Hard Disk question. Is that possible to have bad sectors on Hdd for just using it about 6 months???

[stingbandel]

Hi, I bought Maxtor Hdd the 30 gigs one, Ultra DMA 66/7200 RPM several months ago. Now after scan disk the hdd, I see there are bad sectors on it. Is that possible to have bad sector on Maxtor hdd for using it about 6 months? I've had IBM drive for 5 years and never see any bad sectors on it. Please respond me if you have similar problem as mine. Thanks

Darno

Update: I just called Maxtor in Singapore and they said they would give me a replacement with a refurbish one. Is this the case if you RMA it in USA? Let me know about this ok. Thanks

 

[Fathom4]

Yes it's possible but may or may not be a problem. Keep an eye on it and see if this is an isloated instance or if you continue to get additional bad sectors.

I've had hard drives get bad sectors right away like but continue to work with no further problems for years.

 

[neil]

yes,
i went though 4 western digial HD's, it would start with a couple of bad sectors, then the drive would be infested with bad sectors.

All drives die with in 5 to 12 months.

 

[Engine]

On a Maxtor? Yep That's why, no matter how fast, cheap, and big their hard drives are, I don't know that I'll ever get a Maxtor drive.

 

[dkozloski]

Sometimes a scan program will report and remap sectors as being bad when what has actually happened is that the data read there during the scan is corrupted for another reason. Sometimes a low-level format, an fdisk, and a DOS format followed by a scan will give entirely different results. I have had this happen to me several times when I had a system that was giving lots of errors and lockups for reasons related to other hardware.

 

[jinsonxu]

yes,
i went though 4 western digial HD's, it would start with a couple of bad sectors, then the drive would be infested with bad sectors.

All drives die with in 5 to 12 months.


I had the same experience. With 3 WD harddrives. WD is big on replacement though, so i rest my case. hehe

 

[stingbandel]

So does anybody know if Maxtor will replace this drive if I call them? I am kinda disapointed with the drive if there is a bad sector on it.

Darno

 

[Alphacowboy]

I would contact Maxtor, they will FedEx a new one to your door with in a couple days then you just send the bad one back. I had 2 20.1GB maxtors that where bad right out of the box multiple Bad sectors all over the drive and also have had a 5.7 a 4.3 and 2 8.4 maxtors die... I don't know if I trust them any more! And by the way... what WD drives did you have Neil... I have 2 WD 20.5GB Expert 7200 drives... not caviars... experts, they kick a$$ and I have not had any problems with them at all!

 

[Vegito]

This is what I did... a 8.4gig and after 2.5 of the 3 yr warranty, I sent it back. Received a 20gig in return.. since 8.4 is not in production or available at the time.. a gamble.

 

[Gunbuster]

It can happen out of the box or after 30 years it's just luck of the draw.

 

[medic]

Download the Diagnostic Utility from Maxtor and run it.

Here:

Tech support will require you run this first and give them the final code when it completes.

BE AWARE that this Diagnostic will WIPE your drive..so BACKUP!

 

[LiekOMG]

I've had a WD 20gig 7200rpm for a year now, no problems with that. Still have my quantum 4.3gb for about 5 years now, and not one bad sector on it. If your drive has bad sectors at such an early age, I would highly suggest getting a replacement rather than waiting for it to die on you just when your waranty expires. Besides, now while its only an isolated problem you can back up. But if you wait... well... who knows what important data will go down with the drive?

Its strange, i've had or worked with so many HD's (Quantum, Maxtor, Western Digital, Seagate, IBM, Conner (at least i think that was its name)), and i've never once seem them actually die on anyone, or even get bad sectors! Are you sure your not flinging the drive around the room?

 

[dkozloski]

I have accumulated a stack of bad 1gig Quantum SCSI drives a foot high that I just threw in the garbage. Some were the second try after being RMA'd. It's the luck of the draw as well as the fact that the working tolerances of a drive are so critical it's a wonder they work at all.

 

[Alphacowboy]

I think my problem with the MAXTOR drives was O/C. I had those on a BX board and was O/C my bus to 124 (41.3MHz PCI Bus I think) and I think that is what did it to them? Any ideas? I have heard that Maxtor drives do not work well with O/C is this really true?

