Making sense of SMART Drive Information

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
1

So, I did an extended test of one of my drives using Data Lifeguard Diagnostic. After 5 hours, the drive got a pass with the following details:

I’ve tried googling to make sense of the numbers, but I’m still confused. From what I’ve read, the Reallocated Sector Count numbers are not good… but should be ok as long as the value/worst don’t below the 140 threshold. Is that correct? :slight_smile:

2

Hello typoprone,

S.M.A.R.T. “Reallocated Sectors Count parameter” indicates the count of reallocated sectors. When the hard drive finds a read/write/verification error, it marks this sector as “reallocated” and transfers data to a special reserved area (spare area). This process is also known as remapping and “reallocated” sectors are called remaps. This is why, on a modern hard disks, you will not see “bad blocks” while testing the surface - all bad blocks are hidden in reallocated sectors. However, the more sectors that are reallocated, the more a sudden decrease (up to 10% and more) can be noticed in the disk read/write speed.

Try running Extended Test on the drive using Data Lifeguard Diagnostic software and you should try contacting WD’s Technical Support about this.

To Contact WD for Technical Support
http://support.wdc.com/support/case.aspx?lang=en