I am using Windows 7 64-bit. I have Hard Disk Sentinel installed and it gave a bad sector warning for My Book Studio II 2 TB twice in one week. I ran Windows Check Disk and it found no errors. Then I ran Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows extended test and got this message (partial message shown):
… Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 08 - Too many bad sectors detected
I contacted Western Digital and opened a case. They recommended running Windows Check Disk to correct the problem. Either Check Disk can’t find the problems or the extended test and Hard Disk Sentinel are incorrectly showing problems. Before I go back to Western Digital does anyone have any ideas about this?
Thanks for the reply. I have a problem completely understanding the following events, but I will relate them anyway. The program that started my investigation into the “problem” and led to my running Data Lifeguard is Hard Disk Sentinel. Before sending the hard drive back I decided to run that program’s non-destructive read/write extended test. At first I couldn’t run it because it could not get unrestricted access to the drive. This despite my shutting down all processes that I thought could be trying to access the drive. I finally was able to get the program to run the test with my computer in safe mode. Unlike Data Lifeguard this program gives you a running tally of what is going on. The entire test took about 19 hours and found no weak or bad sectors on the drive.
Perhaps Data Lifeguard had some interference from a running process and thus gave an incorrect conclusion. Because of the lack of display of the process during its running, I only found the “too many bad sectors” result after the very long run was completed. I suppose I could run Data Lifeguard in safe mode, but I am satisfied that the drive is OK and I don’t want to invest the time or extra use of the drive.
