What does it mean, "At Risk"? I used a SMART tool, and it says the disk has
passed its tests.

The START tables count Errors and Maximum values for each of
the parameters. Even though the drive passed it tests the drive may
be at or near a level that SMART considers "At Risk".

"Paul Pedersen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> What does it mean, "At Risk"? I used a SMART tool, and it says the disk
> has passed its tests.
>
>
>
>

> What does it mean, "At Risk"? I used a SMART tool, and it says the
> disk has passed its tests.

It probably means there are "weak spots" on one of the platters and they
had to be read and reread too many times to get known good data. Most
SMARTs seem to have a suggestion feature as to what to make of things
like that; check the mfg's web site if you don't already have them.
For data verification of the surface, the tests do something like
make ten disk reads of the same set of sectors and if all ten get the
same data, all is fine but if some are not, they enter various stages of
"risk" and report them. I don't know the exact methodology, but that's
what I've read anyway.

If it's a simple, small area of the disk, a chkdsk /r might be able to
mark some sectors are bad and not to be used. If it does, keep track of
how many bad sectors there are and if the count starts going up, replace
the drive. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Or to be safest,
replace the drive right away. Minimum, get your backups up to date. I
have an 80Gig drive that developed 4 bad sectors about two years ago but
the number has never changed, so I'm still using it. I just relegated
it to sandbox duty. The drive's about 5 years old so it's had a good
life, IMO running 24/7 most of that time.

From the Command Prompt, chkdsk /? will show you all the various options
of chkdsk.

Cheers,

Twayne

"Paul Pedersen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> What does it mean, "At Risk"? I used a SMART tool, and it says the disk
> has passed its tests.
>

Thanks for the suggestions. Fortunately it's not the boot drive.

I have an extra disk, so I'll copy the files over and reformat this one. I
assume that the format process will automatically map out questionable
sectors.

"Paul Pedersen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Paul Pedersen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> What does it mean, "At Risk"? I used a SMART tool, and it says the disk
>> has passed its tests.
>>
>
> Thanks for the suggestions. Fortunately it's not the boot drive.
>
> I have an extra disk, so I'll copy the files over and reformat this one. I
> assume that the format process will automatically map out questionable
> sectors.
>
>
>

I would use the zero-writing software from the hard drive manaufacturer on
boot media. This will mark bad areas out before the OS and its disk
checking software even "sees" the disk. It also examines the entire mbr
area of the hard drive and does the same, disk checking software does not do
this within the OS. There is one caveat, if too many bad areas are found,
the software will mark the hard drive unusable. As a result, you won't be
able to use that hard drive as a result.
--
Dave

If it looks like fish, smells like fish, its not
a cantaloupe.

> "Paul Pedersen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> What does it mean, "At Risk"? I used a SMART tool, and it says the
>> disk has passed its tests.
>>
>
> Thanks for the suggestions. Fortunately it's not the boot drive.
>
> I have an extra disk, so I'll copy the files over and reformat this
> one. I assume that the format process will automatically map out
> questionable sectors.

You know, I'm not certain! I think so, but ... I'd still run a chkdsk
/r after the reformat anyway because that's what you'll use in the
future.
It does seem like it reports on bad sectors, but ... not sure.

Twayne

"Lil' Dave" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Paul Pedersen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>> "Paul Pedersen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> What does it mean, "At Risk"? I used a SMART tool, and it says the disk
>>> has passed its tests.
>>>
>>
>> Thanks for the suggestions. Fortunately it's not the boot drive.
>>
>> I have an extra disk, so I'll copy the files over and reformat this one.
>> I assume that the format process will automatically map out questionable
>> sectors.
>>
>>
>>
>
> I would use the zero-writing software from the hard drive manaufacturer on
> boot media. This will mark bad areas out before the OS and its disk
> checking software even "sees" the disk. It also examines the entire mbr
> area of the hard drive and does the same, disk checking software does not
> do this within the OS. There is one caveat, if too many bad areas are
> found, the software will mark the hard drive unusable. As a result, you
> won't be able to use that hard drive as a result.
> --
> Dave
>
> If it looks like fish, smells like fish, its not
> a cantaloupe.

Good idea. And if it marks the disk as unusable, oh well - it clearly wasn't
up to snuff in the first place.

[SilverArrow]

Yes...it's 18 months old...but, to save others from throwing away a good HD, here is the answer. Below is the link to the Microsoft support center and it worked like a charm. It was a matter of me connecting the disk and reconnecting and connecting again..it fell "offline". It has been working fine for months.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d....mspx?mfr=true

To reactivate a missing or offline dynamic disk

Using the Windows interface

1.

Open Computer Management (Local)

2.

In the console tree, click Disk Management.

Where?

Computer Management (Local) > Storage > Disk Management

3.

Right-click the disk marked Missing or Offline, and then click Reactivate Disk.

The disk should be marked Online after the disk is reactivated.

Note

•To open Computer Management, click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

•You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.

•A dynamic disk may become Missing when it is corrupted, powered down, or disconnected.

•A dynamic disk may become Offline if it is corrupted or intermittently unavailable. A dynamic disk may also become Offline if you attempt to import a foreign (dynamic) disk and the import fails. An error icon appears on the Offline disk. Only dynamic disks display the MissingOffline status. or

•Only dynamic disks can be reactivated.

Using a command line

1.

Open Command Prompt

2.

Type:

diskpart



3.

At the DISKPART prompt, type:

list disk

Make note of the disk number of the disk that you want to bring online.

4.

At the DISKPART prompt, type:

select disk n

5.

At the DISKPART prompt, type:

online