SSD Failed S.M.A.R.T Test

mof · 10 Apr 2016 at 21:54

I've been getting crashes in games quite frequently in the last month which I didn't experience much in the last few years. Usually I can still use the task manager or restart windows if I can get to the task manager.

All my hardware is new except for the two SSDs and an HDD so I've just used Sea Tools (for windows) to test them and the OCZ Vertex 3 LP (7mm) 120GB SA SSD failed the SMART test whereas the other two passed it. The OCZ has the OS (windows 10) on it.

Does this mean that drive is on it's way out and is that the probably the cause of the crashes I've experienced?

I found a post on a different forum where they were going to send their SSD back to the manufacturer but my one is over 3 years old so I don't know if the warranty will cover it.

Disco_P · 11 Apr 2016 at 10:48

Firstly back up the data in case it just fails. Pre-toshiba ocz had a terrible reputation for drives failing

Post a screenshot of the smart data so we can take a look. Maybe use your other ssd as the OS drive, remove the dodgy one from the system completely and see if it changes anything.

egraphixstudios · 11 Apr 2016 at 10:53

Is it possible to do a sector by sector check on sdd's?

mof · 11 Apr 2016 at 12:40

Maybe use your other ssd as the OS drive, remove the dodgy one from the system completely and see if it changes anything.

This is what I was planning on doing but I want to make sure that I'll be able to use the same Windows product key.
I have a Windows 7 retail copy which I upgraded to 10 and then I did a clean install of Windows 10 using my Windows 7 product key so can I do that again if I install 10 on my other SSD?

Post a screenshot of the smart data so we can take a look.

Sea tools for Windows doesn't seem to give the information that I've seen other people posting from SMART info. Here's a screen shot:

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Perhaps there's some better software that I could use?

Is it possible to do a sector by sector check on sdd's?

I don't know but I'll give it a go if it's possible.

KIA · 11 Apr 2016 at 16:20

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Press alt+print scrn to take a screenshot of the window with all of the information on display.

mof · 11 Apr 2016 at 17:01

KIA said:
http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Press alt+print scrn to take a screenshot of the window with all of the information on display.

I'm getting different reults from crystal disk info - it says my 120 GB SSD is "ok" but my HDD is a "caution". The HDD is just over 5 years old whereas the SSD is just over 3 years old.

HDD:

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Possibly faulty SSD

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Other (newer) SSD

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pete910 · 11 Apr 2016 at 17:35

Have you run OCZ's tool on the drive?

mof · 11 Apr 2016 at 18:04

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According to HD tune the OCZ SSD is ok - the error check didn't find anything wrong. The HDD has a health status: warning - reallocated sector count reallocated event count. The error scan didn't find any damaged blocks though.
I might try unplugging the HDD and see if I get any crashes.

thebennyboy · 15 Apr 2016 at 23:42

Reallocated Sectors generally indicate the drive is going bad, backup and replace imo. (Or RMA if it's still in warranty).

You should buy a copy of Hard Disk Sentinel, worth its weight in gold. Has saved my bacon (and my files) a couple of times so far. It'll continually monitor all your drives and warn you if something bad is detected on the drives.

mof · 17 Apr 2016 at 17:03

I think there could be a problem with the sata ports on my motherboard. I've just installed a new HDD to replace the one with the reallocated sectors and when I did that I also swapped all the SATA cables for new ones and I ended up plugging the drives into different ports.

The 120GB SSD which previously failed the SMART is now passing it whereas the 512GB SSD which passed it previously is now failing it so I think I must have swapped the two ports.

If this is true is it a big deal? Is it worth RMAing for that?