WD SMART failure condition

Good morning. My 2TB WD Caviar Green started reporting problems some time ago. After research I discovered I had the green bug related to the 8 seconds of inactivity before the disk parks its heads. I changed it to 300 secs and so far (4 days) SMART is not reporting any new "Reallocated_Sector_Ct" beyond the 1265 already had, and "Load_Cycle_Count" is increasing at a far slower rate than before after accumulating over 20.000. So I think the disk is fine. Not much data damaged.
The problem is, it's performing terribly slow. I presume that is because the error condition still reported by SMART as:
"SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!
Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA."
and
"5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 133 133 140 Pre-fail Always FAILING_NOW 1265"
I contacted WD and they didn't help. I understand the legals and morals behind erasing SMART and difficulties to do if for WD disks contrary to Seagate ones.
I think it's perfectly safe to keep on using it, and I plan to monitor SMART quite often so as to make sure of it, but:

Is there anything I can do for my disk to start performing at a speed somehow normal?

Thanks a big lot for any help.

Your drive is failing already.

Merca wrote:"Reallocated_Sector_Ct" beyond the 1265 already had

Overflow of G-list.
Try to backup your data ASAP.

Merca wrote:Is there anything I can do for my disk to start performing at a speed somehow normal?

Unfortunately, no. Replace

Thanks for your reply, unknown, but that failure was artificially produced by the bug I described, you're surely aware of. It's not a "normal usage" condition. The disk is now fine, it's just performing slow and that's my question. Anyone?

Can you post a S.M.A.R.T report ?
Did you scan the drive with MHDD, Victoria or similar software ?

Yes sir, here it's:

Code:: smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [i686-linux-3.13.0-57-generic] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Model Family: Western Digital Caviar Green (AF, SATA 6Gb/s) Device Model: WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 Serial Number: WD-WMAZA5743542 LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 25b6ddef2 Firmware Version: 51.0AB51 User Capacity: 2.000.398.934.016 bytes [2,00 TB] Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show] ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated) SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 1.5 Gb/s) Local Time is: Wed Jul 22 08:46:18 2015 ART SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED! Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA. See vendor-specific Attribute list for failed Attributes. General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity was completed without error. Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: (37680) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 363) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x3035) SCT Status supported. SCT Feature Control supported. SCT Data Table supported. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 198 051 Pre-fail Always - 8 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 184 157 021 Pre-fail Always - 5775 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 882 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 133 133 140 Pre-fail Always FAILING_NOW 1265 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 180 001 000 Old_age Always - 876 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 1484 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 600 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 537 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 193 193 000 Old_age Always - 21835 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 118 107 000 Old_age Always - 32 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 1265 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 2 SMART Error Log Version: 1 ATA Error Count: 1 CR = Command Register [HEX] FR = Features Register [HEX] SC = Sector Count Register [HEX] SN = Sector Number Register [HEX] CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX] CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX] DH = Device/Head Register [HEX] DC = Device Command Register [HEX] ER = Error register [HEX] ST = Status register [HEX] Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes, SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days. Error 1 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 1357 hours (56 days + 13 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 04 61 08 f0 7f e0 40 Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- e0 03 08 f0 7f e0 40 00 04:25:30.998 STANDBY IMMEDIATE SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Extended offline Completed: unknown failure 90% 1372 - # 2 Short offline Completed: unknown failure 90% 1372 - # 3 Short offline Completed: unknown failure 90% 1372 - SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

As I said before Reallocated_Sector_Ct stopped at 1265 after the change I did using WDIDLE3 to the 8 seconds IDLE parameter, and Load_Cycle_Count reduced its rate dramatically now.
Thanks.

I have scanned the drive only with chkdsk/r as it is NTFS formatted. It fixed only a few clusters on 3 files. I'll try to do one with MHDD. I already posted SMART report, it's awaiting for review before being posted.

There goes again the SMART report:

