Bad sector cause for RMA?

Shash

Shash

Shash

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Joined
7 Nov 2007
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492
Hi there, sorry if this has already been asked, but I have a Samsung Spinpoint 500T Model Number HD501LJ and recently it had been clicking when trying to access a particular file. It would also cause my o&o defrag install to freeze when it hit that file. So I ran chkdsk deep scan and found a bad sector which it then repaired and the drive seems to be ok.

I'm running another scan in HDtune to check that it's fixed, but I was wondering if I should RMA the drive as I remember reading that developing even one bad sector is a really bad sign (more to come?).

I was also wondering if I am limited to buying a new hard drive to back up the data on it? (I haven't got enough other storage to save the full 500gb) or is it possible to RMA and recieve a new drive before sending this one off so ghost my data to before I get this one replaced?

Thanks for any advice! :(
 
ChrisLX200 said:
Well I wouldn't have it in my system if it's showing bad sectors. HDs have 'spare' sectors used to automatically map out any bad sectors when it's first low-level formatted, you do not normally see these. Your drive must have used all of those already. Run the diagnostic and see what it reports.
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/utilities/Support_HUTIL.html
Click to expand...
Hi there, after reading various reports of it rendering peoples drives unusable even after finding no errors as well as them losing a load of data (it has a disclaimer when you start it). I am hesistant to run this tool, should I just buy another drive and back up onto that before trying to diagnose this one?
 
imo bad sectors are a sign the drive isnt going to last long. And clicking as you describe means its going to fail, it could fail in 3 months it could fail in the next 3 seconds. Back up any files NOW and send it back.

A properly working drive doesn't have dodgy sectors.
 
Your drive's faulty anyway, it might lose data. However, you don't have to run the write test which is the one that does the damage, reading from the drive shouldn't make it any worse than it is. The advantage of running it is that it gives you a definitive FAIL message, leaves you in no doubt, and you can quote it for RMA and no-one will question it.
 
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