# Dying harddrives (can anyone read SMART values?)



## Bluescreendeath (Jul 17, 2018)

So I have 3 harddrives, all of them are in yellow caution according to SMART values. 1 Hitachi 750GB (05 errors), 1 Seagate SSHD 500GB ST500LM000 (C5 and C6 errors), and 1 Seagate 500GB ST500LT012 (05 error). I am not sure what these values mean. Pics: 



http://imgur.com/a/QEWgm8w


Which harddrive is the worst off and which is the best off? I want to try to salvage at least 1 for an unimportant storage/transfer drive, or even keep 1 for an unimportant backup laptop. Is that feasible or should I scrap them all?


Edit:
I converted them into raw values and downloaded Seatools. What am I supposed to do with Seatools? I ran the DST (diagnostic self test) and looked the drive info:

1) Seagate with the 4826 hours passed the Seagate DST and WinDST's quick test (reallocated setors 744).

2) The Seagate with the 5207 hours (56 uncorrectable sector/56 current pending sector count) fails the SeaTools DST at 10%. However, in the Computer folder, I did a check disk scan to "automatically fix file system errors and recover bad sectors." Now, it passes SeaTools' ShortDST sometimes and fails other times. Currently doing long generic Seatools test.

3)  The Hitachi with 3788 hours (reallocated sectors 1966328) fails SeaTools DST at 10%.


Here are the pics:


http://imgur.com/a/WLwODJl


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## R-T-B (Jul 17, 2018)

I would scrap then all personally, but the first seagate image appears best of them from the data.


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## timta2 (Jul 17, 2018)

If you see "uncorrectable sector count", you know the drive needs to be trashed. It literally means that it's reallocated so many bad sectors that there are no spares available. Drives with reallocated sectors are also bad news and shouldn't be used for any important data.


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## Jetster (Jul 17, 2018)

Yellow does not necessarily mean they are bad. I can't tell what software you used to read the smart values because im at work
But use the manufactures software because Crystal disk will give faults positives for yellow


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## RejZoR (Jul 17, 2018)

All these things are a bit worrying, but they are even more if their actual values are increasing. If full format is possible, do it. Sometimes these reports go away. But I'd keep an eye on such drives if they come back and keep increasing. Then it's time for new drives. If it stays the same and you don't have any critical data on them, they are still viable.


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## Ahhzz (Jul 17, 2018)

I also recommend throwing HD Sentinel at them for an approximation of the lifespan, plus a better indicator of what's happening.


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## newtekie1 (Jul 17, 2018)

The first and third drives are 100% fine.  The second drive has issues and should not be used.

Let me give you a quick rundown of how to read those SMART readings.  Relocated Sector Count, Current Pending Sector Count, and Uncorrectable Sector Count are all read as a percentage of life left.  So a reading of 100 means 100% left.  CrystalDiskInfo likes to label these as a caution when there is really nothing wrong with them.  So, for example, on the second drive, where there really is an issue, it is saying the it has used some of the spare relocated sectors, and only has 96% left.  So in this case, sectors on the drive have actually gone bad.  Once sectors start to go bad, it is time to replace the drive.


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## Komshija (Jul 17, 2018)

I had the same "C5 Current Pending Sector Count" error on my previous and still working WD 3200 BJKT. It appeared somewhere when HDD had just under 12.000 working hours When I finally replaced it with SSD, it had around 19.000 working hours. There were absolutely no problems considering HDD, despite Crystal Disk Info notified about being cautious, like in your case.

It means that your drive might fail in the near future, but it can also mean nothing like in my case. Since both values are at 100, like out of the box, I would say it means nothing. Still, make some backup.


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## Solaris17 (Jul 17, 2018)

Just mouse over where it says caution and it will give you the values. I've seldom seen CDI to be wrong.


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## Frick (Jul 17, 2018)

newtekie1 said:


> The first and third drives are 100% fine.  The second drive has issues and should not be used.
> 
> Let me give you a quick rundown of how to read those SMART readings.  Relocated Sector Count, Current Pending Sector Count, and Uncorrectable Sector Count are all read as a percentage of life left.  So a reading of 100 means 100% left.  CrystalDiskInfo likes to label these as a caution when there is really nothing wrong with them.  So, for example, on the second drive, where there really is an issue, it is saying the it has used some of the spare relocated sectors, and only has 96% left.  So in this case, sectors on the drive have actually gone bad.  Once sectors start to go bad, it is time to replace the drive.



