Hard Drives Failing & CrystalDiskInfo

[Larry Sabo]

I tell my customers that reallocated sectors are like rust on a car: you can patch it up here and there but it will soon return (usually when you have important data you haven't backed up, in the case of hard drives). I, too, have seen drives with re-allocated sectors that go on to provide years of trouble-free service. However, if the number of failing sectors is low, I tell the customer to be sure to monitor it and make backups religiously because it could fail without notice at any time. They don't do either, usually, so I feel badly when they come back later because they can't access their data at all. At the very least, I note the current stats in my invoice and each time I work on the PC, I check the health of the drive to see if it is in fact holding up or getting worse.

Plopping down a drive while it's running likely causes heads and/or media damage, which will only get worse--even if you extract the data and zero the drive to reallocate pending bad sectors then restore the data from backup. It's all a matter of whether the customer wants to accept the risk/cost, IMO.

 

[wavey]

I'm not denying that some drives can be rescued BUT, drives are cheap so it's not worth the risk to your clients business or your reputation.

 

[wavey]

I do agree with Larry, if the client insists, then on his own head be it!

 

[SAFCasper]

I don't instantly write off drives due to a few re-allocated sectors. Often pick them up during tune-ups/health checks and if the machine is running ok I just make a note for the customer explaining I found some re-allocated sectors... might be nothing but could be early sign of hard drive failure. Make sure to backup etc etc.

However... pair re-allocated sectors with a slow running/crashing machine and it makes sense. Also, in your second image the drive had been powered on for 30,766 hours! That is a long time for a consumer grade drive. Was due a replacement anyway.


PS.
If it's a server or anything business critical don't even question it. Get the drive replaced asap.

 

[pcpete]

Depends on the situation. If that drive came through our shop, we would not have said it had problems. You may make the point that telling someone their drive needs to be replaced when it does not is also not their best interest. A drive like that could run several more years reliably. Very possibly cloning to a new drive may introduce issues also(new unused drive may have defects). Just our take on it.

 

[pcpete]

as to the advice of leaving it up to the customer, it gets tricky. Too much info is not always good. The clients tend to want us to tell them what it best, so we most often don't include some details. I think the decision to replace hard drives is one of the tougher things we do.