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Current Pending Sector Count w/new WD Red [updated]

Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
I bought a new 2TB WD Red drive earlier this year and installed it in my HTPC as a backup to the Seagate 2TB drive. Pretty much immediately out of the box, using CrystalDisk, it showed a single Current Pending Sector Count error. I didn't think much of it at the time but I'm wondering about it now.... it hasn't gone away, nor has it gotten worse. The drive is at 95% capacity.

Chk Disk didn't help it any. I'm fixing to install and run WD's DLG and see if it gets me anywhere.

Wiping the disk and reformatting it is possible, it's just a backup disk that I can recopy off the source disk if need be.

...anyone have any tips? I'm not as familiar with this kind of stuff as I would like, and I don't want to screw anything up.

EDIT: Hmmmm... me thinks DLG isn't compatible with the Red drives... or it's completely borked.
 
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Normally, any warning/error that SMART shows is cause to RMA the drive, especially if it was new.

What is DLG doing that makes you think it is borked ?
 
Is DLG a bootable tool? Is the controller set to AHCI in the BIOS? A single pending sector count isn't in itself too bad but Elixer's right, brand new drives shouldn't have anything counted in SMART. Overall I wouldn't worry about it since it hasn't gotten any worse in months.
 
I had an 8 month old 2TB Seagate that threw a Current Pending Sector error into SMART about a month ago. I moved the data onto a backup a drive except for one file that refused to move due to the bad sector(s) and did a long format. Haven't had any issues yet. I check the SMART report on that drive about 3 times a week and it's been completely clear so far.
 
I read that on the WD forum but it was from a older post.

The short test fails: Status Code = 07 (Failed read test element,) Failure Checkpoint = 97 (unknown test.)

I have the long test running now...

Next step will to be long format... 🙁
 
A pending sector isn't necessarily a bad sector. I just means that the data from that sector failed the checksum. This could mean that the sector is bad, or it could mean that the data's been corrupted, or it could mean that the CRC's been corrupted.

When the drive encounters an error when writing, it's pretty straightforward--it knows the sector is bad and reallocates it. But when the error happens during a read, there is no way for the drive to know without a write whether the sector is really bad (it's not like the head can visually inspect the platter--all it can do is take in magnetic data and see if it's CRC-consistent), which is why it instead gets put into this "pending" limbo and why drives even bother to make the distinction between pending reallocation and completed reallocation.

So a write is needed to determine if it's actually bad, but the drive isn't going to perform such a test because it would destroy any data that may exist in that sector. You need to somehow force a write to that sector, and one way to do that is through a low-level format of the drive. If the sector really is bad, it goes from a sector pending reallocation to a sector that has been reallocated, and if it turns out that the sector still works, the sector is returned to duty; either way, the sector leaves this limbo and the pending count decreases.

So how might a good sector get caught in pending? One possibility is if there is a fluctuation in power while the drive is working, causing the head to flip some bits that shouldn't have been flipped. This causes a CRC error, but since the drive has no way of knowing if this is the result of actual physical damage, it moves the sector to pending. This has happened to me once.
 
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When the drive encounters an error when writing, it's pretty straightforward--it knows the sector is bad and reallocates it. But when the error happens during a read, there is no way for the drive to know without a write whether the sector is really bad (it's not like the head can visually inspect the platter--all it can do is take in magnetic data and see if it's CRC-consistent), which is why it instead gets put into this "pending" limbo and why drives even bother to make the distinction between pending reallocation and completed reallocation.

So a write is needed to determine if it's actually bad, but the drive isn't going to perform such a test because it would destroy any data that may exist in that sector. You need to somehow force a write to that sector, and one way to do that is through a low-level format of the drive. If the sector really is bad, it goes from a sector pending reallocation to a sector that has been reallocated, and if it turns out that the sector still works, the sector is returned to duty; either way, the sector leaves this limbo and the pending count decreases.
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Thank you for the explanation... it helps!

I wish I would have run a SMART test on it before I started loading data on it, that way I would know for sure. If nothing turns up after the long DLG test, I'll zero the drive and try it again...
 
Update:

The drive failed the long WD test so I zero-filled it and then long reformatted it. It changed the single Pending Sector into 8 Reallocated Sectors....
 
Sorry to hear that. It will depend on your tolerance for risk and others I'm sure will way in. At the minimum, its prudent to do periodic testing and watch for an increase. Perhaps weekly or monthly testing.

When was the last time you tested to confirm your backups? Perhaps its a good reason to upgrade if you are at 95% capacity.

fyi, DLG Diag for DOS v 5.20 (latest) about 1 year newer 12/2012.
DLG Diag for Windows v1.24 (latest) is 7/2011
 
smangular said:
When was the last time you tested to confirm your backups? Perhaps its a good reason to upgrade if you are at 95% capacity.
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It's nothing Uber valuable, it's the backup for the main media drive in my HTPC... but it's there for a reason, and I didn't pay $100 just to get a bad drive.

Non-zero reallocated sector count? RMA time!
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I concur... time to start the RMA process...
 
Well... mixed bag. Sent my 2TB Red off to WD, today I got my replacement back... of course it's a recertified drive. But. It's a 3TB Red... blocked off to 2TB useable partition. I hit it with Acronis and wiped out the partitions, so I at least have a used 3TB drive for the price of a new 2TB... 🙁

Have it running in the WD DLG right now to make sure it's OK...
 
code65536 said:
Non-zero reallocated sector count? RMA time!
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Debatable, I still have a working IBM Deskstar (colloquially called Deathstar) that is a good eleven years old that has had 32 reallocated sectors for years. I got lucky with that one. The only drive that's ever died on me was a Seagate 7200.10.
 
I've had pretty good luck with recertified drives. Got a few that are a few years ols and still perfect.
 
This one was recert'ed about two weeks ago... We will see. It just irks me... Both my less-than-one-year-old drives, a Samsung 840Pro and this WD Red, were replaced with refurb units. I know, that's what the warranty says...
 
>It just irks me... Both my less-than-one-year-old drives, a Samsung 840Pro and this WD Red, were replaced with refurb units.

Hum, Do you have a high quality power supply? Even slightly poor power makes a big difference. Seasonic and Corsair power supplies are recommended.
 
Charlie98 said:
This one was recert'ed about two weeks ago... We will see. It just irks me... Both my less-than-one-year-old drives, a Samsung 840Pro and this WD Red, were replaced with refurb units. I know, that's what the warranty says...
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Yeah, and it is also why you should return the product back to where you bought it, if it failed in the first 30 days (or whatever the return period the vendor has).

I at first thought that getting a refurb, means that it has passed all tests, and will have no issues.
Then I had lots of back-2-back DOA units, or devices that again developed problems that the original drive had.

They should replace new units with new units, not refurbs.
 
smangular said:
Corsair TX750...


Yeah, and it is also why you should return the product back to where you bought it, if it failed in the first 30 days (or whatever the return period the vendor has).

I at first thought that getting a refurb, means that it has passed all tests, and will have no issues.
Then I had lots of back-2-back DOA units, or devices that again developed problems that the original drive had.

They should replace new units with new units, not refurbs.
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I should have sent the Red back to Newegg as soon as the pending sector count came up. It's a redundant drive (backup for media) so I wasn't too worried about it. The Samsung has been in use since January so it had to go back to Samsung.

I think there should be a reasonable amount of time where they should replace it with a new drive... say 2 years on a 5 year warranty, or 1 year on a 3 year. But that's me...
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