The third drive has more reallocated sectors than the first drive. Look at the raw column.


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## seagate_surfer (Jul 17, 2018)

Bluescreendeath, for the Seagate drives, it is recommended you use Seatools. It will give you an accurate overview of the health of the drives. Go ahead and run it and share the results.


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## newtekie1 (Jul 17, 2018)

Frick said:


> The third drive has more reallocated sectors than the first drive. Look at the raw column.



Nope, different manufacturers handle that differently.  Seagate starts at 0 and counts up, Hitachi starts at the maximum and counts down.


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 17, 2018)

Utilize Hitachi Disk Fitness Test and Test all drives.

You have some sectors on the drive that are dead as per the tool you are using but still verify those findings with DFT.

If DFT can't read the Seagate drive even though I couldn't imagine it not working as it's tested all brands of drives in the past, use Seatools.


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 17, 2018)

Does anyone know what the raw values mean? Eg. What is 2e8?



seagate_surfer said:


> Bluescreendeath, for the Seagate drives, it is recommended you use Seatools. It will give you an accurate overview of the health of the drives. Go ahead and run it and share the results.



I will do so tonight. Does Seatools work for non Seagate drives?



eidairaman1 said:


> Utilize Hitachi Disk Fitness Test and Test all drives.
> 
> You have some sectors on the drive that are dead as per the tool you are using but still verify those findings with DFT.
> 
> If DFT can't read the Seagate drive even though I couldn't imagine it not working as it's tested all brands of drives in the past, use Seatools.



What is DFT? Is DFT is WinDFT for HGST drives? Do I need a separate utility for every brand?


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 17, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> Does anyone know what the raw values mean? Eg. What is 2e8?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


2e8 is a hexadecimal address space where faults lie on the drive. DFT is also WinDFT, I prefer a bootable version of dft.


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## 95Viper (Jul 17, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> 2e8 is a hexadecimal address space where faults lie on the driv



I do believe, It is the amount of counts... not the address space where the faults lie on the drive.



Bluescreendeath said:


> Does anyone know what the raw values mean? Eg. What is 2e8?



2e8 is the hexadecimal number that is equal to the decimal number 744.
If you are referring to the Seagate ST500LT012 relocated sector count, you have 744 relocated sectors.
Probably bad ones moved to good sectors and the bad would/should be marked bad in the drives internal table.

Hexadecimal to Decimal Converter

To change the value output to "decimal" in Crystal Disk Info...

Open Crystal Disk Info
1. Click on the "Function" menu
2. Click on the "Advanced Feature" menu
3. Click on the "Raw Values" menu
4. Choose the "10 (DEC)" option
and it will change to decimal read out for the raw values.


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## seagate_surfer (Jul 17, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> Does anyone know what the raw values mean? Eg. What is 2e8?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Yes, Seatools also works on non Seagate drives.


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 18, 2018)

I converted them into raw values and downloaded Seatools. What am I supposed to do with Seatools? I ran the DST (diagnostic self test) and looked the drive info:

1) Seagate with the 4826 hours passed the Seagate DST and WinDST's quick test (reallocated setors 744).

2) The Seagate with the 5207 hours (56 uncorrectable sector/56 current pending sector count) fails the SeaTools DST at 10%. However, in the Computer folder, I did a check disk scan to "automatically fix file system errors and recover bad sectors." Now, it passes SeaTools' ShortDST sometimes and fails other times. Currently doing long generic Seatools test.

3)  The Hitachi with 3788 hours (reallocated sectors 1966328) fails SeaTools DST at 10%.


Here are the pics:


http://imgur.com/a/WLwODJl


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 18, 2018)

Utilize the tool here.

https://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 18, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Utilize the tool here.
> 
> https://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT



Installed it but can't get it to work. it says "File not found: scsioat.dll" when I try to start it.


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 18, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> Installed it but can't get it to work. it says "File not found: scsioat.dll" when I try to start it.


