Question regarding external HDD

[Sszecret Veteran]

Yesterday, I started hearing my external HDD (WD MyBook 1TB) make a slightly louder sound when accessing files and such, something that hasn't happened before. Today, I decided to scan it with CrystalDisk Info to see what's up and I got what you can see in the screenshot. 

 

Can someone more qualified explain to me what "Current Pending Sector Count" and "Uncorrectable Sector Count" mean? My first instinct was to copy my important files onto my internal HDD (which as can be seen, is still in good health) and see where I can proceed from there. 

 

I've had the the external HDD since December of 2010 and have had no problems with it until now. AFAIK, 6 years is about the top end of a drive's lifecycle, but is impending doom upon it, or need I not worry? 

 

Thanks. 

Edited August 23, 2016 by Sszecret
Added Amazon link to HDD model

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

I don't like these mybook type ext drives there in no ventilation. I use a hd enclosure with a fan and the drive in it is at leat 8 years old without problems. I got mine at NewEgg for about 20 bucks. Heat will shorten the lifespan of any hard drive. You seem to be getting up over 100 degrees Celsius and that is bad.

[Circaflex]

First, if possible, backup everything from that drive that you cannot replace. My next recommendation, would be, to run the WD Diagnostic tools and see what those say. I don't always trust 3rd party tools to verify health of a drive. You can download Data Lifeguard Diagnostics here, http://downloads.wdc.com/windlg/WinDlg_v1_29.zip. I do have a bad feeling your drive is on its way out, inside your enclosure is a Western Digital Green drive and to be honest, those are pure junk, that fail pretty darn often. I had two or three go bad and swore to never use them again, this was 3 or 4 years ago, and I still see reports of these drives having problems early on. Again, I would back up everything you can, test with WD tools. I believe your drive is fine for temp. I believe it is reporting Celsius in the large box, 46, but the current/worst/threshold seems to be Fahrenheit values. There is no way your drive was 100 degrees Celsius. 

[+BudMan MVC]

^ great advice on backup now.  Hopefully you don't have anything on there you care about that is not backed up anyway.  If external maybe it is your backup and you have the originals on other drives anyway, etc.

 

But yeah those smart values for Pending and unCorrectable sectors can point to failure coming.  If the numbers are not changing you might have some life left, but if those numbers are going up it points to drive is time to replace/upgrade.  From your power on time your like close to 3 years..  So yeah take this as time to replace..  New drives are cheaper, faster and larger so prob get 3TB disk for the less than what you paid for that disk like 3 years ago for sure.. Maybe you don't need large amount of space, maybe replace with SSD?  They for sure will produce less heat, use less power and last way longer as well.

[Sszecret Veteran]

1 hour ago, Circaflex said:

First, if possible, backup everything from that drive that you cannot replace. My next recommendation, would be, to run the WD Diagnostic tools and see what those say. I don't always trust 3rd party tools to verify health of a drive. You can download Data Lifeguard Diagnostics here, http://downloads.wdc.com/windlg/WinDlg_v1_29.zip. I do have a bad feeling your drive is on its way out, inside your enclosure is a Western Digital Green drive and to be honest, those are pure junk, that fail pretty darn often. I had two or three go bad and swore to never use them again, this was 3 or 4 years ago, and I still see reports of these drives having problems early on. Again, I would back up everything you can, test with WD tools. I believe your drive is fine for temp. I believe it is reporting Celsius in the large box, 46, but the current/worst/threshold seems to be Fahrenheit values. There is no way your drive was 100 degrees Celsius. 

Though this external HDD is my backup drive, I have copied the important files off it and am currently running the extended test from the diagnostics tool. I'll post it here as soon as it's done. Regarding the temp, yes, it's in Celsius, but for some reason the temp shown in the list may indeed be in Fahrenheit. That said, even for Fahrenheit wouldn't  the values be the same? As in, worst and current would be both 101? 

 

I'll most likely buy another external one, but is there a certain number or alpha numerical sequence that would tip me off if it's a WD Green or other model inside the enclosure? 

1 hour ago, BudMan said:

^ great advice on backup now.  Hopefully you don't have anything on there you care about that is not backed up anyway.  If external maybe it is your backup and you have the originals on other drives anyway, etc.

 

But yeah those smart values for Pending and unCorrectable sectors can point to failure coming.  If the numbers are not changing you might have some life left, but if those numbers are going up it points to drive is time to replace/upgrade.  From your power on time your like close to 3 years..  So yeah take this as time to replace..  New drives are cheaper, faster and larger so prob get 3TB disk for the less than what you paid for that disk like 3 years ago for sure.. Maybe you don't need large amount of space, maybe replace with SSD?  They for sure will produce less heat, use less power and last way longer as well.

Indeed, it is my backup drive, but I have moved the important files to my internal HDD which is in good health (at least so it seems). 

 

I will try to scan it with CrystalDisk Info again tomorrow, but after doing a few refreshes / rescans  the number doesn't seem to be going up. The power up time is a weird one, because I've had this HDD for well over 5 years (6 years in December). Not sure what's up with that. 

 

My next purchase will probably be another external one for backup purposes, but I'm not sure if I'll go with 3 TB. That's a heck of a lot a space and even now, 5 + years later, when the HDD is reasonably full, it's about 1/3 empty. 

[Sszecret Veteran]

Well, the values are identical in both cases (WD Diagnostics vs CrystalDisk Info), yet the latter is showing me "Caution". However, when I scanned it this time, it seems that only "Current Pending Sector" is yellow. 

 

WD Diagnostics though shows a pass. 

[Circaflex]

I don't think there is an easy way to know which are green drives or not, I would suspect WD uses a lot of the green drives in their externals. You could always find one you want and search the model number on google and I am sure someone will have taken it apart and identified the drive.

[Hum]

I keep my external drives on something aluminum, with a fan blowing over them.

 

I would clone/Copy your hard drive right away, even if you have to get a used WD drive from e-Bay.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Western-Digital-WD1600AVBS-160GB-7200RPM-3-5-SATA2-Hard-Drive-FREE-SHIPPING-/160783032165?hash=item256f6a5f65:m:m3jA_-SMhyE7jvrj3O1CD9Q

[Shiranui]

Replace immediately and relegate to use as a backup-backup drive.