I recently read a How-To Geek article that talked about checking your drives for any problem, so I downloaded CrystalDiskInfo and it told me "Caution". Like you see in the pic, the "Reallocated Sectors Count" is at 100, and the threshold is 36.
Also note that my hard drive makes a sound sometimes. I couldn't describe it so I recorded 10 seconds of it and uploaded it here
What should I do?
I would appreciate any help.
check this out
http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php
@whs "The clicking sound does not necessarily indicate a problem" I agree to some extent, put it's best to backup and test the hard drive just to be safe don't you think?
Go to the disk manufacturer's web site. Most have an iso you can download and burn as an image to CD. You can then boot off the CD and test your disk. You should then be able to attempt repair. I know Seagate has a utility called Seatools for DOS. I have used it in the past. When it could not repair the disk it gave an error code to use when sending it back for a warranty claim, provided your disk is still under warranty. You can find all the info and procedures on the manufacturer's web site.
Since your drive is a Seagate:
SeaTools : http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/
Check warranty status of the drive: http://support.seagate.com/cus.....dation.jsp - infos required on the form are on the sticker on the drive.
'Reallocated Sector Counts' errors are covered under warranty. If Seatools can't repair that, RMA.
If it's still under warranty you can create a RMA to exchange it for a new one.
Needles to say, the 'new' one will be covered under the same warranty you have on this one, not a new warranty (but you can buy an extended warranty for the replaced hard drive and Seagate actually allows you to buy an extended warranty for the defective one even if it's out of warranty, then send it to RMA for an exchange).
Yep yep.
As Tech and RMA supervisor, I'm dealing with that sort of issue on a daily basis.
Seagate has excellent service.
Plus, with the 9.95$ option you get advanced replacement, which means they send a new drive to you BEFORE you ship yours - allowing you to clone (or manually copy-paste if clone fails) the defective one to the new one before sending it back.
AND, also with the 9.95$ option, you get a pre-paid shipping label to return the drive. So you save on the shipping since it would usually cost more to send the unit yourself.
