Old HDD slowly dying?

[Bellzemos]

Hello!

I run a CrystalDiskInfo tool on my old laptop and here are the HDD's stats:


What does the two yellow dots mean. Can this be fixed somehow? Do you think the HDD will die soon?

Thank you!

[fzabkar]

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

Your drive has some bad sectors.

The raw value of the Reallocated Sector Count attribute looks bad, but the actual number of reallocations is 1.

The number is more appropriately expressed as three hexadecimal components:

0x07CF 0x0001 0x0001

0x07CF = 1999

http://www.google.com/search?q=0x7cf+in+decimal

This is telling us that there are 2000 spare sectors available, and that 1 of them has been used.

Nothing needs to be fixed, not can it be fixed using ordinary software. Just keep monitoring these attributes and consider replacing your drive if they begin to increase on a regular basis.

[Bellzemos]

Thank you. Just a little offtopic question and then I'm gone for a while.

Which one has more thorough format - LLF (Low Lever Format Tool) or MHDD? Which one is more irreversibe and just "stronger" or "more" low level? Or are they about the same except for that one's for DOS and other for Windows?

Again, thank you!

[HaQue]

Hi,
Maybe you should read up a bit on what "Low Level Format" actually means, and what it used to mean.
Nowadays, as I understand it, it is basically zero filling your hard drive.

And a zero is a zero. You cant write it any different in low-levelled-ness

I wonder what the reasoning behind all the people that want to low level format their drives and if they are all valid. I think that some people give themselves headaches trying to do LLF that are unnecessary. But of course the phrase YYMV comes into play each time

[Bellzemos]

So LLF Tool and MHDD are the same thing in general? I will LLF my HDD (not the one I asked about in the first post) because I'm selling it. I don't want strange people recovering my files.

[HaQue]

Then why not use DBAN? thats the purpose of it.
cheers

[Bellzemos]

Because DBAN is waaay slower than zero-fill and because I highly doubt that the person who will buy my HDD will be using special forensic tools to recover my data. I didn't have an A-bomb plan on in or anything like that. Cheers!