Single bad block on hard drive

[Flogger23m]

Title says it all. My WD 1TB 32MB hard drive has a single bad block on it, at least according to HD tune. The drive is 7 months old, and is my main and only hard drive with Vista installed on it.

Did disc check, and it still shows up in HD tune.

Considering this, is one bad block extremely bad? Bad enough to send in the hard drive for a replacement? Or is it something common that most hard drives have and not much of an issue?

Here are the results with HD tune:

I'd really hate to have to reinstall all my stuff and Vista. It isn't like RAM or a video card which you can pop in and be set with a replacement in a hour. But if this just means the drive will flat out die in a few months, then I'll replace it.

Of course, I have backed up most of my important data onto DVDs.

What do you all recommend?

 

[Elledan]

Bad blocks/sectors should be automatically remapped by the HDD.

 

[DougLite]

Hitachi's policy on bad sectors is to run their DFT once. If DFT finds bad sectors, you're supposed to run the bad secotr repair utility included in DFT. If a subsequent test fails, then the drive has an ongoing corruption problem and should be replaced. If a subsequent test does not reveal additional bad sectors, then they may be wirtten off as an aberration during manufacturing.

Bad sectors are somewhat like dead/stuck pixels on LCD panels. You may get a handful from the factory, but as long as the number does not increase, it "does not indicate malfunction."

 

[Flogger23m]

Ok, thanks for the helpful replies. I'll have to check WD's instructions for such an issue.

 

[Syntax Error]

If it fails WD's diagnostic utility, just apply for an advanced RMA where they send you your replacement drive first, then you can transfer all your data over, and then you can send your old drive back. You'll have relatively low downtime compared to if you had to send your drive in first and then get a replacement drive.

 

[extide]

Yeah just run the WD diagnostic. They generally wont accept a drive for RMA unless it fails the diag. See what the diag utility says.

 

[Flogger23m]

If it fails WD's diagnostic utility, just apply for an advanced RMA where they send you your replacement drive first, then you can transfer all your data over, and then you can send your old drive back. You'll have relatively low downtime compared to if you had to send your drive in first and then get a replacement drive.

Does the advanced RMA cost extra or something?

I am assuming this is what I should be running:
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=613&sid=3&lang=en


I noticed it does not support Vista 64 bit. Since I am running 64 bit, does this mean it won't work fully?

Does the CD bootable version work fine with Vista 64?

And is the test done in Windows? And how long does it generally take? 2 or so hours?

I'll run it and see what the results are.

 

[Elledan]

Does the advanced RMA cost extra or something?

I am assuming this is what I should be running:
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=613&sid=3&lang=en


I noticed it does not support Vista 64 bit. Since I am running 64 bit, does this mean it won't work fully?

Does the CD bootable version work fine with Vista 64?

And is the test done in Windows? And how long does it generally take? 2 or so hours?

I'll run it and see what the results are.

I always recommend just getting Ultimate Boot CD since it's useful for many other troubleshooting things as well.