You got the dft and not ogt right?

https://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191035

Btw if need get WinDFT instead. Or get the .dll file that is missing...


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## lexluthermiester (Jul 18, 2018)

newtekie1 said:


> it is saying the it has used some of the spare relocated sectors, and only has 96% left.


Even this is not a serious problem. In HDD's and SSD's alike, sectors go bad. Most have a few defects to start with fresh from the factory and this is accounted for by the firmware.


newtekie1 said:


> So in this case, sectors on the drive have actually gone bad. Once sectors start to go bad, it is time to replace the drive.


Perfectly normal. If that number drops below 50% of a drives total reallocation Z-sectors, or it drops by a more than 5% in a given month, time to get critical data off that drive. Otherwise there is plenty of life left in that drive. The other two drives are not a problem.

@Bluescreendeath All of those drives are ok. Keep an eye on the second one but you should be fine. No worries.


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 18, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Even this is not a serious problem. In HDD's and SSD's alike, sectors go bad. Most have a few defects to start with fresh from the factory and this is accounted for by the firmware.
> 
> Perfectly normal. If that number drops below 50% of a drives total reallocation Z-sectors, or it drops by a more than 5% in a given month, time to get critical data off that drive. Otherwise there is plenty of life left in that drive. The other two drives are not a problem.
> 
> @Bluescreendeath All of those drives are ok. Keep an eye on the second one but you should be fine. No worries.



Which are you referring to as the second one? The Seagate with 4826 hours? That one has 744 reallocated sectors (decimal) and that is the only one to pass SeaTool's DST.

Is it ok for them to fail SeaTool's DST test? 1 passed, 1 sometimes passes/sometimes fail, and the other fails. Not sure if it matters for uncorrectable sectors or reallocated sectors, but I'll be using these drives to make store 100-200GB max (so that's like 20-40% space with the rest free)


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## lexluthermiester (Jul 18, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> Which are you referring to as the second one? The Seagate with 4826 hours? That one has 744 reallocated sectors (decimal) and that is the only one to pass SeaTool's DST.
> 
> Is it ok for them to fail SeaTool's DST test? 1 passed, 1 sometimes passes/sometimes fail, and the other fails. Not sure if it matters for uncorrectable sectors or reallocated sectors, but I'll be using these drives to make store 100-200GB max (so that's like 20-40% space with the rest free)


Yup. SeaTool's are generally not the most reliable as they tend to spend to much focus on problems that really aren't. My personal fav utility for checking drive fitness is HDDscan; http://hddscan.com/
The lastest version is 4.0 and is a very accurate gauge of drive health. Try it out and see what is says on all three. Very interested to see what it says about them.


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 18, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yup. SeaTool's are generally not the most reliable as they tend to spend to much focus on problems that really aren't. My personal fav utility for checking drive fitness is HDDscan; http://hddscan.com/
> The lastest version is 4.0 and is a very accurate gauge of drive health. Try it out and see what is says on all three. Very interested to see what it says about them.



How do I gauge drive health? HDD scan's SMART info, or one of their tests (short vs extended)?

I also downloaded HD Sentinel. It says my Seagate 500GB (with 56 uncorrectable sectors) is at 26% and has a bit over 100 days left...


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## Reeves81x (Jul 18, 2018)

the real question is why are you having so many HDD issues with 5000 hours or less... that being said this drive has been giving me warnings since 30,000 hours or so, still works just fine now at 64,000






heres a seagate with 30,000


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## lexluthermiester (Jul 18, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> How do I gauge drive health? HDD scan's SMART info, or one of their tests (short vs extended)?


A combination of them. Watching drive sector performance is an important factor in this. See below;



The graph shows a sector by sector scan and reports the performance of each. The drive in this test and an old 320GB drive in a USB3 enclosure. Accounting for a slight latency from the USB bus, the drive is in good health. As you can see some of the sectors are dipping into the < 50ms range. If your drive starts to show a lot of < 500ms or > 500 ms sectors, it's time to replace the drive. However, if you have a few cautions in the SMART info list but the drive is performing as expected, the drive is fine and is just aging a bit. This is to be expected. This scan will still work on drives that don't have the SMART functionality.
Scan all three of your drives and you'll have a good idea what the actual health of your drives are.



