New drives: 200 bad sectors; normal?

Kivech · 6 Jul 2011 at 21:23

[SOLVED] New drives: 200 bad sectors; normal?

Hi all,

I have got the weirdest problem ever.

I bought myself 2 500Gb Western Digital SATAII drives. Upon installment I could already RMA one because it was ticking and vibrating.
The second seemed ok, but is now (after two weeks) also showing problems. A few days ago I got a blue screen (Windows 7) with a HDD error and had to restore my backup to get my system working again.

What happens is this:
BoD
Computer reboots
chkdsk (or similar) runs and finds tons (really over one thousand) damaged files.
At times it manages to make the system startable, but at times it doesn't.

To check the SMART status of the disk I downloaded CrystalDiskInfo and ran that.
To my own surprise I noticed that both drives, which run as seperate ones (so not in a RAID config) have the exact same number of bad sectors: 200.

The tool however reports both disks as 'healthy'. Now I definitely am not a specialist on harddrives, but this seems really weird to me. How on earth can a disk come from the factory with already 200 bad sectors on it?

So my question is twofold:
1) Are these bad sectors the norm for disks nowadays?
2) Am I right in thinking that one of my drives might be faulty, even though SMART says it's healthy?

Which in reality leads automatically to the next question:
Should I consider getting a different set of HDDs? I'm getting the impression that these drives are just really crappy quality.

Thanks for any help in advance. Believe me, I need it. After spending almost £600 on a new system, I am really aggravated for already having to trouble shoot it.

d_brennen · 6 Jul 2011 at 21:32

Bad sectors are not normal. Try the WD test software for the models you have, and dl the trial of HDTune and see if they all concur with Crystal Disk.

MagicBoy · 6 Jul 2011 at 21:37

Not normal. RMA it.

Kivech · 6 Jul 2011 at 21:53

Thanks

Oki, thanks guys. I'll run the test tools and see what those come up with. If that confirms the bad sectors I'll RMA them.

Ziggy4 · 6 Jul 2011 at 22:11

I suspect you are reading the results wrong. Look in the Raw Values column to see how many sectors have actually been rellocated. It should be (or very close to) zero for a new drive. If the drives really have failed this particular test, you can RMA the drives under warranty.

Kivech · 6 Jul 2011 at 22:40

Just to make sure

Yeah, I want to make sure I am not misreading results, so here's a screenie:

I used the WD Data Lifeguard tool for an example, but all tools show up with the same data (makes sense, it's the SMART data read from the HDD).

In both 1 and 2 you can see that in the 'Warranty' column there is a '1'. I take it that this means that it is covered by the warranty of the disk.
It really had these values from day 1 I used the disk (as well as the one I already RMA'd and the replacement disk I currently have).

Running the HD Tune scan though, does not show up with any bad sectors. Of course, also there, the read SMART data shows up with these results, and also there it indicates that the disk is 'healthy'.

Colour me blind, but I'm confused now. Are my disks ok, or not?

Oh, one other thing: I noticed the disks were running rather highish on temp. So I installed another fan in the case to cause some more airflow. Could it be that this BoD was a result of the drive getting too hot? One one occasion I noticed it going over 51 degrees Celsius, which is rather hot.

Anyway, I'm not running to the store yet. I just want to make sure I am diagnosing this one properly. Meanwhile I'm going to run the WD testtool tests to see if those come up with anything different. I'll post the results later on.

And thanks again for all the help, really appreciate it.

Dr. Pain · 6 Jul 2011 at 22:48

just return it jees.

Sounds like its used already to me.

Ziggy4 · 6 Jul 2011 at 23:23

Why would he want to return a perfectly working drive that has passed the WD diagnostic?

You are still reading the SMART attributes incorrectly.

Take a look below of some SMART test I just run on a WD HDD ...

The value you are reading is a fixed parameter. You are after the raw value (or data) to tell you how many sectors have been rellocated, if any. Returning this drive will only waste your time and postage since there is nothing wrong with it. I doubt WD would even issue an RMA.

Kivech · 6 Jul 2011 at 23:44

Ziggy4 said:
Why would he want to return a perfectly working drive that has passed the WD diagnostic?

You are still reading the SMART attributes incorrectly.

Take a look below of some SMART test I just run on a WD HDD ...

....snip....

The value you are reading is a fixed parameter. You are after the raw value (or data) to tell you how many sectors have been rellocated, if any. Returning this drive will only waste your time and postage since there is nothing wrong with it. I doubt WD would even issue an RMA.

Ok, this is what I wanted to make sure. Sorry for the confusion, I have everything on my PC in Italian (I live there) which is definitely not the language I am 100% proficient at.

So the drives are fine. Now I need to figure out what is thrashing my files at times. :confused:

Thanks again for all the help.

Ziggy4 · 7 Jul 2011 at 00:06

I would check your RAID is set up and working as it should. Update any RAID drivers, etc. Also try running a checkdisk within windows and check the option to fix filesystem errors. I'd make a backup of any vital data too since there is clearly some problem.

What drives are you using specifically and what controller are you using?

Edit: nevermind just googled the HDD code. Caviar Blues. I should imagine these will be fine in RAID on regular Intel mobo controller or the like. I have run into problems myself in the past with filesystem errors though especially when using more exotic / unreliable controllers like Nvidia mobo controllers or just bad drivers.

Kivech · 7 Jul 2011 at 08:44

@Ziggy4:
Well, I do not run a RAID config, but I am starting to wonder if:
a) My problems are related to drivers
b) Maybe the disks got too hot and started acting up as a result
c) The PSU I have in my PC needs replacement (is more than powerful enough for my system, but has more than 3 years and tends to get warmish lately).

I'm just going to take some time to troubleshoot this one. It is really weird. This system is practically totally new except for the video card and the PSU. I recently added a fax-modem, which does not work properly under windows 7, so I'm going to start with taking that one out.

Still puzzles me how I got to have those blue error screens claiming a hdd error. After all the testing I have done (both hdd and memory seem to be fine), when it comes to the hard drive, I can only think of overheating or driver problems.

If I find out anything new, I'll let you guys know.