Code:: smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [i686-linux-3.13.0-57-generic] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Model Family: Western Digital Caviar Green (AF, SATA 6Gb/s) Device Model: WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 Serial Number: WD-WMAZA5743542 LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 25b6ddef2 Firmware Version: 51.0AB51 User Capacity: 2.000.398.934.016 bytes [2,00 TB] Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show] ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated) SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 1.5 Gb/s) Local Time is: Wed Jul 22 08:46:18 2015 ART SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED! Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA. See vendor-specific Attribute list for failed Attributes. General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity was completed without error. Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: (37680) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 363) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x3035) SCT Status supported. SCT Feature Control supported. SCT Data Table supported. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 198 051 Pre-fail Always - 8 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 184 157 021 Pre-fail Always - 5775 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 882 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 133 133 140 Pre-fail Always FAILING_NOW 1265 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 180 001 000 Old_age Always - 876 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 1484 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 600 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 537 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 193 193 000 Old_age Always - 21835 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 118 107 000 Old_age Always - 32 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 1265 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 2 SMART Error Log Version: 1 ATA Error Count: 1 CR = Command Register [HEX] FR = Features Register [HEX] SC = Sector Count Register [HEX] SN = Sector Number Register [HEX] CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX] CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX] DH = Device/Head Register [HEX] DC = Device Command Register [HEX] ER = Error register [HEX] ST = Status register [HEX] Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes, SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days. Error 1 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 1357 hours (56 days + 13 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 04 61 08 f0 7f e0 40 Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- e0 03 08 f0 7f e0 40 00 04:25:30.998 STANDBY IMMEDIATE SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Extended offline Completed: unknown failure 90% 1372 - # 2 Short offline Completed: unknown failure 90% 1372 - # 3 Short offline Completed: unknown failure 90% 1372 - SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

Thank you.

running chkdsk on suspected drive is not good idea, if it contains important data.
since this is WD, common slow responding could be the problem, need to diagnose disk thoroughly.

MindMergepk wrote:since this is WD, common slow responding could be the problem, need to diagnose disk thoroughly.

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by "slow responding could be the problem". I imagine slow responding is a symptom, not a problem itself. Could you explain please?
I'm trying to use MHDD but it reports ERR in red and BUSY in green (I even tried with a very healthy disk, same indicators). In the list of PORTS it doesn't show any device by name or description, just "Port 100h secondary controller" and "Port 170h (PC-3000 board)" (between the brackets is just empty, no details at all), pressing F2 reports "Drive is not ready".
The documentation says "When you see ERROR flag (ERR) you can look at the error register where you can see what kind of error happened." but it doesn't explain where that "error register" is located so as to check it.

http://acelaboratory.ru/forum/viewtopic ... 22&p=25790

Maybe I can help to clarify this situation. The drive had a glitch causing it to park and unpark the heads a lot. This most likely caused re-allocated sectors because it damaged the platters with all the unnecessary activity. The drive being slow now is likely due to an over grown G-list which is causing it to hang.

Slow responding (while being a symptom) is also a term for the "slow responding glitch" caused in WD drives with an over grown G-list. This glitch can be fixed, but the drive is undoubtedly damaged and will likely fail sooner than later.

Back up the data, scrap the drive, and buy another.

data-medics wrote:Maybe I can help to clarify this situation.

Thanks, you did. But rather than buying a new one, I'd complain to WD as this was caused by a defective software programming on their side, they SHOULD be made full responsible for this defect.

data-medics wrote:This glitch can be fixed

Can you please point me in the right direction as to try and fix this grown G-list glitch? Not the full details, just enough to get me started. The drive is not very old and it's very expensive to buy a new one. Perhaps I can still use it with caution if I manage to speed it up a bit.
Thanks.

what tools do you have/use ?

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

If you persist, what data is still accessible will soon be inaccessible because of worsening platter damage, or the drive will need new heads. New heads will cost considerably more than a new drive.

My advice: back up your data now, buy a new drive, and hold onto the current drive as a back-up that you hope will never be required should the new drive also fail. No data recovery specialist is going to recommend continued use of this drive.

jermy wrote:what tools do you have/use ?

I don't use any, but I can download and learn to use whatever necessary. Been trying MHDD but earlier I reported I couldn't make it work as it shows ERR and BUSY indicators even for healthy drives.

LarrySabo, I understand your point and appreciate your advice, but I suspect the damage to the platters won't continue as I already solved what caused it and SMART is not reporting any further damage. I'm only trying to solve the issue with the speed to see if I can have a healthy disk with only a few sectors missing as to use carefully but otherwise normally.

@Merca, if you insist on using this HDD, then I would suggest cleaning the HDA contacts.

Oxidisation on Western Digital PCBs:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php? ... 649&p=1789

Then use a tool such as SeDiv to retrieve the drive's firmware modules, including the G-list. By examing the G-list we can confirm whether the problem is confined to a particular head, or whether it is not head dependent.

http://sediv2008.narod.ru/Easy3.9Passwo ... 567890.rar
http://sediv2008.narod.ru/Settings.rar

SeDiv WD Read ROM & Modules:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UgFfhkkAwY

There is a DIY solution for the "slow responding" problem, but it requires MHDD or Linux. In any case, this solution is not something you would apply to a drive that you would be using everyday.

WD SMART failure condition

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