Reallocated Sectors Count: SMART info Plus low level format question

[Artista]

Since i was installing a OCZ SSD I got the program CrystalDiskInfo and it said one of my current disks is at a "caution" level. Threshold for warning was "5" which I assume is more than five sectors reallocated.

It is a older SATA 160Gb but none the less I store stuff on it so I moved it off, deleted the partition, repartitioned it and low level formated it, then high level "windows" formatted it. Did not change the warning.

Also the program I used to low level format is: a low level format program from "hddguru.com

So just throw out the hard drive?

Also the program info said not NOT to low level format a new hard drive. Why?

 

[razel]

Low level format's definition has changed. Nearly 20 years ago a low level format was done to change the interleave of a drive to maximize it's performance for your PC. It was like tuning. I'm not quite sure these days if the general consumer can low level format a drive anymore.

CrystalDiskInfo is just giving a general idea of the drive's health. It's not exact. You cannot change the warning. I would download the drive manufacturer's diagnosis utility to truly find out it's state. If it passes the short, quick SMART test, I'd leave it be. If they don't provide one there is a way for you to test it's health for yourself, but it can be so time consuming and I'd only do it educational purposes. It requires zero-ing the drive, taking a screen of the SMART status, zero-ing again, then comparing the SMART status to the 1st run.

 

[Mark R]

Since i was installing a OCZ SSD I got the program CrystalDiskInfo and it said one of my current disks is at a "caution" level. Threshold for warning was "5" which I assume is more than five sectors reallocated.

It is a older SATA 160Gb but none the less I store stuff on it so I moved it off, deleted the partition, repartitioned it and low level formated it, then high level "windows" formatted it. Did not change the warning.

It won't. You can't change the SMART data. Once a sector has been reallocated, the reallocation is permanent.

Also the program I used to low level format is: a low level format program from "hddguru.com

So just throw out the hard drive?

There's no need to throw the drive out. Hard drives will develop reallocated sectors over time and use. This is normal, although it shouldn't happen often.

Most SMART monitoring programs are extremely sensitive, and will give you a 'warning' even if there is 1 reallocated sector (even though the hard drive might have a threshold of 1000 before it registers an abnormal condition).

It's up to you whether you want to continue using it. Theoretically, the drive is at slightly higher risk of developing problems, now that it has started to develop reallocated sectors. In practice, this is such a vague symptom that it doesn't really mean much. Considering that the drive is very old anyway, it would be good practice to replace the drive if you are concerned, as the drive is older than its design life time.

Also the program info said not NOT to low level format a new hard drive. Why?

You can't low level format a hard drive. It's impossible.

What you probably mean by 'low level format' is wiping the data on the drive. This is time consuming, and unnecessary. However, it doesn't do any harm, and it has the very small advantage of making sure that every sector on the drive is rewritten, so that if there are any sectors that might need reallocation in the near future, they get reallocated immediately.

 

[Artista]

thanks. Guess I will buy a cheap 500Gb or Tb hardrive as this is going to be my "back up" system.

I have just over 30 thousand hours on it.