CrystalDisk Reporting Hard Drive Health As 'Caution'

[icu222much]

I have several storage devices: 1 ssd (primary), and two hhds. Last night when I turned on my computer, Windows 10 was unable to detect one of my hhds. I turned off my machine. This morning, I opened my case to ensure that all cables are securely connected to my faulty hhd. Upon turning on my computer, Windows 10 was able to detect my hhd. I then ran a few diagnostic tools:

1) Seagate Seatools Boot Disk - Was unable to detect any of my hard drives
2) wmic - I received 'OK' status across all drives
3) Windows CHKDSK Tool - No issues reported
4) CrystalDiskInfo - Reported that the faulty hhd's health status as 'Caution'

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
ST2000DM001-1CH164 - Seagate 2TB
- Purchased in 2012
- Caution Items:
---- Current Pending Sector Count
---- Uncorrectable Sector Count

Am I able to fix or correct these problematic sectors on the faulty hard drive? Will these faulty sectors grow or spread to other parts of my hard drive? I am only utilizing 50% of this drive at the moment. Should I be looking for a replacement drive? What should I be doing in this case?

 

[Prickly007]

Something similar happened to my 600GB Raptor drive earlier this year.... Sometimes, if it is a momentary glitch, the Current Pending Sector Count will resolve itself. In my case, the warning came back days/weeks later; however, never more than a few sectors.* The drive never failed WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostic program, nor did it ever disappear.

In the end, I transferred all data to my other drives, did a full/slow reformat and them moved the data back onto the Raptor and haven't had a problem since. As I understand it, this approach forces any weak sectors off line permanently and works as designed.

Whether or not you should be looking for a replacement drive depends (in part) on how important the data is.

If it was me, I'd be cautious about keeping anything important on said drive. On the other hand, if it's say used for Steam games that can be re-downloaded, then wait and see. YMMV....


* If the number keeps increasing, that is a BAD sign.

 

[icu222much]

Something similar happened to my 600GB Raptor drive earlier this year.... Sometimes, if it is a momentary glitch, the Current Pending Sector Count will resolve itself. In my case, the warning came back days/weeks later; however, never more than a few sectors.* The drive never failed WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostic program, nor did it ever disappear.

In the end, I transferred all data to my other drives, did a full/slow reformat and them moved the data back onto the Raptor and haven't had a problem since. As I understand it, this approach forces any weak sectors off line permanently and works as designed.

Whether or not you should be looking for a replacement drive depends (in part) on how important the data is.

If it was me, I'd be cautious about keeping anything important on said drive. On the other hand, if it's say used for Steam games that can be re-downloaded, then wait and see. YMMV....


* If the number keeps increasing, that is a BAD sign.

You mentioned that you performed a full/slow reformat on the drive to force any weaken sectors off-line. After performing a full/slow reformat, is there a chance that these now off-lined sectors can infect the healthy sectors?

What do you mean by 'If the number keeps increasing'? Are you talking about the Current Pending Sector Count & Uncorrectable Sector Count numbers?

 

[Prickly007]

is there a chance that these now off-lined sectors can infect the healthy sectors?

(As far as I know) That's not how it works.

What do you mean by 'If the number keeps increasing'? Are you talking about the Current Pending Sector Count & Uncorrectable Sector Count numbers?

Yes

 

[Rison]

Doing a full format should mark the bad sectors so the disk doesn't use them. There is a chance if the drive is failing that the bad sectors grow - to which then the drive is not going to be useful anymore.

Backup everything stored on that drive and test it. Run a benchmarking program on it for a while, then retest it in chkdsk to see if there are any additional bad sectors.

IMO, I wouldn't use a drive after it develops bad sectors. To me it's a ticking time bomb on when it's going to completely fail. I would recommend replacing it and getting rid of it (secure wipe before recycling)