SMART data question for filing drive

Hodders

Hodders

Hodders

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I have a WD 3TB green drive that is about 4 months old.

It sits in an Esata caddy and recently has started to throw errors when the backup process tries to write backups to it.

The DLDiag program test show:

Smart test - pass
Quick test - pass
Extended test - FAILS with "too many bad sectors"

Question 1) How can the smart data not show an issue when the drive is clearly failing - surely it would have tried to re-allocate sectors and run out of it's 'spare' sectors and flagged a smart error ?

Question 2) It is clearly under warranty as it is only 5 months old. SO I get a replacement drive from WD. BUT will this replacement be reliable or just a failed drive that has been 'reset' ? Should I just buy a new one ?

Cheers guys !
 
I think the "smart test" and "quick test" are relatively quick tests that check the electronics and mechanics, and only sample a small proportion of the disk's sectors. The extended test will be checking every sector and has obviously found enough problems to fail the overall test. If the drive is not reporting a SMART problem then I'd guess that maybe DLDiag has a lower threshold for how many bad sectors are tolerated (?)

It seems a no-brainer to get it replaced under warranty and you may get a brand new one, but a recertified one should be a fully repaired and retested (though I'd probably give it an extended soak test before putting anything on it).

TBH, disks can fail at any time whatever their history and having an extra extra backup is often worth the peace of mind given how much the disks cost.

Does the raw SMART data show anything interesting about the problem?
 
Raw smart data is fine. I formatted the drive before sendibg it in and ran the test once more. It passed :-(

Running it once again but if it passes i then have a drive i cant trust and no real chance of a warranty exchange.
 
I've only had to use WD's RMA process a couple of times over the years but my experience has been very good. The 'view test result' option should show the pass/fail history of the tests carried out - if you include a copy of this showing the failure then I'd be surprised if WD refused to exchange it.
You could always ask them a support question to confirm that they will replace it given the circumstances - you could then do the advance RMA without worrying about being charged.
 
wonko said:
I've only had to use WD's RMA process a couple of times over the years but my experience has been very good. The 'view test result' option should show the pass/fail history of the tests carried out - if you include a copy of this showing the failure then I'd be surprised if WD refused to exchange it.
You could always ask them a support question to confirm that they will replace it given the circumstances - you could then do the advance RMA without worrying about being charged.
Click to expand...

Good idea - I've submitted the request - thanks.
 
Western Digital RMA update

So I submitted the old drive (postage £12) and 2 weeks later an RMA replacement turns up.

Plug it in and it wont format (low level as I want the sector checking). Try it on another motherboard same error. Gets to about 70% format complete and then throws hundreds of event log errors.

System Error - Disk - ID 15 "The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR5, is not ready for access yet."

So submitted an RMA for the RMA and asked for a NEW drive as the RMA replacements do indeed appear to be reconditioned rubbish.

The original drive was only 4 months old - would OcUK replace it with a new one for me ?
 
That's bad luck... hope you get it sorted.

Are you testing the disk connected directly to the motherboard(s) sata ports? Could it a dodgy cable or the esata caddy that's been causing the problems?
 
Got any further - PAH.

1st RMA drive failed to low level format directly attached to two systems.

Raised RMA to cover the RMA drive

2nd RMA drive ALSO FAILS TO LOW LEVEL FORMAT in both PCs

NB. The replacement new drive fiormatted fine and is working well.

CONCLUSION - the WD RMA process is useless. If your drive fails just throw it away and forget about RMAing it.

2 RMA drives were both uselsss. Cannot be coincidence
 
Wow!! Don't be placing any bets on the Grand National this year.

Seems to me some of us have the luck of a second-hand brick. I feel for ya!
 
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