Bad blocks on a new HDD

Forums › Desktop computing › Bad blocks on a new HDD - OK?

HTPCnewbie

57 posts

Master Geek

Topic # 25392 20-Aug-2008 11:33

I installed a new 1Tb Seagate HDD into my PC on Saturday, and since then Vista has logged over 60 bad sectors on the drive and it is still finding more, and I have only had the computer on for a couple of hours each day (at the most). So that's roughly 8 new bad sectors per hour of operation on average... (and this is only on 50Gb of the drive, since the rest is still unformatted, and hence used)

I'm thinking this is unacceptable for a brand new HDD, but wanted to check with the experts here first before I go demanding a replacement....

lurker

663 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 98

Subscriber

Reply # 158300 20-Aug-2008 12:05

I'd certainly take it back.

Why not try scanning it with some diagnostic software, http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools just to get a full picture of the extent of the problem.

I think the Universal Boot CD also has some Seagate diagnostics on it.

paradoxsm

3000 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Reply # 158323 20-Aug-2008 12:48

Certainly take it back, I have 4 3 yr old drives and not one has yet developed a bad sector, I have had a 1TB drive for 9 months now and still is fine.
One did get bad sectors after 2 years but it had had a hard life in a pc that was often transported.

garvani

1874 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 84

Trusted

Reply # 158332 20-Aug-2008 13:40

Take it back and get a western digital. Segate's quality has gone steadily down hill for years

paradoxsm

3000 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Reply # 158339 20-Aug-2008 13:54

Segate OWN western digital! I certainly hope the new Western digital drives are not reminiscent of the old caviar series which were just horrible.

There are different flavours of Segate drive too, The common ones you get are generally "mass market" variants but server oriented ones are available at only a slight increase in cosy bit a bit tricky to track down..

Bung

2543 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 340

Reply # 158360 20-Aug-2008 15:08

garvani: Take it back and get a western digital. Segate's quality has gone steadily down hill for years

You do a lot of bad mouthing Seagate and talking up WD that's not matched elsewhere. What sort of numbers do you have to back this up?

bcourtney

652 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 27

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 158378 20-Aug-2008 15:39

garvani: Take it back and get a western digital. Segate's quality has gone steadily down hill for years

Good Lord man! Are you for real?? You've been lucky to have such a good run with Western Digital. I was setting up a RAID-5 array with WD drives a couple of years ago with 4 drives - ALL 4 drives were DOA. Haven't been back to them since! (and this was the final straw with a number of WD issues leading up to that astonishing event).

Seagate's warranty setup is brilliant as well as their performance so it's a no risk decision to go with their product

Lias

3365 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1841

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 158655 21-Aug-2008 13:32

1 Bad sector on a hard drive is too many, as others have said return it under warranty.

I found a utility recently which monitors HDD health / smart logs etc, quite a good little tool. Called HDSentinel, its free for dos/linux and cheapish for windows, worth a look imo.

Information wants to be free. The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

garvani

1874 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 84

Trusted

Reply # 158668 21-Aug-2008 13:49

wow tough crowd! ive never seen so many seagate supporters.. Im a technician in a fairly busy repair/sales shop (sell about 35 desktops a month, custom built). Seagate was our preffered drive a couple of years ago, however the pc's kept comming back in with faulty drives, we would then replace them under warranty, after doing this 10-15 times the RA guy got sick of it and we decided to switch to WD, in saying that we have had a couple of duff WD drives too, but nothing on the scale of the seagate fiasco. One customer was a professional photographer who lost a couple months worth of work, sure he should have been backing up, but you try and tell an angry customer that!
Its only my opinion. Drive technology gets better all the time and seagate may have got there act together but the reliability of WD is unquestionable, sure you are going to get bad drives occasionaly but who says that wasnt due to heat, knocking the drive while on etc etc.

Bung

2543 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 340

Reply # 158681 21-Aug-2008 14:20

Lias: 1 Bad sector on a hard drive is too many, as others have said return it under warranty.

Since it's impossible to make a disk without any bad sectors the disks have spare capacity built in. Bad sectors are remapped to use one of the spares. Whether another bad sector appearing after the disk is in use is a terminal defect is debateable. Some of the problems seem to be OS related, wiped clean the drives TOK.

garvani: wow tough crowd! ive never seen so many seagate supporters..

A couple of years ago is ancient history. It's foolish to blindly trust any brand as there's apparently more difference between different models or batches of the same brand than between brands.

Jonski

242 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 29

Reply # 158704 21-Aug-2008 15:09

Bung:
Lias: 1 Bad sector on a hard drive is too many, as others have said return it under warranty.

Since it's impossible to make a disk without any bad sectors the disks have spare capacity built in. Bad sectors are remapped to use one of the spares. Whether another bad sector appearing after the disk is in use is a terminal defect is debateable. Some of the problems seem to be OS related, wiped clean the drives TOK.

One word in support: Spinrite.

Cheers
Jon

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

pando

235 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 158713 21-Aug-2008 15:29

I've been using WD since the seagate drive died in my 486 back in 97, never had a WD issue in the plethora of drives i've had, two of which survived a house fire.

I'd also be more inclined to suspect that receiving 4 DOA drives would be an indication of poor courier/shipping/handling care.

Lias

3365 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1841

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 158839 22-Aug-2008 00:04

Since it's impossible to make a disk without any bad sectors the disks have spare capacity built in. Bad sectors are remapped to use one of the spares. Whether another bad sector appearing after the disk is in use is a terminal defect is debateable. Some of the problems seem to be OS related, wiped clean the drives TOK.

If the remapped sector count of a drive increases beyond what it ships from the factory, you should return it for a replacement. I certainly do and have never been denied an RMA.. This isnt the good old days of MFM boatanchors which shipped with a list of bad secotrs printed nicely on top of them.

A couple of years ago is ancient history. It's foolish to blindly trust any brand as there's apparently more difference between different models or batches of the same brand than between brands.

I learnt that lesson the hardway years ago.. I used to be a rabid IBM storage fanboi.. The grief I copped when 75gxp's came out lol.

Information wants to be free. The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.