8 Reallocated Sectors, Bad?

[kosokuadam]

Today my SMART reader gave me a readout of 8 reallocated sectors. Is this cause to worry about?

 

[logicearth]

Is your computer having issues? Crashing, making sounds, and or shooting lasers?

 

[kosokuadam]

Nope none of those; I'm just worried because a) as I take it, any reallocated sectors means higher likelihood of failure in the near future b) I lost a previous HDD to bad sectors a year into its life, and I remain pretty unsure about what causes them.

 

[logicearth]

If you are that concerned run chkdsk http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html

 

[mjf]

In addition to checking the current status of your HDD you should keep an eye on how the reallocated sector count changes over time. If it stays the same over many months then maybe you don't have a serious problem.
You can use your current tool or try
CrystalDisk Info which I find useful
You can set your current sector count levels to their present level then set a warning alert say 2 sectors more for reallocated sectors.
(go. Function>Health Status settings).

 

[kosokuadam]

I actually already use CrystalDisk Info. I'll do that, though; I suppose there'd be cause for warning if it does go up?

 

[mjf]

I actually already use CrystalDisk Info. I'll do that, though; I suppose there'd be cause for warning if it does go up?

If it was my HDD and it was giving me one reallocated sector per month (subjective figure!) I'd retire the disk and keep the control board as a spare.

 

[fseal]

Yeah it's entirely possible that the drive shipped that way.

Only tracking it over time can tell...

 

[GeneO]

Keep an eye on it and make sure you make regular backups.

 

[seekermeister]

If the drive was still under warranty, I'd RMA it. If not, I would tend to agree with mjf. If you wait until it fails, or corrupts your system too extensively, you might regret it.

 

[arkhi]

Keep a good look out for it, and do backups more often. Reallocated sectors=bad sectors=dying hard disk, though not necessarily dying.

On my experience, I ignored the bad sectors. I mean, 8kb of bad sectors isn't that bad, right? To my dismay, it slowly started growing over the weeks. Then I started getting CRC errors when opening some files. Next thing I knew my HDD died and I lost everything permanently. I should've known better; I was 14. But meh, these experiences make you learn and helps you warn people too