Why isn't the sector reallocating?

[Yousuf Khan]

Here's the SMART report from Everest about this drive. It's got one
Pending Sector, one Offline Uncorrectable Sector, and one Reallocated
Sector already. So one sector got reallocated, while the other one is
pending and/or uncorrectable. What would the explanation for this be?

Yousuf Khan

[ Maxtor 6L300R0 (L61F02TH) ]

03 Spin Up Time 63 185 178 24932 OK: Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 0 253 253 789 OK: Always passing
05 Reallocated Sector Count 63 253 253 1 OK: Value is normal
06 Read Channel Margin 100 253 253 0 OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
08 Seek Time Performance 187 245 239 60582 OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 179 179 31859 OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 157 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 223 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 251 251 1165 OK: Always passing
C0 Power-Off Retract Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 42 253 35 OK: Always passing
C3 Hardware ECC Recovered 0 253 252 24009 OK: Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 253 253 1 OK: Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 252 252 1 OK: Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 1 1 13996 OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
C9 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 2 OK: Always passing
CA <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
CB <vendor-specific> 180 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
CC <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
CD <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
CF <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D0 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D1 <vendor-specific> 0 234 234 232 OK: Always passing
D2 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D3 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D4 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing

 

[Rod Speed]

Here's the SMART report from Everest about this drive. It's got one Pending Sector, one Offline Uncorrectable Sector,
and one Reallocated Sector already. So one sector got reallocated, while the other one is pending and/or
uncorrectable. What would the explanation for this be?

Sectors are only ever reallocated on writes to that sector,
essentially so you dont lose what data is in them and can
attempt to get the data by repeated reads etc.

So the pending sector has not been written to since it
went bad, or isnt bad reliably and sometimes is fine.

The offline uncorrectable sector means that that sector cant be reallocated.

Given that its a Maxtor, I'd bin the drive with that many bads.

You have quite a few errors on the cable too.

[ Maxtor 6L300R0 (L61F02TH) ]

03 Spin Up Time 63 185 178 24932 OK: Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 0 253 253 789 OK: Always passing
05 Reallocated Sector Count 63 253 253 1 OK: Value is normal
06 Read Channel Margin 100 253 253 0 OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
08 Seek Time Performance 187 245 239 60582 OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 179 179 31859 OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 157 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 223 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 251 251 1165 OK: Always passing
C0 Power-Off Retract Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 42 253 35 OK: Always passing
C3 Hardware ECC Recovered 0 253 252 24009 OK: Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 253 253 1 OK: Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 252 252 1 OK: Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 1 1 13996 OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
C9 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 2 OK: Always passing
CA <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
CB <vendor-specific> 180 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
CC <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
CD <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
CF <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D0 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D1 <vendor-specific> 0 234 234 232 OK: Always passing
D2 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D3 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D4 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing

 

[Rod Speed]

Sectors are only ever reallocated on writes to that sector,
essentially so you dont lose what data is in them and can
attempt to get the data by repeated reads etc.

So the pending sector has not been written to since it
went bad, or isnt bad reliably and sometimes is fine.

The offline uncorrectable sector means that that sector cant be reallocated.

Sorry, my brain fart there, thats actually a bad found in the offline scan.

Given that its a Maxtor, I'd bin the drive with that many bads.

You have quite a few errors on the cable too.

[ Maxtor 6L300R0 (L61F02TH) ]

03 Spin Up Time 63 185 178 24932 OK: Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 0 253 253 789 OK: Always passing
05 Reallocated Sector Count 63 253 253 1 OK: Value is normal
06 Read Channel Margin 100 253 253 0 OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
08 Seek Time Performance 187 245 239 60582 OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 179 179 31859 OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 157 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
0B Calibration Retry Count 223 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 251 251 1165 OK: Always passing
C0 Power-Off Retract Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 42 253 35 OK: Always passing
C3 Hardware ECC Recovered 0 253 252 24009 OK: Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 253 253 0 OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 253 253 1 OK: Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 252 252 1 OK: Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 1 1 13996 OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
C9 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 2 OK: Always passing
CA <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
CB <vendor-specific> 180 253 252 0 OK: Value is normal
CC <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
CD <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
CF <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D0 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D1 <vendor-specific> 0 234 234 232 OK: Always passing
D2 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D3 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing
D4 <vendor-specific> 0 253 252 0 OK: Always passing

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Sectors are only ever reallocated on writes to that sector,
essentially so you dont lose what data is in them and can
attempt to get the data by repeated reads etc.

