HDD check?

A question, before a fresh install of W7 Pro 32 bit how should I dive be prepared........zero fill format?

Thanks.

Should I run this tool for extended test and write zeros?

Whats the significance of writing zeros and is performed boot time or real time?

Thanks.

It wont let me write zeros?

paul1149 said:

Extended test looks good. Why did you abort first try? Remember, though, the Smart tests are not perfect. Have backups, and you needn't worry.

Whats the issue with Smart tests......how can they be rectified?

Thanks.

Macrium is fine. The drive looks good. The Smart system, though, is not failsafe. It's mostly predictive, until the drive begins rapidly failing and then it can tell you how fast it's going down. So always back up.

I don't see the need to write 0s, but it wouldn't hurt. The Blue is an old system drive no longer used as system? HDScan will write zeros if WDD won't.

Do you think both drives are fine and no real need to place an order to replace?

How do I prepare them before installing W7?

How do I write zeros?

How do I rectify the smart test results?

The extended on the Black one stalled for a while at 90, ETA 0 secs??

Blue one went smooth all the way.

Do I need to run WD Diag tools tests too?

Thanks.

paul1149 said:

Macrium is fine. The drive looks good. The Smart system, though, is not failsafe. It's mostly predictive, until the drive begins rapidly failing and then it can tell you how fast it's going down. So always back up.

I don't see the need to write 0s, but it wouldn't hurt. The Blue is an old system drive no longer used as system? HDScan will write zeros if WDD won't.

By Smart System you mean the 2 mins test?

Whats an HDScan?

Thanks.

smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [i686-w64-mingw32-win7-sp1] (sf-5.43-1)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, smartmontools

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Scorpio Black
Device Model: WDC WD3200BEKT-75PVMT1
Serial Number: WD-WX51A9221461
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 6ad9bea49
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
User Capacity: 320,072,933,376 bytes [320 GB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is: Mon May 04 05:05:37 2015 PST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 6360) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 66) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x7035) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 162 157 021 Pre-fail Always - 866
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 301
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 181
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 301
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 282
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 95
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 1817
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 105 097 000 Old_age Always - 38
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0
240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 170
241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 990063156
242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2278382945
254 Free_Fall_Sensor 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 181 -
# 2 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 181 -
# 3 Extended offline Aborted by host 90% 179 -
# 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 179 -
# 5 Short offline Completed without error 00% 175 -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

HDScan is another prog. I don't think WDD is going to do anything more than what GSC already has. Normally it is not necessary to wipe the drive before an install. The smart results are what they are. They are good here, so your job is done.

paul1149 said:

HDScan is another prog. I don't think WDD is going to do anything more than what GSC already has. Normally it is not necessary to wipe the drive before an install. The smart results are what they are. They are good here, so your job is done.

I agree, HDScan is a great prog like GSmart. I clicked erase for 2 secs using HDScan and and the lap wont start.....no bootable OS......highly sensitive.

A few questions:

1. Are the Smart results good enough, or show slowly failing drives. The difference between Blue and Black is Buffer size.......Black having 16 MB and Blue 8 MB........if they show signs of slow failure should I place an order for 2 X Blacks?

2. Do you use W7 or a dual boot with Linux?

Thanks.