Bluescreendeath said:


> I also downloaded HD Sentinel. It says my Seagate 500GB (with 56 uncorrectable sectors) is at 26% and has a bit over 100 days left...


I wouldn't take that seriously at all. 26% is not severe for older drives. There is no "magic" to technology and there is no way for a software utility to pinpoint a failure date so accurately.


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## Jetster (Jul 18, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> How do I gauge drive health? HDD scan's SMART info, or one of their tests (short vs extended)?
> 
> I also downloaded HD Sentinel. It says my Seagate 500GB (with 56 uncorrectable sectors) is at 26% and has a bit over 100 days left...



If it gets a fail on the manufactures test, short test (seatools) then its bad the drive is done



Reeves81x said:


> the real question is why are you having so many HDD issues with 5000 hours or less... that being said this drive has been giving me warnings since 30,000 hours or so, still works just fine now at 64,000
> 
> 
> View attachment 104030
> ...



Its still working cus there is nothing wrong with it. Crystal Disk will give faults positives for yellow. Use Seatools on Seagate and WD software on WD drives. 64,000 hrs is allot for a consumer drive


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## Ahhzz (Jul 18, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> How do I gauge drive health? HDD scan's SMART info, or one of their tests (short vs extended)?
> 
> I also downloaded HD Sentinel. It says my Seagate 500GB (with 56 uncorrectable sectors) is at 26% and has a bit over 100 days left...


Yeah, those reallocated sectors are a bad thing. Even a few of those indicate that there's a problem with the drive. I've had drives run for a good while with bad sectors, but it's kind of like a noise in the engine compartment. It could be a loose fan cowling, and run for years, no fuss. Could be a loose fan belt, cause an issue within several months. Could be valve rattle, and the whole thing is shot, start shopping. Whatever the case, means you've a problem. 
I've not held HD Sentinel to the fire, to see if one dies on the estimated date, but I'd take it serious and replace that drive. Get your data off ASAP, and use the next month or two to find the best deal you can afford.


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## seagate_surfer (Jul 18, 2018)

Bluescreendeath, Seatools sometimes runs into the drive failing on short tests, and other times it passes. This makes sense if there's sectors the drive can't correct, because short test chooses some sectors at random, so it's probably picking up the bad sectors sometimes but not others. Finish the long test. If there's bad sectors on the drive, then long generic will pick it up for sure because it tests every sector on the drive. Based on that result would be indicative of whether you need to think about replacing the drive / RMA if it is in warranty.


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## kimitza (Jul 18, 2018)

There is a small tool, HDD Regenerator, I use all the time. About 4 years ago a coleague came with a laptop.I scanned the HDD and it had over 500 bad sectors on it. I regenerated it, and he still uses the same HDD on that laptop. It took about 48hrs to regenerate all sectors, but it was worthed for him, as he had all the family pictures stored on that drive. Of course he made a backup on an external driver, but still.  Since then, i always use this tool.


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 18, 2018)

Reeves81x said:


> the real question is why are you having so many HDD issues with 5000 hours or less... that being said this drive has been giving me warnings since 30,000 hours or so, still works just fine now at 64,000
> View attachment 104030
> heres a seagate with 30,000
> View attachment 104031



Not sure. 1 is a Seagate SSHD, 1 is a thin Seagate, and 1 is Hitachi. They were all in laptops. So either they got hot or just bad luck.

Was the #2 pic meant to be the other yellow caution HDD?



seagate_surfer said:


> Bluescreendeath, Seatools sometimes runs into the drive failing on short tests, and other times it passes. This makes sense if there's sectors the drive can't correct, because short test chooses some sectors at random, so it's probably picking up the bad sectors sometimes but not others. Finish the long test. If there's bad sectors on the drive, then long generic will pick it up for sure because it tests every sector on the drive. Based on that result would be indicative of whether you need to think about replacing the drive / RMA if it is in warranty.



I ran the SeaTools long test (took about 2 hrs) and it said the test failed. It didn't give me much details on why it failed or what can be done (logfile just says failed).



kimitza said:


> There is a small tool, HDD Regenerator, I use all the time. About 4 years ago a coleague came with a laptop.I scanned the HDD and it had over 500 bad sectors on it. I regenerated it, and he still uses the same HDD on that laptop. It took about 48hrs to regenerate all sectors, but it was worthed for him, as he had all the family pictures stored on that drive. Of course he made a backup on an external driver, but still.  Since then, i always use this tool.



