WD Black Caviar 2.0TB failing after 3 weeks?

About a couple months ago, my identical Black 2TB started having issues. I first started getting Windows popup messages saying that random files were corrupted/unreadable here and there and that I should run CHKDSK to sort it out. It got so bad over the following weeks that it was running CHKDSK on boot every single time I turned on the computer. I ran a different program called HDTune to check for bad sectors, but it showed none at all.

Data Lifeguard couldn’t quick test the drive (it resulted in an error), and I was also having issues with trying to backup my drive with various backup programs. Because I had bad sectors it would cause the backup operations to stop with errors. Luckily, Acronis was able to do a full backup through its proprietary boot software as long as I clicked “Ignore All” when it told me that it ran into a bad sector. The entire process took almost 5 hours, but my timing couldn’t have been better as the next time I tried to boot from my old drive, I was met with a BSOD and the inability for Windows Startup Repair to fix it.

My drive was still under warranty so I did an advance RMA, copied over all my stuff and was good to go - thankfully. I decided to be more proactive about my HDD’s health so I started doing weekly disk maintenances, which included full backups and, of course, Data Lifeguard. I did notice, though, that Acronis was still giving me the same trouble in trying to backup on my new HDD as it did on the old one. I had to use their boot backup again and once again got a message that a sector was unreadable. I passed it off as it just being an old, corrupted file from the old HDD and clicked ‘Ignore All.’

Only the third week in a row that I did this was I hit with the same exact error message from Data Lifeguard when it tried to Quick Test.

Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WDC WD2002FAEX-007BA0
Unit Serial Number:
Firmware Number: 05.01D05
Capacity: 2000.40 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 06-Quick Test on drive 1 did not complete! Status code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 97 (Unknown Test) SMART self-test did not complete on drive 1!
Test Time: 14:03:43, April 22, 2014

And I begin to worry all over again.

You have to understand, I work on the computer a lot and have a lot of very important files that I can’t afford to lose nor time spent disk checking and such so things like this make me very nervous. It’s basically back to the same situation I was in on the old HDD, except for the lack of (thankfully) the pop-up messages that random files are corrupt/unreadable and the constant boot CHKDSK’s.

After a quick Google search, I found these forums after someone else posted the same error code on their test. One suggestion he got was to run Hard Disk Sentinel. Before I did, I made a backup and then decided to first run a FULL Windows CHKDSK, with bad sector recovery and all. It found nothing wrong except for a whole two files (out of over 700,000) that had bad blocks and were fixed. Everything else was great.

When I got around to using Hard Disk Sentinel, both the quick and extended tests failed, citing “Test Failed by Read Element.” It also said the drive’s health was 97% when I first ran it, but it then fell to 93% after CHKDSK was finished.

On top of the fact that the disk is new (or at least refurbished as I would imagine), CHKDSK reported nothing of concern. I really don’t understand this and I really hope there’s something I can do without having to do yet another RMA. The shipping cost for my old drive was over $17 and while that’s better than shelling out almost $200 for a new drive, it’s not really right to have to do it again - especially not so soon.

Now, additionally, someone pointed out that I should also check the System Event Viewer and that I’d find a large number of ‘bad sector’ errors - and they were right. I see a VERY high number of errors with the description, “The device, \Device\Harddisk0\DR0, has a bad block.”, Event ID 7. On the day I moved all of my files to the new HDD, there’s a large number of “The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume \Device\HarddiskVolume2.”, Event ID 55.

I’m wondering, wouldn’t those errors be some kind of left over problem from the old, corrupt hard drive? And won’t this continually happen no matter how many drives I jump to?

Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi if hard disk sentinel found problems and also Data lifeguard  you need to go through another RMA. You only pay shipping on the first RMA if the same drive has to be RMAed again WD covers costs both ways.

I’m having this same issue.

My Drive is only 10 months old, WD Black 1TB, and it says SMART has passed, but it fails when I do a short test and long test will fail to recover bad sectors.

If you check your Windows Event Logs for System, you will see a large number of errors for bad sectors. Time to RMA it.

Not what I was hoping for. Although I’m really confident this won’t be anywhere near the same level of headache as the first time. Also, I feel like I should call WD and confirm that this RMA’s shipping cost will be covered both ways.

Wait, I want to get some extra information from what you said. You’re right, there is a LARGE number of errors stating “The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume \Device\HarddiskVolume2.” In fact, the logs go back as far as when I was first restoring files from my external HD to this new HDD. How can that be? Wouldn’t it be some kind of left over problem from the old, corrupt hard drive? Won’t this continually happen no matter how many drives I jump to?

Hi if you restored windows and all your programs and files from a backup and that backup had problems yes it could give you the same errors. But if you did a fresh install of windows and reinstalled all your programs and only copied over some files no. So to rule that out do a fresh install of windows let the setup format the drive and then run a test once you have all the drivers installed that will tell you if it is the restore process that is messed up. Sorry but that is about all I can say, you can also wait a bit and see if anyone else has a different idea. Also did you try a new sata cable and run a test on your external drive for errors.

All of my drivers? I have a lot of them and I can’t remember what some of them are. I have drivers for my peripherals, printer, external HD’s, phone, graphics card, etc. etc.

What exact model of drive is it?

It’s in the original post.

Additionally, as someone pointed out, that I did check the System Event Viewer and found a VERY high number of errors with the description, “The device, \Device\Harddisk0\DR0, has a bad block.”, Event ID 7. On the day I moved all of my files to the new HDD, there’s a large number of “The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume \Device\HarddiskVolume2.”, Event ID 55.

Hi then it would seem your recovery is messed up and is of no use since it has happened with both new drive’s. To rule out any problem with the new drive format it on another pc run a test if it comes back fine then you know it is your recovery. Solution reinstall windows and driver’s plus your programs from scratch. You may respond again that you do not know what they are well you need to find out. Or keep trying the bad recovery and never get any drive to work. Sorry but those are the facts. Of Course it may also be the drive but formatting it in another pc and running the test will tell us that.

That doesn’t sound right, though. My files are being copied, but you can’t just copy bad sectors. On that note, I ran tests on my external HD (where the recovery files are stored) and it’s perfectly fine.