Warranty question on working harddrive but with concerning SMART info

Forums › Desktop computing › Warranty question on working harddrive but with concerning SMART info

surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#245325 29-Jan-2019 15:32

I bought a WD 4tb black drive back in 2015, and the drive has a 5 year warranty.

The drive seems to be working, but recently the smart info started showing current pending sector count=1, and uncorrectable sector count =1.

Whenever I have had this error with other drives in the past, the drive has failed sometime after. The value '1' is quite low though.

It is an interesting question though, because the drive is still working but showing these smart attributes that indicate the drive is failing.

I wonder if I can return the drive under warranty based on the smart attributes? Even though it is still working now?

SirHumphreyAppleby

2844 posts

Uber Geek

#2169677 29-Jan-2019 15:38

I would return it and buy a new one. I've never had any issue doing a warranty claim on a hard drive for bad sectors or random RAID disconnections.

I do not trust drives which give any indication of failure, nor would I trust any drive returned to me from a warranty claim if it wasn't a direct swap-out for a new drive at the time I took it in (which isn't going to happen with a 4 year old drive).

surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#2169684 29-Jan-2019 15:44

SirHumphreyAppleby:

I do not trust drives which give any indication of failure, nor would I trust any drive returned to me from a warranty claim if it wasn't a direct swap-out for a new drive at the time I took it in (which isn't going to happen with a 4 year old drive).

Are you implying they will give me a second hand drive for the replacement? Otherwise, why would you not trust replacement drive that is brand new?

SirHumphreyAppleby

2844 posts

Uber Geek

#2169688 29-Jan-2019 15:50

surfisup1000:

Are you implying they will give me a second hand drive for the replacement? Otherwise, why would you not trust replacement drive that is brand new?

I've had refurbished drives provided as replacements. In at least one case it wasn't the same drive model, but it was of larger capacity. You could probably insist on a drive of the same model (CGA), but as I'm replacing drives in live systems, I can't wait around for weeks for a replacement to turn up. Even new replacements not available immediately just end up in a pile to be used for other things.

CYaBro

4582 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2169689 29-Jan-2019 15:51

You'll need to run the WD tool over the drive and see if it fails with that.

https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=3&lang=en

That's what WD will go by for any warranty claims.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#2169690 29-Jan-2019 15:53

SirHumphreyAppleby:

surfisup1000:

Are you implying they will give me a second hand drive for the replacement? Otherwise, why would you not trust replacement drive that is brand new?

I've had refurbished drives provided as replacements. In at least one case it wasn't the same drive model, but it was of larger capacity. You could probably insist on a drive of the same model (CGA), but as I'm replacing drives in live systems, I can't wait around for weeks for a replacement to turn up. Even new replacements not available immediately just end up in a pile to be used for other things.

OK, that is quite bad.

I already replaced the drive as soon as the error happened... in the past, I found that these specific SMART errors result in 100% failure.

I guess I can RMA the drive, and use the replacement for backups.

Lias

5589 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2169924 29-Jan-2019 20:52

Pretty much +1 to everything above, I have successfully RMA'd drives with a small number of bad sectors without issue even when they passed the manufacturers diagnostics. You will often but not always get a refurbished drive, and sometimes you may get a drive upgrade.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

Canuckabroad

177 posts

Master Geek

#2177115 12-Feb-2019 12:25

Generally drives will dynamically 'hide' and stop using sectors once they discover an error. Once SMART is reporting an error it's generally not good....that isn't the first bad sector....it suggests the drive has crossed the threshold to where the number of bad sectors is starting to impact the drive.

As others suggested - once you get a SMART error, it's time to act. Check the drive and submit warranty claim if you can.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#2177472 13-Feb-2019 09:25

Allways run the manufacturers test/diag software.
It that throws out an error/fault, then there is no argument re warranty claims.
One supplier even admitted they dont bother to test warranty returned HD's :-)

it all depends who you buy from.
Our suppliers will just replace with another similar NEW drive from their stock (or else give us a credit) .
Its been many years since Ive seen a refurb consumer HD.
The last refurb I was sent was pretty much nearing the end of its life, VERY noisy bearings .

amiga500

1484 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2181982 18-Feb-2019 13:16

And as many posters in forums will say your ears might be your best tool detecting a mechanical problem. I've just had a WD Portable Elements fail over a two day period. It started with a few clicks. Changing the cable seemed to help. Two days later more clicks and the whole pc froze as I was trying to create and name a folder on the disk as a test. PC would not even boot with drive attached. Now it's in the rubbish!

But here's the thing the drive passed the WD Lifeguard diagnostics with flying colours not even one error. HD Sentinel said it was perfect as well. The drive was actually clicking as those tests were being done!

24 hours later it was dead. Luckily, I lost very little as I use flash drives and the odd DVD for backups.