Is that significantly different from what SeaTools or what Windows Checkdisk does? Seatools tests and Checkdisk all says they try to correct errors.


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## kimitza (Jul 18, 2018)

Try it once. Just once. Then you'll thank me . There is no danger to lose data or damage the hard drive. Also, remember the duration may vary due to drive size and system specs.


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 18, 2018)

kimitza said:


> Try it once. Just once. Then you'll thank me . There is no danger to lose data or damage the hard drive. Also, remember the duration may vary due to drive size and system specs.



The drives heat up to 50'C in my USB3 enclosure when running these disk scans/tests.

If it's going to take 48 hours to run this program you suggested, then 48 hours at 50'C might do more damage than it may fix if the program is not much better than SeaTools Longtest's repair test or Windows Checkdisk repair.


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## seagate_surfer (Jul 18, 2018)

If the long test failed, then the drive needs replacing. You may check the warranty here. You may also run CHKDSK and see what happens.


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 18, 2018)

seagate_surfer said:


> If the long test failed, then the drive needs replacing. You may check the warranty here. You may also run CHKDSK and see what happens.



These drives were in fairly recent business computers. The Seagate Warranty just says I need to contact the original retail seller of these OEM computers as they don't deal with OEMs harddrives I guess... The original seller is in a different state. I guess I am out of luck?


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## seagate_surfer (Jul 18, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> The drives heat up to 50'C in my USB3 enclosure when running these disk scans/tests.
> 
> If it's going to take 48 hours to run this program you suggested, then 48 hours at 50'C might do more damage than it may fix if the program is not much better than SeaTools Longtest's repair test or Windows Checkdisk repair.



Drives can reach those temps and should be fine. As this is a newer drive it can reach higher temps. See this link.



Bluescreendeath said:


> These drives were in fairly recent business computers. The Seagate Warranty just says I need to contact the original retail seller of these OEM computers as they don't deal with OEMs harddrives I guess... The original seller is in a different state. I guess I am out of luck?



OEM equipment is sold to different manufactures and the warranty is usually handled by the company that sold the computer and bought these products in bulk.


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## kimitza (Jul 18, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> The drives heat up to 50'C in my USB3 enclosure when running these disk scans/tests.
> 
> If it's going to take 48 hours to run this program you suggested, then 48 hours at 50'C might do more damage than it may fix if the program is not much better than SeaTools Longtest's repair test or Windows Checkdisk repair.


It took 48 hrs to do a full regeneration, including the healthy sectors. You have the option to do a pre/scan with/without repair. The usual method is to do a scan of bad sectors and repair them. But still will take some time, again, depending on drive size/data on it and the system specs.


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 18, 2018)

Thanks. Not sure if it's worth my time to keep an eye on something for 48 hours to save a 500GB disk, but I'll see...

Do I need to/is it better to wipe the drive first and start with a clean drive?


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## kimitza (Jul 18, 2018)

Yeah, if you don't need the data on that drive, a scan on an empty one will go much faster.  Will take about 1hr.


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## Ahhzz (Jul 19, 2018)

kimitza said:


> There is a small tool, HDD Regenerator, I use all the time. About 4 years ago a coleague came with a laptop.I scanned the HDD and it had over 500 bad sectors on it. I regenerated it, and he still uses the same HDD on that laptop. It took about 48hrs to regenerate all sectors, but it was worthed for him, as he had all the family pictures stored on that drive. Of course he made a backup on an external driver, but still.  Since then, i always use this tool.


Haven't used this in a while, since I bought a version waaaaaay back, but an excellent tool it was. Good catch


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## Bluescreendeath (Jul 19, 2018)

kimitza said:


> Yeah, if you don't need the data on that drive, a scan on an empty one will go much faster.  Will take about 1hr.



Looks like version 2011 costs $100, and the free version only regenerates 1 sector.


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 19, 2018)

Bluescreendeath said:


> Looks like version 2011 costs $100, and the free version only regenerates 1 sector.



Use dft and seatools.


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