Hi, I am seraching for help with my hard drive, possibly bad, thanks in advance!
I bought a samsung 1TB hard drive and it got a bit slow so I used the s.m.a.r.t. utility from speedfan and got this message:
"
-your hard disk has 704 pending sectors (this value is very large and your hard disk should be replaced). Those are sectors that couldn’t be properly read and that the hard disk logic is waiting for a write operation to try to remap to a spare sector (if available). According to the Reallocated Sector Count attribute, your hard disk seems to have available spare sectors. A simple disk surface scan won’t be enough to force the remap operation. You need a read/write surface scan to remap the sector. The best option should be a tool that knows about what should be read from that sector so that it has some option to apply the best fix to the missing data.

-your hard disk has 1 offline uncorrectable sectors. Those are sectors that an offline scanning found as unreadable. Offline scanning is a process that can be automatically started by the hard disk logic when a long enough idle period is detected or that can be forced by some tool. Those unreadable sectors are identified and the hard disk logic is waiting for a write command that will overwrite them to try to remap them to spare sectors (if available). According to the Reallocated Sector Count attribute, your hard disk seems to have available spare sectors. A simple disk surface scan won’t be enough to force the remap operation. You need a read/write surface scan to remap the sector. The best option should be a tool that knows about what should be read from that sector so that it has some option to apply the best fix to the missing data."

One wierd thing is I have tried another s.m.a.r.t. utility (techtool pro) and also samsung’s s.m.a.r.t. utility and they both say s.m.a.r.t. reports to be fine, so is speedfan lying?

I also used samsungs hard drive diagnose utility called ESTool and got various bad sectors, all said Error code AJ24, Bad sector

so, is my hard definitely bad? or can I fix it?

I am currently not in the US so sending the drive fro RMA is a bit of a hasle so I want to double check, If I get one of this utilities that fix hdd, even if it costs, will this utility completely fix the drive or it will be just a temporary thing? I mean, is it worth it instead of me sending the drive for RMA? or which is the most secure way, cause I will be saving very important stuff on this drive (patients med histories, am a medical doctor) and although I have a back up I prefer to go the safest route even if it costs more.
thanks again

Don't buy large drives as they all give problems because of density. Also they are more sensitive to environmental conditions especially power and vibration. If the drive works and system say smart is ok why worry? P.s. Always backup data, for me - long time pro - the safest media for backup is still magnetic tape.

If the disk gives you ANY reason to lose confidence in itself, replace it. Please. It is a LOT cheaper!

Get the data off it now, especially given how important it is, and get a new drive. You can send it in for RMA at your leisure during the warranty period. RAID 1 them when you get it the replacement drive back.

You can't "fix" a drive once it goes bad. It's pointless to do so and likely to cost you a data recovery bill at the worst possible time.

Thanks very much guys!
wiseleo, thats what I needed to know, will RMA it immediatly, thanks! really appreciate it.
a quick question, I am looking for recommnendations on hard drives, Im going to buy a hd to backup waht I have on this failing one so want to know first what dictates it reliability, I mean, what kinds of hard drives are less prone to faill? which one would you recommend me?
and do big hard drives really fail more?
The amount of plattters aslo affect the probability of failure?
am looking for something btw 500 to 1TB, prefer the bigger drives but would go with smaller if they are more reliable.
Thanks again,
Penny