Actually, this drive has just recently been reformatted, so there's
really no data on it to lose. I used a quick ntfs format, rather than a
full one. I ran a quick SMART test on it too, should I run the full test?

You have quite a few errors on the cable too.

Yeah, this was one of my old slave IDE drives, I had been running it
back on the IDE cable again for a few months. At some point, it used to
drop out quite a lot if there was any sort of heavy usage of it. I had
to remove the master and make this the master to get the transfers done
properly.

I'm now running them back through the SATA converter again.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Rod Speed]

Yousuf Khan wrote

Rod Speed wrote

Actually, this drive has just recently been reformatted, so there's really no data on it to lose. I used a quick ntfs
format, rather than a full one.

A full one should reallocate that pending sector.

I ran a quick SMART test on it too, should I run the full test?

Wouldnt do any harm, it might well show up some
more bads and provide more evidence to bin the drive.

Yeah, this was one of my old slave IDE drives, I had been running it
back on the IDE cable again for a few months. At some point, it used
to drop out quite a lot if there was any sort of heavy usage of it. I
had to remove the master and make this the master to get the
transfers done properly.

I'm now running them back through the SATA converter again.

OK, it may just be a residual from the old PATA cable use.

 

[Arno]

Actually, this drive has just recently been reformatted, so there's
really no data on it to lose. I used a quick ntfs format, rather than a
full one.

The drive has no idea about this. It does not get told about
a format, it just sees secor reads and writes. The only
exception is a secure erase by ATA command.


You need to write either the pending sector (you can find out
were it is by running a full SMART test, e.g.) or write the
whole drive. AFAIK windows cannot do that itself, look for one
for the various disk erasers.

Arno

 

[Yousuf Khan]

You need to write either the pending sector (you can find out
were it is by running a full SMART test, e.g.) or write the
whole drive. AFAIK windows cannot do that itself, look for one
for the various disk erasers.

The full SMART test does writes too, right? I can just get HD Sentinel
to do a full test.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

What would the explanation for this be?

[ Maxtor 6L300R0 (L61F02TH) ]

^^^^^^

That. <spit>

 

[Arno]

The full SMART test does writes too, right? I can just get HD Sentinel
to do a full test.

No. It reads all sectors and tries a recovery and reallocation
for those with problems, but it will only reallocated if it
can read the data. I think the current version of HDD Sentinel
can do some write tests. What the long selftest gives you is the
number of the wirst unrecoverable error in the selftest log.
You can use that for a selective overwrite.

Personally I use Linux and do a
dd_rescue -w /dev/zero /dev/<disk>
to overwrite a disk.

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

Yousuf Khan wrote

Arno wrote

The full SMART test does writes too, right?
Nope.

I can just get HD Sentinel to do a full test.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

What would the explanation for this be?

[ Maxtor 6L300R0 (L61F02TH) ]

^^^^^^

That. <spit>

Well, the drive has been in continuous use since January 2007, so it's
not like as if it's a paragon of unreliability. It's probably due by now.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Arno]

What would the explanation for this be?

[ Maxtor 6L300R0 (L61F02TH) ]

^^^^^^

That. <spit>

Well, the drive has been in continuous use since January 2007, so it's
not like as if it's a paragon of unreliability. It's probably due by now.

The old 120/200GB Maxtors were prettu good, except when inadequately
cooled. Then they died very fast. But I had something 40 running
for 3 years with one failure that could not be explained by
other causes (some were mechanically damaged).

This did however result in frequent failures in badly cooled
PCs and the Maxtor USB drives of that time also had bad
cooling. This drive would have benefitted from an
"expert use only" sticker.

Arno