Secondary Hdd S.m.a.r.t. Bad

I have a 500 GB Seagate Barracuda desktop internal HDD. I had originally partitioned it to have Windows XP Pro 32 bit installed to run as the only HDD on a Dell Dimension Gen 3, with the second partition for data (My Documents), leaving some free room for a future partition.

I got newer computers, so pulled the drive and use the data partition on a Dell Dimension E520 32 bit running Windows Vista as secondary HDD, using it as My Documents, and later on HP Pro 3000 SFF 64 bit running Windows 7 and 10.

The other day when I started the HP Pro 3000 SFF with the Seagate Barracuda as secondary drive, the boot black screen (in DOS?) says S.M.A.R.T. bad, so I tried to run HDDScan, computer couldn't read the file, something about XML file, I also tried to run HDDScan on the Dell Dimension E520.

I don't run the computers every day, and the HDD is out of warranty.

So I ran Seagate's Seatool, ran the following tests
smart fail
short test fail
drive info
lifetime bytes read 1.33 TB
lifetime bytes written 638 gb
power on hours 3753
drive temp 77 F

Is this normal, to me, it seems like it is premature. Did I do anything that may have contributed to the failure? The Windows bit change from 32 to 64?

Now I will need to get a replacement, looking into the WD Blue, something inexpensive.

 

Electronics, and especially electro-mechanical devices like drives all fail - eventually, even if not used frequently. You did not tell us the actual age of this drive so in terms of age, we cannot tell if premature, or not. Power on hours is not high, but that does not really tell us much either. For example, did the drive suffer any abuse from rough handling or perhaps too many excessive (though it only takes one) power anomalies (surges and spikes)?

And of course, until Man can create perfection 100% of the time, even the best manufacturers will have units that fail prematurely.

FTR, a drive does not care if running 32-bit or 64-bit.

This is why it is always important to have multiple levels of data backups.

As far as buying something inexpensive - do note you often get what you pay for. See previous sentence.

 

the hdd is from 2011, I have older smaller capacity hdd that are more reliable. I thought Seagate is a reliable name brand.

So for something around 500 GB, I should be shopping for $100 and up, and maybe double that if 1 TB?

 

It is. That does not mean they cannot have one or two faulty products out the 1000s and 1000s they produce every day.

No company can produce a product that is perfect every single time. Even the best hard drives only have a 5 year warranty. Most have just 1 or maybe 3 years.

 

Hard drives can go at any time- I have had new one's replaced within the warranty period- just luck.
The s.m.a.r.t tests tell all- replace it !