwizard didn't show anything about the errors in the logs, just that it had started the cloning process but nothing after that...
Now this image was from last night after all the write tests




And this one is from now, after the failed cloning attempt




Seatools is still passing all the tests but as you can see, this HDD started from aroun 19k reallocated sectors and now it's up to 37752. Do you think these screenshots will be ok to convince Seagate I need a new HDD?


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## Ferrum Master (Sep 12, 2014)

it depends on the retailer... for me always any smart yellow HDD is replacable under warranty immediately... otherwise you have also buyers protection organizations that are itching nails to sue someone  

Plan B. Wrap it in towel and hammer it while running...


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## z1tu (Sep 12, 2014)

Ferrum Master said:


> it depends on the retailer... for me always any smart yellow HDD is replacable under warranty immediately... otherwise you have also buyers protection organizations that are itching nails to sue someone
> 
> Plan B. Wrap it in towel and hammer it while running...



Plan B sounds like it would work on people too.


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 12, 2014)

z1tu said:


> Seatools is still passing all the tests but as you can see, this HDD started from aroun 19k reallocated sectors and now it's up to 37752. Do you think these screenshots will be ok to convince Seagate I need a new HDD?


Retailer probably, Seagate probably not.


I assume "disk 3" is Serial # 1ER164?


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## z1tu (Sep 12, 2014)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Retailer probably, Seagate probably not.
> 
> 
> I assume "disk 3" is Serial # 1ER164?


Yep. I'm still doing write tests and just copying stuff to it, the reallocated sectors just keep going up. Current snapshot :






Edit : wow, it's seriously just struggling and constantly making clicking noises as if it were a phone on vibrate...got as low as 2.85mb/s speed


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 13, 2014)

I'd say keep going then until SeaTools generates a return code.

If you're ready to give up on it, I'd run KillDisk and make it do a 0x00 pass erase like 10 times.  By the time that's done (should probably check "ignore errors"), SeaTools will throw in the towel.


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## z1tu (Sep 13, 2014)

FordGT90Concept said:


> I'd say keep going then until SeaTools generates a return code.
> 
> If you're ready to give up on it, I'd run KillDisk and make it do a 0x00 pass erase like 10 times.  By the time that's done (should probably check "ignore errors"), SeaTools will throw in the towel.


But can they actually check into that and claim I've somehow caused it if I run killdisk?


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 13, 2014)

Nope.  All it does is do a lot of writes (reads too if you choose verify).  It will delete everything it can from the drive too (like HD Tune) and that's stuff Seagate doesn't need to see anyway.  All Seagate cares about is the S.M.A.R.T. data and the generated return code.

Killdisk is a data sanitization program, not a drive killer.  It can deal the deathblow to failing drives though because it does perform many writes (relative to the capacity of the drive).  I've actually had that happen a few times.  It also tells me if there's something wrong with the read/write speed because the time it takes to finish will go up astronomically if there is a problem (like 2 hours to 8).  I'd rather Killdisk off a drive than Windows because a) the drive must be shredded if there is sensitive data on it and b) I don't waste time trying to use it because the odds of encounter problems when installing Windows are also astronomically high.


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## z1tu (Sep 13, 2014)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Nope.  All it does is do a lot of writes (reads too if you choose verify).  It will delete everything it can from the drive too (like HD Tune) and that's stuff Seagate doesn't need to see anyway.  All Seagate cares about is the S.M.A.R.T. data and the generated return code.
> 
> Killdisk is a data sanitization program, not a drive killer.  It can deal the deathblow to failing drives though because it does perform trillions of writes.


Ok, I'll try it out, thanks!

Update : Ok what gives, the reallocated sector count got reset


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## ne6togadno (Sep 13, 2014)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Nope.  All it does is do a lot of writes (reads too if you choose verify).  It will delete everything it can from the drive too (like HD Tune) and that's stuff Seagate doesn't need to see anyway.  All Seagate cares about is the S.M.A.R.T. data and the generated return code.
> 
> Killdisk is a data sanitization program, not a drive killer.  It can deal the deathblow to failing drives though because it does perform many writes (relative to the capacity of the drive).  I've actually had that happen a few times.  It also tells me if there's something wrong with the read/write speed because the time it takes to finish will go up astronomically if there is a problem (like 2 hours to 8).  I'd rather Killdisk off a drive than Windows because a) the drive must be shredded if there is sensitive data on it and b) I don't waste time trying to use it because the odds of encounter problems when installing Windows are also astronomically high.


+1 on this
i forgot about secure erase tools.
ans since someone mentioned towel. tones of writes will cause drive to heat up. and heat can kill drive. soooo..... 
if the damn thing manage to survive this i will for making such behemoth


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