Write zeros to hard drive?

[Muse]

I went to back up the HD in one of my Lenovo T60 laptops a week ago with Acronis True Image WD edition and it reported that it couldn't complete the backup because of bad sectors. I ran CHKDSK and it reported several bad sectors. It ran to completion and when I tried to boot the machine I could get only this:

A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

I went into the BIOS and ran the HD diagnostic utility in there and it said this:

Result Error code 0000: Read verification failed

<<< An error was found. Call for service >>>

I figured the drive was dead or dieing. Today I put the drive in a caddy and attached to my other T60 laptop and Windows 7 said the drive was unformatted and offered to format it. I figured why not? I did a full format. I then ran WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics and it passed the Quick Test and at the end of the Extended Test it said that there were bad sectors and it offered to fix them and I said OK. It then passed the next Extended Test. I downloaded and ran Crystaldiskinfo on the drive and it registered "CAUTION" for it.

Well, I'm thinking I can put it back in the machine and install XP from scratch from recovery disks. Here's my question: Is it a good idea to write zeros to the drive first? Will this make it more reliable for a longer period of time? I figure to back up immediately after I have the machine set up in case the drive does die sometime soon. I realize that XP will not be supported now, but I won't be doing any online activity with the machine and I think it's safe from intrusions once it gets current updates.

This HD is a Western Digital 320GB Scorpio Blue SATAII 5400RPM 2.5IN 8MB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive WD3200BEVT, manufactured in May 2011, so it may well be in warranty, I haven't checked that.

Thanks for any insight here.

 

[Cerb]

Check the warranty, first. It would not be a bad idea to write zeroes, but if it failed to boot like that, I wouldn't use it for anything, myself.

 

[Muse]

Check the warranty, first. It would not be a bad idea to write zeroes, but if it failed to boot like that, I wouldn't use it for anything, myself.

I just checked the "limited warranty" and it's 3 years, so it's within warranty. I bought it in Oct. 2011, so I guess I have til October to claim coverage.

So, you think I should just try the RMA process now rather than try installing an OS on it now? I guess I can make a good case to WD that the drive's bad with the evidence I have. I don't have to tell them everything! Or even if I do, I suppose I have a good case for RMA...

Edit1: I started the recovery process, pretty long because it's 8 CD's, without writing zeros first...

Edit2: I'm not worried about losing data on the drive, it's just the boot drive. There's a 2TB external HD attached to it that has my important data. The machine is acting as my 24/7 server machine on the wifi network, with lid 1/4 way up to facilitate cool operation.

 

[LtGoonRush]

Once a drive has experienced even one error such as a bad sector, the drive has failed and will need to be replaced. It used to be thought that normally functioning harddrives could experience errors at some low rate over their lives and still work, today we know that this is not true and that harddrives work without errors, and that the first error means the drive has begun to fail and should be replaced ASAP. Any time you encounter bad sectors or if a diagnostic program reports a drive error, even if it claims it is fixable, immediately stop working on the drive, recover any valuable data, and replace it. This is especially true of the drive is still under warranty.

I find Crystal Disk Info (portable edition ZIP on the download page doesn't have ads or an anime skin) VERY useful for quickly telling the health of harddrives. It has correct thresholds set so it will show "Caution" if a drive has logged errors, not only if it's logged enough to decide itself that it is dying. If a drive shows "Caution" for any item other than temperature or a normal usage indicator, that almost always means the drive is failing.

You can find more information about how SMART error logs relate to drive lifespan in the Google Labs paper "Failure trends in large disk drive populations", which was the research that first told us that much of what HDD manufacturers said about drive failures was wrong.

 

[Cerb]

If you can RMA it, RMA it, and get a working drive. That warranty was part of what you paid for originally, sending it back to them should only cost $5-8, depending on how you ship it back, and they'll do an advance RMA. You'll get back a drive that was working fine as far as WD knows. Being as old as it is, getting a recertified drive (likely) isn't a big deal. The replacement drive might work well for another few years.

 

[redzo]

If dldiag got it fixed, I don't think that the drive is eligible for the RMA process anymore. You may be in trouble. The manufacturer may not consider that the drive is faulty.

Quote from the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic Utility's user's manual:

Enter & Print RMA Information
If the hard drive is under warranty and DLGDIAG determines that the hard drive is
unrepairable, obtain an RMA (Return Material Authorization) number and instructions for
product return from WD Technical Support at support.wdc.com/warranty.

Technically, if dldiag's result is that the bad sectors where repaired, they may be considering that the drive is functioning properly and they may be sending the same drive back to you.
I would suggest that you to ask them nicely on the wd support forums about this in order to avoid sending it for no good at all.