# Help! Windows Hard Disk Failure Warning



## ruthlessmc (Mar 11, 2015)

Hey guys!

I been using my 2TB Seagate HDD with (4 Partitions) for a couple years and recently I moved about 30GB to it and also deleted about 40GB, Then I started to get this annoying pop up by windows saying I have a hard disk failure and back up data. So afterwards I declined the pop ups for good. and continued to use my drive as normal and had no further issues within windows. I can read and write properly to my drive. My drive is silent makes no funny noises or clicks/grinding

So I ran CHKDSK, it found nothing. I ran HDDScan for windows. and I received this error. 

005 Reallocation Sector Count Value:035 Worst:035 Threshold:036

Can I resolve this error? is their anything I can do without losing my data?

I really am worried lol

Thank You


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## blobster21 (Mar 11, 2015)

nope. This time you're up for an upgrade. Make yourself a favor and do it while you can still access your valuables files.


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 11, 2015)

Reallocated Sectors is your warning.  You can keep ignoring it while that number grows, until you there is no more ability to reallocate sectors.  Back up the date somewhere else, and verify it as well, to make sure there are no integrity violations (corrupted files), and then install a new HDD.  You'll be glad you did!


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## ruthlessmc (Mar 11, 2015)

Okay thanks I was thinking to try HDD Regenerator to save the bad sectors till I get a new hard drive as my budget is abit tight right now but I know I would definitely need to change my Drive.


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 11, 2015)

I would backup everything ASAP cause it only going down hill from here. A program that says it is going to "SAVE" your hdd is pretty much trying to prolong its life which is still not long.


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## ruthlessmc (Mar 11, 2015)

Okay but without using my drive much how long will u think it will last. It is pretty much a full drive with more or less 200GB free space its more like a storage unit for me if I need anything I just copy what I need to my OS HD and play around with my files on their. I only use this drive to store my files. Their is no OS installed.


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 11, 2015)

There is no way to know how long it will last.  You have your warning now.  It might last 1 day, or it might last 6 months, but whichever, it will be suddenly inaccessible.  If you have valuable data stored on it and you can't get a new HDD now, then your best bet is to unplug it and leve it.  Your next use of it, to be safe, should be to transfer the data.


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## ruthlessmc (Mar 11, 2015)

rtwjunkie said:


> There is no way to know how long it will last.  You have your warning now.  It might last 1 day, or it might last 6 months, but whichever, it will be suddenly inaccessible.  If you have valuable data stored on it and you can't get a new HDD now, then your best bet is to unplug it and leve it.  Your next use of it, to be safe, should be to transfer the data.



I was just thinking to do it that way, better be safe till I get a new HDD.


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## qubit (Mar 12, 2015)

+1 to everyone else saying to replace it, we can't stress this enough. *If you don't, you have a very high chance of losing your data for good.* I'm not overexaggerating it.

One should _always_ have a backup of all their important data all the time, without exception. If you don't, then you're going to lose it eventually one way or another, with HDD failure being one of the main ways this happens.

I get you don't have much money, but how valuable is that data to you? Priceless and irreplaceable I bet? Beg, borrow or steal that money and get yourself two identical hard discs, with one acting as the backup. Those Green drives in particular from either Seagate or WD aren't expensive, either. Just do it!  @rtwjunkie's suggestion to unplug it until you get a replacement is good if you have absolutely no other option and I recommend doing that now. However, in my experience, failing hardware can deteriorate even while just sitting there unused, so this may not save you. Therefore, there's no substitute to getting replacement hard discs asap.

I use a simple and free backup program, Karen's Replicator, to do my backups. It's configured for a mirror backup which suits me and doing a backup is as simple as a few mouse clicks to get it going.

The website is www.karenware.com which is showing as "temporarily down". However, I have a feeling it's rather more permanent than that as a google search didn't even come up with this site and I hadn't seen updates to it for years, unfortunately. Therefore get it from another reputable website. Here's a couple of links:

www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/karens_replicator.html

http://download.cnet.com/Karens-Replicator/3000-2242_4-50127.html

If you need advice on choosing hard drives and getting the best price, we're happy to help.


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## natr0n (Mar 12, 2015)

ruthlessmc said:


> Okay thanks I was thinking to try HDD Regenerator to save the bad sectors till I get a new hard drive as my budget is abit tight right now but I know I would definitely need to change my Drive.




HDD Regenerator is shitware. I tested it on drives long ago it never really fixes anything. The corrupted sectors it says are fixed ... run it again and it will show they are still bad.


If you have for example 1 bad sector from lets say a power failure and the number doesn't increase you are usually fine.

Usually always many bad sectors mean a drive is no good/reliable anymore.


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## Ahhzz (Mar 12, 2015)

natr0n said:


> HDD Regenerator is shitware. I tested it on drives long ago it never really fixes anything. The corrupted sectors it says are fixed ... run it again and it will show they are still bad.
> 
> 
> If you have for example 1 bad sector from lets say a power failure and the number doesn't increase you are usually fine.
> ...


I actually used it a few times at a previous employer, and saved several users their email and documents. We didn't use it for a "repair the drive" option, but for a "I can't get my files!!!" recovery, then replace the drive option.


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## Athlon2K15 (Mar 12, 2015)

ruthlessmc said:


> Okay thanks I was thinking to try HDD Regenerator to save the bad sectors till I get a new hard drive as my budget is abit tight right now but I know I would definitely need to change my Drive.



