Reading through the “WinDlg” document that came with the download, I notice the following:
"TO RUN THE PROGRAM:
BACK UP DATA:
Before you run WinDlg, it is highly recommended that you back up all data for all
drives. WinDlg may write to the drive during the Extended Test (refer to the
Extended Test for details). As with all utilities that write to a drive, it is
recommended that you back up your data before proceeding."
Question: What is Western Digital Data Lifeguard writing to the drive during the Extended Test? The only thing I can think of is if there’s a bad sector, but you need to select to repair it and if you need to repair a bad sector, the data on that sector is already toast. Otherwise, this test is non-destructive. So I don’t see why It’s advocated to back up your data before proceeding.
Extended Test using Data Lifeguard Diagnostic Test is not a data destructive process and recommended to take a backup in order to prevent the possibilities of data loss.
I know that It’s a non-destructive test. So if It’s non-destructive, why do you need to do a backup? If the drive has bad sectors, that data is already toast anyway.
They always suggest for backup to keep themselves in safe side. As if the drive has bad sectors, that data won’t be recover but they keep their disclaimer along with it for the safeside.
