Windows 7 - Time to change internal hd?

Dear friends,
I have used an utility "Crystal disk info"to compare the health status of my Desktop and Laptop Internal HDs! I request you to give your informed advise whether i "should" bite the bullet and change the HD in the lappy? Kindly view the snaps below:

Regards,
Sreedhav

I have a back up drive that reported just as your is , It also has 29882 hours on it and 1975 power on counts. I backed up the data did a disk wipe tossed the data back on it and it reports ok.

You may want to try that before you replace the drive

My informed advice is as follows:

1) Dont ditch the drive straight away, keep an eye on it- if the reallocated sector count keeps going up the drive is finding and mapping out more and more bad sectors.

2) Backup any critical data- in any case one should always do that irrespective of that count. You can even keep an image handy (make it with macrium reflect) so you can restore to a new drive in a jiffy if required.

3) Dont rely on just one tool. Check with WD lifeguard and other HDD tools to cross-verify.

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

Dear diehrd,

Thanks mate! The above snaps were taken after a disk scrub by "ERASER" In fact, i did the same thing before(as you outlined) when Acronis Disk Monitor showed the health to be 47%, way below normal!

regards,
Sreedhav

Dear Bill2,
I have taken a disk Image B&R. I am following your advise and checking the lappy's HD with WD Diagnostic tool! Thanks a lot!

Regards,
Sreedhav

Dear Bill2 (& diehrd),
the Western DigitalDiagnostic tool site ,for which you so kindly gave the link to, proved PRICELESS!. Your informed advise too was of real help. I did the SHORT and "EXTENDED" tests on the 320GB HD and it scanned everysingle sector which amounted to 625 MILLIONS and the HD PASSED THE TEST WITH FLYING COLORS as the snaps below will show.The reason why it took me so long to get back with the results was solely b'cause, it took >6 hours for the "EXTENDED TEST" TO BE COMPLETED! sorry for all the bold type,it's purely for emphasis.

Dear Bill2, what's your take now on these generalized HD performance tests? I have concluded that it is always wise to go to the manufacturer's site and use their diagnostic tools!

Unless there are very clear evidences, like noises emanating from the PC or Laptop, etc, it would be wise to either post the prob. here or run a test using the tool from the manufacturer's site ! It took me SIX hours and a little more to complete the test, but it left me a relieved man ! I again would like to say "THANKS" to Bill2 for the advise ! Kindly view this snap too:

Regards,
DR.Sreedhav

That does muddy the waters doesnt it? Crystaldiskinfo uses 3 different thresholds for that count and these can be set by the user, I'm not sure technically which is the best applicable. Particularly since the WD diagnostic passes. Is the WD test count the same?

See this thread also, its similar to your issue.

Hard Drive Issue - "Reallocated Sectors Count"

I would stick to my earlier advice- watch for sudden increases in the reallocated sector count, those indicate a deteriorating drive. If this drive is under warranty, you can try get it replaced if that happens. In the meantime make sure your data is backed up.

Now that my curiosity is aroused to dangerous levels, i felt the need to share with you out there, CAN WE PREDICT A FAILING HD? I G-D around and came across this nice article : How to Tell When Your Hard Drive is Going to Fail

WHY DO HDs FAIL?

1) Logical Failures

2) Media Failures

3) Head Failures

4) Mechanical Failures

It's not always that we get to hear or identify HD "failing" symptoms. Below are a few!

A) Strange Noises

B) Disappearing Data and Disk Errors

C) Your computer stops recognizing your drive

D) Computer Crashes

E) Really Slow Access Times

" Sound is a great indicator. As soon as the sound changes from the norm, or you get plenty of clicking and grinding from your hard drive, you need to power it down immediately. Get to know the sound of your hard drive while it’s young and in working order, because you’ll need to be able to hear the slightest differences when it gets older."
All the headings and prose are the copyright of the above mentioned link! I sincerely request you to read the article in it's entirety"! I will take leave with a comforting sentence"HARD DRIVES ARE INCREDIBLY SENSITIVE BITS OF HARDWARE"!
REGARDS,
Sreedhav.

Dear Bill2,
You have received so many Rep. points and i've added one more! If it were not for your advise IN THE FIRST PLACE, i too would have become"SLEEPLESS"! I regularly backup the data (Image backup) and i am a fan of Mac-reflect! Not only that, i am a fanatic when it comes to "creating" restore points, before any major change to the PC!

The one single advise, i would like to pass on to those(presumably) not in the know, is to allot at least 10-20% of the C: partition space to "SYSTEM RESTORE", or otherwise the earlier very useful restore points will be automatically deleted and you will be left wondering "what happened to all those restore points i created 2 days back? Not a funny issue at all, isn't it?