 

[stingbandel]

I don't OC the drive. I already sent an email to them but haven't heard the answer yet. I'll try what CRV says about downloading the files. I have one more question, is there anyway they will give me replacement if I don't have the receipt? I threw away the receipt when I bought the drive. Since it has 3 years of warranty, so mine is still under warranty since they just make the drive for about a year maybe. So does anybody know if I can get replacement if I don't have the receipt? thanks

Darno

 

[Modus]

Yes, Maxtor (and every other drive manufacturer) provides a three year warranty from your purchase date. If you live in a big city, get in touch with their closest service centre and you can save money on shipping. They are usually very obliging when RMA'ing drives, and will often give you a larger, newer, or faster drive just to appease you.

As for bad sectors, it is true that they can sometimes be misreported by overzealous Scandisk runs or faulty Windows disk writing, but, for the most part, a bad sector is a bad sector, and it's irrepairable. A normal, working hard drive will never, ever, develop a bad sector. If you get one, you can count on getting more, because the physical integrity of the platter is probably compromised. Consider a drive with even one bad sector to be garbage, and don't think for a moment that your data is safe. Sometimes a few bad sectors will sit for months, and then one morning, you turn on the computer and BAM! The drive is hosed with them.

Alphacowboy, yeah it was probably that overclocked PCI bus that killed your drives. Maxtor's are notoriously sensitive to non standard PCI bus speeds.

Modus

 

[Alphacowboy]

The RMA phone number for MAXTOR is stamped right on the drive! Call it, they send you a new one. Make sure you run the MAXDIAG it will give you a trouble number, they will ask for this. If it finds nothing wrong just say it locks the program up and no code is unavailable. If you are really nice to the rep and talk to them like a human, they will be really cool to you... I got a 7200RPM 13GB drive from them for my 5.7 that died

 

[beat mania]

<< Consider a drive with even one bad sector to be garbage >>


hate to break it to you pal, but all drives are produced with bad sectors. They're just marked off and hidden by the manufacturer so you don't see them.

 

[Modus]

beatmania,

<<hate to break it to you pal, but all drives are produced with bad sectors. They're just marked off and hidden by the manufacturer so you don't see them.>>

I've heard this before, but I've never seen any evidence of it. Even assuming it's true, the key difference would still be that normal bad sectors marked at the factory do not eat into the advertised size of the drive, whereas bad sectors that crop up after the fact, during normal usage, always indicate physical damage to the drive.

Time and again, a drive with even one bad sector develops more. The damage is rarely an isolated incident. You shold always RMA a drive with even one bad sector, and never rely on it to hold important data.

Modus

 

[stingbandel]

Thanks Alphacowboy,I will try that as my last alternative since I move to another country. I am in Indonesia and they have an office branch in here that I can call. Since today is holiday in here so I will call tomorrow morning. If they didn't want to do it then I will call the RMA center in USA. thanks for all the helps. What I am worried about is that I don't have the receipt. So I am afraid they won't do it without the receipt. Soes anybody return their drive and get a new one without showing the receipt? Please let me know so I know how to say this in fromt of them when I talk to them. Thanks once again.

Darno

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

I would expect that they'd RMA that drive with or without the reciept. There is no way that it is passed it's warranty period.

 

[Alphacowboy]

They don't need a receipt, they go by the manufacture date on the drive if you don't have one! Its a 3year 3 month warranty

 

[medic]

Go HERE and fill out the online RMA form.
It will ask for all the info from the drive label such as Model#, Serial# ect.,your info and the code from running MaxDiag from the link above.
Be warned the MaxDiag utility will WIPE your drive when it does the write test, so backup first.

 

[stingbandel]

CRV: Thanks for the helps... I really appreciate your help and others who've helped me. No wonder you got that elite member. You deserve it.

 

[beat mania]

<<
I've heard this before, but I've never seen any evidence of it. Even assuming it's true, the key difference would still
be that normal bad sectors marked at the factory do not eat into the advertised size of the drive, whereas bad
sectors that crop up after the fact, during normal usage, always indicate physical damage to the drive.

Time and again, a drive with even one bad sector develops more. The damage is rarely an isolated incident. You
shold always RMA a drive with even one bad sector, and never rely on it to hold important data. >>



I really believe that all drives would have bad sectors. Do you really think that they can produce PERFECT platters consistently?

And who would know that the bad sectors that gets developed after 6 months isn't developed from those bad sectors during manufacturing?

And yes, when you can detect a bad sector on a drive, its time to RMA it. Unfortunately for me, these things always happen right after warranty expires.