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Thread ID: 108836	2010-04-13 12:40:00	Grounds for RMA of a hard drive?	Agent_24 (57)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
876232	2010-04-13 12:40:00	I have a 250GB Western Digital which I purchased a couple of years ago. A while back it had a reallocated sector, and a little later, another one. So now it has two reallocated sectors. I expect the number of bad sectors will keep increasing and the drive will eventually fail (not that I give it much work, probably why it's still going) Now, strangely enough the only thing I ever had to return was a stick of RAM, and faulty video cards (with faulty RAM on them...) Now that there's only 4 months left on the warranty, I figure I should stop waiting for it to completely die and just try to get a replacement from Western Digital anyway - but will they accept a drive for return which only has two reallocated sectors and apparently no other issues? Do hard drive manufacturers even consider reallocated sectors a warranty issue?	Agent_24 (57)
876233	2010-04-13 13:08:00	Should be fine I think - I have returned a few drives with bad sectors. My understanding is that the drive internally reallocates some bad sectors silently, so only when there are quite a few do you begin to see Windows having to do it. Any drive with any bad sectors should be immediately replaced IMO.	george12 (7)
876234	2010-04-13 13:41:00	Windows isn't doing anything, the sectors are showing up as reallocated in the SMART status.	Agent_24 (57)
876235	2010-04-13 15:23:00	Give it a thrashing byte-wise, should help the process along should they complain! Back up first though!	ubergeek85 (131)
876236	2010-04-13 18:44:00	Grab the wd hdd testing tool from their site and run it on the hdd. If that fails on anything then rma it.	CYaBro (73)
876237	2010-04-13 21:15:00	Grab the wd hdd testing tool from their site and run it on the hdd. If that fails on anything then rma it. This. If you run a Long Test it should result in an error code if the drive needs to be replaced. Even though they're usually pretty good, having the error code from their own utility has helped me in the past with WD returns.	inphinity (7274)
876238	2010-04-13 22:45:00	Grab the wd hdd testing tool from their site and run it on the hdd. If that fails on anything then rma it. This. If you run a Long Test it should result in an error code if the drive needs to be replaced. Even though they're usually pretty good, having the error code from their own utility has helped me in the past with WD returns. I'm not sure it will though. After the first reallocated sector I ran the tool and it said the drive was fine. SMART only tells you there's a problem once the amount of reallocated sectors goes over a certain number, and I think their tool agrees with it.	Agent_24 (57)
876239	2010-04-14 00:14:00	You're best then to talk with your supplier. I've had drives in the past (multiple brands) with RMAs refused because their diagnostic tool says it's fine.	inphinity (7274)
876240	2010-04-14 00:51:00	Maybe I should just sell it to someone who doesn't care about reallocated sectors and buy another one. Probably end up cheaper than sending the drive to Singapore anyway...	Agent_24 (57)
876241	2010-04-14 02:03:00	thats a good point re: returns. All of the seagate drives Ive had fail (about 8 so far) have all had to been returned to Singapore. Is this the same for all drives (back to their head office or such?) or will nz retailers accept them (ie at place of purchase)	12steps (14778)
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