Would you RMA this drive?

N

nowwhatnapster

Limp Gawd
2FA
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
406
1.5TB WD15EARS
warranty expires tomorrow.

The drive has bad sectors.

As of yesterday, Crystal disk info showed

580 Current Pending Sector Count
564 Uncorrectable Sector Count

It also failed the WD Diagnostics Extended Test. (Too many bad sectors)

Yesterday I learned that if the bad sectors contain data the drive might not re-allocate them with good sectors. So to kick in the ass I wrote zeros to the whole drive (sucessfully) using the WD Diagnostics. I checked Smart after and it showed

1 Current Pending Sector Count
0 Uncorrectable Sector Count

Wow!, I thought. I re-ran the extended test, but unfortunately it failed again. I checked smart status again and these are results:

Code: 
-----------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 3.5.1 (C) 2008-2010 hiyohiyo
-----------------------------------------------------
 (3) WDC WD15EARS-00Z5B1
-----------------------------------------------------
         Model : WDC WD15EARS-00Z5B1
      Firmware : 80.00A80
 Serial Number : 
     Disk Size : 1500.3 GB (8.4/137.4/1500.3)
   Buffer Size : Unknown
 NV Cache Size : ----
   Queue Depth : 32
  # of Sectors : 2930277168
 Rotation Rate : Unknown
     Interface : Serial ATA
 Major Version : ATA8-ACS
 Minor Version : ----
 Transfer Mode : SATA/300
Power On Hours : 23705 hours
Power On Count : 82 count
   Temparature : 31 C (87 F)
 Health Status : Caution
      Features : S.M.A.R.T., AAM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
     APM Level : ----
     AAM Level : 80FEh [OFF]

-- S.M.A.R.T. ---------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 196 193 _51 000000024243 Read Error Rate
03 200 183 _21 00000000136F Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 __0 000000000054 Start/Stop Count
05 200 200 140 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 200 200 __0 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
09 _68 _68 __0 000000005C99 Power-On Hours
0A 100 253 __0 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B 100 253 __0 000000000000 Recalibration Retries
0C 100 100 __0 000000000052 Power Cycle Count
C0 200 200 __0 00000000002F Power-off Retract Count
C1 __1 __1 __0 00000013CF36 Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2 119 109 __0 00000000001F Temperature
C4 200 200 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 200 195 __0 0000000000AA Current Pending Sector Count
C6 200 189 __0 000000000084 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 199 185 __0 000000000155 Write Error Rate


So now I am writing zeros again, it should be done in 4 hours.

Am I wasting my time? Should I just RMA the drive?
 
Yes RMA that drive. It will not last long and is no good to you if it keeps writing sectors it can not read back.
 
I had a 2TB drive that passed the WD Diags but Crystal Disk said it was operating in Caution mode.

I emailed WD and explained that although the WD Diag passed, Crystal Disk was showing SMART errors.

Keep in mind the drive was perfectly usable and I was not having any noticable problems at all.

Within 1 business day they responded stating I should start the RMA process.

It was replaced quickly too. I sent it to them via UPS Ground and they used 2nd day air to send the replacement to me.

Great customer service!
 
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