External HDD CRC warning Question

[rovopio]

so... im an average not-good in computers end-user. usually i check my hdd health with crystaldisk from time to time.

a week ago i had "warning" from crystal disk for my Transcend External hdd. crystal disk yellow highlight current pending sector count, values 1.

Did a lot of google to learn what's the next step i should do.

what i've been doing since::
installed hdtune pro, moved my data to another external hdd
did a low-level format from my transcend tools
and then my current pending sector count disappeared. (from 1 moved to 0)
However, Reallocated Event Count doesn't moved up to 1. as written on some answers from google-fu. the Reallocated Event Count is still 0

when i checked hdtune pro, there's another yellow highlight, calibration retry count 9.
on any other hdd diagnostics than hdtunepro... all stats are good, only HDTunepro reported warning, image below.

Now my question is.... should i RMA my external HDD given these stats below?

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im asking here about RMA because here in SEA, after-sales service is not as good as in other parts of the world.
I don't wanna deal with the hassle of waiting something like 2-4 months to get the RMA, not to mention, sometimes some distributor seems not to give new goods, instead giving other end-user broken goods and just swap one-another, after the aforementioned waiting period.
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So... yeah, need help from you guys

thankss

After LLF... current pending sector count is 0 (from 1) yet Reallocated event count is also still 0, does this mean the HDD is healthy and the current pending sector count was a fluke?

 

[generalmx]

Never RMA HDDs based only on short tests: the longer tests are much more conclusive and in some cases can even fix problems that may allow you to at least get data off and/or forgo the RMA. The tool I most often use for conclusive bad HDD (excluding click-of-death) is HDAT found in Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/). Note with UBCD you also eliminate both Windows and your drivers as a possible point of error. So with HDAT, if you do the "Most powerful test (non-destructive)" and there's no errors, then it should be good.

Both recoverable and even unrecoverable errors happen normally very intermittently in a HDD's lifespan and aren't necessarily cause to RMA. But if they happen in a thorough test, then there's cause for concern (since a thorough test means checking in THREE different ways, even checking again on error).

 

[rovopio]

i tried LLF with transcend tools and current pending sector count reverts to zero while reallocated sector count stays at zero
i've also tried long generic test with seatools and long scan with hdtunepro as well, and it reported nothing. its good.

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should i back up my hdd content before i do that ultimate boot cd hdat?

 

[generalmx]

i tried LLF with transcend tools and current pending sector count reverts to zero while reallocated sector count stays at zero
i've also tried long generic test with seatools and long scan with hdtunepro as well, and it reported nothing. its good.

===
should i back up my hdd content before i do that ultimate boot cd hdat?

There's always a chance doing a thorough test may push an already dying component over the edge, however it's pretty unlikely if it's passing the shorter tests like this. So as long as you make double-sure you pick the "Non-Destructive" test, you should be good (HDAT will even beep at you and ask you to confirm with a 'Y' if you mistakenly try to select the "Destructive" one that WILL wipe your data)

 

[razel]

If the Seagate short and long tests are fine, then leave it be. If I were you, I would actually try and carefully remove the drive from the enclosure and run in straight SATA with a short, known good SATA cable and rerun the tests.

Of course, that could kill your warranty. So as you stated, yes, do backup your stuff and prepare so that we don't get a future *I lost my data* thread.

 

[razel]

Just noticed you said you're in SEA... South East Asia? Power tends to be pretty dirty too often over there. Sometimes you may not even get a ground.

I have sympathy for you. I have relatives in SEA and my last trip all I did was repair laptops. While working on one, I touched the side with my finger near a USB port and it shocked me. They said that sometimes happens when plugged in some outlets. I looked at the plug. They removed the ground pin from the plug to make it more convenient.

It was an American laptop, original power adapter UL listed... modified AC plug running at 220v. Point being... really have backups out there.

 

[rovopio]

the worst part is the aftersales service really. no buyer's remorse, no return of defect goods, i just bought a laptop, 3 days in the audio jack and usb port acting up, i cant return the goods, they only replace my motherboard.

when the technician opened the laptop, he broke the palmrest/casing lock, and now i hv to wait for it.

buyer protection be damned. no BBB here either. but my house has a decent grounding. no problems with grounding here, though brownouts happens.

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yeah so on the topic my hours of google search yields very little result about calibration retry count warning, and considering there is no rep office here, the company appointed distributor could make me wait for 2-4 months for an RMA.

so if i have to rma, i'd buy new drive. but if the drive is healthy, i'd probably just keep using it until it dies naturally.

 

[rovopio]

i did a long test on seatools and hdtunepro, it came back okay. i didnt try the HDAT software because it has to be done on DOS, and i hv no clue at all how to make my laptop boost on DOS hehe.

any other tests i should do to check if my transcend external is okay to use and the calibration warning is ignorable or not......

cheers