Why Don't My Hdd Scans Match?

I’ve been doing my normal monthly maintenance on my PC and I’m currently getting some mixed signals from my HDD scanners.

I have four HDD connected, a Western Digital for my OS, two internal Seagates for extra storage, and a larger USB Seagate for my overflow that won’t fit anywhere else. My problem areas are two of my Seagate drives. When it comes to the internal one, Seagate Tools as well as the Western Digital HDD scanner both return a clean bill of health with no issues. But when I use CrystalDiskInfo to view the SMART info, it gives me a caution warning icon and says there is a “Reallocated Sectors Count” error.

The opposite happens for my external drive connected via USB. CrytalDiskInfo gives it a “Good” status with no errors, yet Western Digital tells me there was an error on the disc but might be repairable.

So as you can see, the apps can't seem to agree for some reason. I always do separate backups, so I’m not worried about losing data at present. But I do need the drives to be dependable moving forward. I also can’t afford to lose this much HDD space by simply not utilizing them anymore. How can I determine for sure if this is too soon to worry about a real problem or should I just junk them now before they cause more problems later (which would be really hard to do at present).

Thanks!

 

I don't know why different scanners are giving you different results. All I can say is I see no reason to be analyzing each drive with 3 different programs. I generally recommend using only the utility provided by the drive maker. That is, WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for the WD and Seatools for your Seagates.

I recommend you run chkdsk /r from an elevated command prompt on all drives now. Then on your next routine check, just the two maker's tools. Note chkdsk may prompt to run at next boot. Follow the prompts to allow that, then reboot. It can take many hours to run and appear to be locked up. Just let it finish. On big drives, I just let it go over night. On monster drives, I have seen it take a couple days.

 

Yeah, a check disc scan was on my to-do list next. I was going to use the right click menu and use Tools>Error Checking in My Computer. Is that not as good as doing it from the elevated command prompt?

 

You can use error checking. It is just running chkdsk from an elevated command prompt with the /r switch is a little more thorough.

 

Thanks for the insight. I really appreciate it. I decided to take your advice and start from the ground up and run some scans. So I unmounted my internal M storage drive and ran chkdsk on it with /r and /f from an elevated command prompt. These are the results below, but I'm not sure if I'm reading them right. It doesn't say anything about errors reported or fixed, but I could be wrong. Also the disk info still shows the Reallocated Sectors Count as being in a caution status. Can that be reset/fixed? What does these two things say about the state of the drive? Images below:

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll185/mrbucket_bls/chkdsk_result_zpsa2kfvnvn.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll185/mrbucket_bls/diskinfo_rsc_zpsjjwozwgm.jpg

 

The reason I said chkdsk /r and not chkdsk /r /f is because you don't need the /f when you run /r. If you enter chkdsk /? you will see /f is "implied" or included. Your chkdsk scan looks good.

The Reallocated Sectors Count is not good. It means errors were found and the data was transferred (remapped) to a safe area. If this number remains constant, you are probably fine. But if it keeps rising consistently, I would replace the drive. For sure, make sure you have and keep current backups.

I would also run the diagnostics provided by the drive maker and see what it says. If it reports errors and the drive is still under warranty, I would do an RMA on it.

 

OK, thanks for the info. I always keep backups, so was just wondering about how long I can count on this drive. Will the info from the drives automatically report/update to the CrystalDiskInfo app? Meaning, if there is a change in the drive status in some way (like sectors continue to get worse), is that automatically relayed so I'll see it when I check it again? Or do I need to update/rescan it manually?

 

Years or maybe days. That's the problem with with hard drives and drive diagnostic programs. They typically are pretty good at giving warnings that something is wrong but not for telling users when the drive will actually fail.

I don't use 3rd party drive diagnostics so I cannot tell you if CrystalDiskInfo will automatically alert you. But I will say if the program isn't always running, it will not.

 

Drives are now cheap. Recovering data isn't.

In addition to doing regular backups, I also use the JDLR (Just Doesn't Look Right) test. If a boot drive slows down or gives intermittent problems and I've run the usual suspects (DISM, SFC, defrag, chkdsk etc.) I replace it.

Just did this with a 3 year old Samsung SSD. It passed a few tests, but Samsung Magician wouldn't load on it and DISM repiars lasted (at most) 24 hours. New drive has solved the issue; old drive has been sent to Samsung for warranty replacement.