# 12kb bad sectors- ditch drive ?



## Fif23 (Feb 8, 2009)

My very young SEAGATE 500GB 7200.11 now has 12kb of bad secotrs according to chkdsk.
now, sorry for being a noob about this, but I read somewhere that if you find ANYTHING, then the drive should be replaced right away.

So should I throw it away ? Do I get warranty for it ?

Thanks !


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 8, 2009)

there are options, you can attempt a repair using Seagate Disk Wizzard/ SeaTools (OS/2-Windows 3.1 GUI from the Disk you create) just gotta find a good torrent for them and then probably try a firmware update (11 Gen Seagates have been known for problems which are corrected by firmware but that wont fix the bad sectors)

then if none of above solve problems

RMA the drive.


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## Fif23 (Feb 8, 2009)

Thanks, yep I did update the firmware to SD1A.
So cam I really go to the store and request a brand new drive for 12kb of bad sectors ? he will just tell me " the drive is functioning there is nothing i can do" 
what is the seagate policy about this ?

I have a licence to HDD Regenerator, is that a good program ?


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## Laurijan (Feb 8, 2009)

Silencer23 said:


> Thanks, yep I did update the firmware to SD1A.
> So cam I really go to the store and request a brand new drive for 12kb of bad sectors ? he will just tell me " the drive is functioning there is nothing i can do"
> what is the seagate policy about this ?
> 
> I have a licence to HDD Regenerator, is that a good program ?



I too had problems with a Seagate drive lately.. i could not boot into Windows anymore so i tested all my 3 HDDs with HDD Regenerator (a good program).. one drive had bad sectors and the program just hung itself up at a certain point when it found the bad sectors.. i then brought the drive to the shop i bought it and they called me several days later that they did check the drive with Seatools and it found no errors.. they then charged me with 10€ for the testing.. i suspect that Seatools found the bad sectors and could repair them what HDD Regenerator couldnt they just didnt tell me to be able to charge me the money.. so i suggest you to test the drive with Seatools and only return the drive to the shop when it wont repair through HDD Regenerator or Seatools anymore..


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## Fif23 (Feb 8, 2009)

Thank you !
Can I please have a direct link to the Seatools version that I need ? I have it installed but its just a diagnostics tool, I don't see repair options......


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 9, 2009)

Silencer23 said:


> Thank you !
> Can I please have a direct link to the Seatools version that I need ? I have it installed but its just a diagnostics tool, I don't see repair options......



the version you want is from bootable CD or Floppy, not the version that is installed into a OS.


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## orionbg (Feb 9, 2009)

Hi
I work in a Computer repair shop and I remove any drive that even have ONE sector bad! Sooner or later the drive will develop more bad sectors and data WILL be lost! Is is safer to backup everythig now and return the drive telling them it hava Bad sectors. Another thing you can do is to check the drive with the mentioned Seatools. You can find the newest version in "Hiren's BOOT CD v9.7". Just search some torrent sites and you will find it. It also contains a program that reads the S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive and will tell you how bad the situation is! Also check if S.M.A.R.T. is enabled in the BIOS! 
But my opinion on this is that you must return drive and want a new one! If the merchant is not cooperating send the drive directly to Seagate for RMA


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## Mussels (Feb 9, 2009)

my advice matches a few others here. once you see bad sectors, get it out of the PC.

Basically, once they start going bad the damage tends to spread, risking all data on the drive. One good way to maintain use of it, is as an external - if its powered off most of the time and only used briefly, its going to last a lot longer than as an always-on internal.


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## AsRock (Feb 9, 2009)

Should be under warranty and get it replaced you should not have to keep the drive as they should be able to get it replaced.  IF they give you any problems at the shop tell them you buy every other drive online at places like newegg or even direct of the manufacturer as they will not reject it all though they might want you to test it with their software but thats it.


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## r9 (Feb 9, 2009)

It is possible in new drive to show bad sectors. They some times are reparable. Use HDD regenerator. And if you are out of warranty and HDD regen dont help I would use it as seccond drive to store music movies and other stuff that are not that important.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 9, 2009)

Mussels said:


> my advice matches a few others here. once you see bad sectors, get it out of the PC.
> 
> Basically, once they start going bad the damage tends to spread, risking all data on the drive. One good way to maintain use of it, is as an external - if its powered off most of the time and only used briefly, its going to last a lot longer than as an always-on internal.



most problems i see from a HD is usually the Head controller going bad or the PCB.


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## Mussels (Feb 9, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> most problems i see from a HD is usually the Head controller going bad or the PCB.



i've seen two kinds of problems, symptoms wise.

1. click of death (or no warning at all) leading to a drive that cant be read at all.

2. Slow corruption of data, due to something being wrong with the platter (conatimated/corroding etc).

In both of these cases, my advice of making it an external will work to delay the inevitable, as well as let you get some more use out of the drive.


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## Fif23 (Feb 9, 2009)

alright guys, yesterday while I was backing up all my data on a WD  Passport, vista suddenly  thrown a "HARD DISK PROBLEM"  pop-up at me... it did not effect the backup process, but it said multiple times that i have a hard disk problem.. 

It would also "think" alot in BIOS... where it should be dead silent ! why would a drive try to read data in BIOS ? 

