Zigen Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Hi Folks,I installed a program HD Tune Pro to check on the health status of my desktop hard drives, one of my drives has been reported as having 3 damaged sectors and has been reallocated by spare ones. My question is, about how many spare sectors does a standard SATA hard drive have? How many sectors can go bad before there is no more spare allocation and then the drive starts to fail? My hard drive is some Samsung model. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 (edited) My understanding is that your drive doesn't have any 'spare' sectors. HD Tune Pro will mark the bad to stop them being used and use other sectors thereby slightly reducing the overall capacity of the drive.If you get more bad sectors I would think about replacing the drive. Edited November 7, 2013 by Chancer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajdibi Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I replace my harddrives at the sign of the first bad sector. As soon as I see any bad sectors, even just one, I order a new harddrive to replace it immediately. While waiting for the new harddrive to be delivered, I backup all my data. That way if anything happens in the meantime, I still have my data backed up.Once harddrive start developing bad sectors, it just gets worse and worse until the drive eventually dies. It's up to you to decide if you can afford to lose the data on the drive and try to keep the drive spinning for a lttle longer - myself, I wouldn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davmil Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Most drives have some bad sectors is my experience. What matters is if the number is going up which, as above, indicates it's getting worse (typically the seal is leaking, air's getting in and it's rusting). I see TB drives for $39 this week in the Sunday paper, so there's no value in pushing a weak hand if it is failing. And, as above, if you've got anything on your computer you care about, keep a backup all the time - no excuses. Go buy one of those $39 drives and an external caddy and make yourself an image weekly with something like Acronis or free equivalent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeMasteR Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 There is no overall value for every drive, it's different, from drive to drive. High quality drives usually can replace or remap more bad sectors with hidden reserve sectors then others and as long as there isn't any more bad sector there is nothing to worry about but it isn't really a question of the price tag, it just depends on the drives/quality at all. If you have more bad sectors that cannot be remapped anymore (even a single one), you should start to look for a replacement just in case because that is the beginning of unpredictable problems in the future, like (if it's your main drive) a unbootable system over night.Also it's the same with an antivirus, don't judge after a single inspection, not that HD Tune is garbage but you should use alternatives to verify the health status, a single judgement isn't good enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jalaffa Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Interesting thread since my oldest (most used) drive has reported errors for a long time. I've backed up the important stuff. Ditching it just because... I'm a bit sceptical about. But maybe I should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I take a different approach. I have a backup strategy for all my data, there is at least one copy of all files and two for important ones. That way I can be 'relaxed' about drive errors until they get problematic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazigh Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 This topic may help: http://www.nsaneforums.com/topic/161073-question-about-hdd-alert/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eurobyn Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 one warning is , replace the harddisk.make backups as soon you can.replace this harddrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.