@ruthlessmc Where are you located? If you are in the USA PM me your address, ill send you a 1TB hard drive.

EDIT: I see you need at least 2TB. Offer still stands I have a few 2TB drives kicking around on the shelf.


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## ruthlessmc (Mar 12, 2015)

Right now I cant back up anything at all without another drive lol but it is switched off, I do not know if power cuts over the weeks have caused these bad sectors I have been having many of those, and from what I can know I have had my pc on during about 3-4 of them.


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## ruthlessmc (Mar 14, 2015)

I would like to also find out, when I do get another drive, would transferring my files to the new drive have any effect on the reallocation sector count or it only gets worse when writing to the drive?


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## Kursah (Mar 14, 2015)

The only affect to migrating your data from that drive is that the drive failing will no longer have a chance to corrupt your data. Sectors that are bad, stay bad, and can corrupt any data contained within them. This will have no affect on reallocated sectors for the failing drive, as sectors are a form of drive space measurement and data is what can be contained in that space as 0's and 1's. It could get worse or hold stead, whether your data is on it or not should you continue using it.


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## Jetster (Mar 14, 2015)

ruthlessmc said:


> I would like to also find out, when I do get another drive, would transferring my files to the new drive have any effect on the reallocation sector count or it only gets worse when writing to the drive?



No you should be okay. Use Crystal disk info just to recheck the smart data. It will also tell you how many hours, power ons. You can get faults positives. In fact use the Seagate tools too just to verify the drive is going south. But getting  the data at this point should not be an issue. Just do it soon


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## ruthlessmc (Mar 14, 2015)

I have tried the Seagate tools it pass on the quick test. but on the long test it fails.

I have also tried HD sentinel, only red zone is the reallocation sector count at 36 same as HDDscan. Also the current pending sectors is 100-100. Just that one red zone indicating the bad sectors.


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## ruthlessmc (Mar 14, 2015)

Also I want to find out if I continue using the drive just to read data (transfer and use on my OS Drive) and not write to it. Will it get worse or hold steady?


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## Jetster (Mar 14, 2015)

Its days are numbers. That is all. If it has low hours than maybe longer


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## qubit (Mar 15, 2015)

ruthlessmc said:


> Also I want to find out if I continue using the drive just to read data (transfer and use on my OS Drive) and not write to it. Will it get worse or hold steady?


The mere fact that it's running will cause it to fail. If it's thrashing around with a lot of reads and writes it might hasten it, but it's impossible to say with any certainty.
Therefore it's best to just leave it switched off until you get that replacement drive off AthlonX2 - that's a very generous offer he's made you.


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## R-T-B (Mar 15, 2015)

I was about to offer you a 2TB Hitachi for like $20 out of sympathy, but it looks like AthlonX2 beat me to the punch!

Generous bastard.


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## RealNeil (Mar 15, 2015)

ruthlessmc said:


> Also I want to find out if I continue using the drive just to read data (transfer and use on my OS Drive) and not write to it. Will it get worse or hold steady?



You're flirting with disaster.

Unplug it until you have a new drive to put your DATA onto.

Even then, it _may_ fail while transferring your DATA across.

Good luck with this.


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## Black Panther (Mar 15, 2015)

My mom's laptop did the same warning, the HDD quit working after 3 days.


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## MrGenius (Mar 17, 2015)

Reallocated sectors aren't the worst thing in the world. And they certainly, on their own at least, don't present a huge risk of total drive failure. And having 36 sectors reallocated is not a very high number either. The drive should have between 256-2560 sectors available for reallocating data. It can cause the drive to become unstable, and/or perform poorly, when there's too many being used. But I've had drives that still functioned relatively normally with 100+ reallocated sectors. You are risking some possible data corruption. But I'd say the risk is minimal.

None-the-less, there's no way to "fix" it, and it's likely to get worse. So drive replacement ASAP is my recommendation as well.


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## ray mac (Dec 16, 2015)

ruthlessmc said:


> Hey guys!
> 
> I been using my 2TB Seagate HDD with (4 Partitions) for a couple years and recently I moved about 30GB to it and also deleted about 40GB, Then I started to get this annoying pop up by windows saying I have a hard disk failure and back up data. So afterwards I declined the pop ups for good. and continued to use my drive as normal and had no further issues within windows. I can read and write properly to my drive. My drive is silent makes no funny noises or clicks/grinding
> 
> ...





ruthlessmc said:


> Hey guys!
> 
> I been using my 2TB Seagate HDD with (4 Partitions) for a couple years and recently I moved about 30GB to it and also deleted about 40GB, Then I started to get this annoying pop up by windows saying I have a hard disk failure and back up data. So afterwards I declined the pop ups for good. and continued to use my drive as normal and had no further issues within windows. I can read and write properly to my drive. My drive is silent makes no funny noises or clicks/grinding
> 
> ...



Hi All

Sorry if this is in the wrong place/forum

I have been receiving "Imminent Disc Failure" pop up warnings for years. There was a fix for Win 7 but I forget it. This worked for my W10 , assuming you haven't got gpedit.
control panel - security and maintenance - change security and maintainenace setting - UN TIC drive status. I still get a little pop up start up but that's all.


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## alucasa (Dec 16, 2015)

ray mac said:


> Hi All
> 
> Sorry if this is in the wrong place/forum
> 
> ...



Why don't you start a new thread?


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