Anyway I sent it back to the store today, the technitian said that he will test the drive for bad sectors and if he finds any I will get a new one next week.

A bit OT- Could I possibly extend the lifespan of my storage drives by installing the OS on a Raptor and using the big ones for data only ? 

I can get a 36 gig Raptor for 25 dollars, 2nd hand in good condition from a friend, that is why I am asking.


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## Mussels (Feb 10, 2009)

yes, by moving your OS to another drive it reduces the amount of use/reads/writes to the other drives, and can extend their lifespan.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 10, 2009)

ya if i had room for another HD i would drop in a small one for Paging


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## Laurijan (Feb 10, 2009)

Laurijan said:


> I too had problems with a Seagate drive lately.. i could not boot into Windows anymore so i tested all my 3 HDDs with HDD Regenerator (a good program).. one drive had bad sectors and the program just hung itself up at a certain point when it found the bad sectors.. i then brought the drive to the shop i bought it and they called me several days later that they did check the drive with Seatools and it found no errors.. they then charged me with 10€ for the testing.. i suspect that Seatools found the bad sectors and could repair them what HDD Regenerator couldnt they just didnt tell me to be able to charge me the money.. so i suggest you to test the drive with Seatools and only return the drive to the shop when it wont repair through HDD Regenerator or Seatools anymore..



My so called working drive which had only several bad sectors went bad again after one day of use.. so definitely ditch your drive even when it has only some bads


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## man00 (Feb 10, 2009)

any bad sectors and IMO I wouldn't trust he drive at all.


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## jagass (Feb 10, 2009)

Don't just throw it away man...It should replaced and get the warranty...


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## Tau (Feb 10, 2009)

back it up and RMA it.  even 1 bad sector is to many.


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## suraswami (Feb 10, 2009)

Silencer23 said:


> alright guys, yesterday while I was backing up all my data on a WD  Passport, vista suddenly  thrown a "HARD DISK PROBLEM"  pop-up at me... it did not effect the backup process, but it said multiple times that i have a hard disk problem..
> 
> It would also "think" alot in BIOS... where it should be dead silent ! why would a drive try to read data in BIOS ?
> 
> ...



The shop is just BSing you, just ask for a replacement drive if its still under their replacement time or deal with Seagate.

My 500GB Seagate also showed me several bad sectors.  Windows will format it, write small chunks of data and can read it, but once i copy a bigger file then windows hangs until i reset the machine.  Tried sea tools didn't fix it.  Also tried other 3rd party tools didn't do anything.  mine i bought it used here but that gentleman gave back my money for the drive.  The drive is still a paper weight for me.  From then on I only trust WD (don't ask why).


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## hat (Feb 11, 2009)

I've personally had a drive with bad sectors go worse and worse on me. I had very strange problems with my computer and I eventually ran chkdsk, and I had so many errors on the drive that the log ran out of space for logging the errors. I ran chkdsk once in a while after this and I got errors every time. Eventually the drive just quit on me and wouldn't load windows anymore. My advice is, look for a new drive. A faster drive, a bigger drive


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## Fif23 (Feb 11, 2009)

Whats a better option\idea... to get a Raptor or something for the OS trying to increase the main drives lifespan or just throw everything on the seagates and use a desktop drive to run backups once a month... As long as my data is backed up, these 3.5 drives can die all they want, they dont cost much... its the data that's important to me..personal  pics and vids that date back to my childhood. 

Anybody here have their OS installed on the main drive for years without problems ?


My new 7200.11 is on it's way btw, thanks for saving my data TPU ...


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## Mussels (Feb 11, 2009)

Silencer23 said:


> Whats a better option\idea... to get a Raptor or something for the OS trying to increase the main drives lifespan or just throw everything on the seagates and use a desktop drive to run backups once a month... As long as my data is backed up, these 3.5 drives can die all they want, they dont cost much... its the data that's important to me..personal  pics and vids that date back to my childhood.
> 
> Anybody here have their OS installed on the main drive for years without problems ?
> 
> ...



we've all done it for years. the problem is that lately, drive reliability has gone downhill.

Seagate have the firmware failures, samsung had bad 1TB drives, WD had corruption issues on their 1TB+ drives and still have issues on their greenpower series.. its a bad time to buy hard drives, just because they seem to want to fail a lot.

My advice is to replace the HDD with a new one, warranty this old one and use it as a backup drive when it comes back.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 11, 2009)

Mussels said:


> we've all done it for years. the problem is that lately, drive reliability has gone downhill.
> 
> Seagate have the firmware failures, samsung had bad 1TB drives, WD had corruption issues on their 1TB+ drives and still have issues on their greenpower series.. its a bad time to buy hard drives, just because they seem to want to fail a lot.
> 
> My advice is to replace the HDD with a new one, warranty this old one and use it as a backup drive when it comes back.



probably best to get a Seagate 7200.10 as of a Lower Capacity too.


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## Mussels (Feb 11, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> probably best to get a Seagate 7200.10 as of a Lower Capacity too.



i've had zero problems with samsung, so long as they were under 1TB. Samsung 750GB or lower, or a seagate 7200.10 (not 11) are the safe bets.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 11, 2009)

run 250 and 400 GB 7200.10s here just wish QA was better for all of them, i was thinking about Samsung or Hitachi for the next machine.


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