Barracuda XT, Barracuda, Barracuda Green, DiamondMax and other desktop SATA and IDE drives

[Ashtaroth]

Hello,

I purchased this HD (ST3500410AS) some weeks ago, and I recently noticed the "reallocated sector count" returned by the SMART was "1". I don't know when it happens, because I don't run this test every day, but I feel like I have bought a defective hard drive.

Ok I know I don't have to worry too much about it (unless it had to increase), but it's the first time such a thing happens to me, and was wondering if it is usual that a brand new hard drive already has a reallocated sector.

I have other Seagate SATA HD that are much older and always "perfect" (0 reallocated sector).

1. is this normal ? do you think this drive should be replaced ? (I would not ask if it was older... )

2. is there a way to scan again this sector and reset this value ? A zero fill with Dos Seatools would do the trick ?

Thanks in advance. 

[fzabkar]

I have a 13GB drive which began life with 1 reallocated sector. I used it for many years before I finally retired it after it began growing new defects on a weekly basis.

Once a bad sector is reallocated, then it can never be returned to service again, at least not with end-user software tools. A zero-fill operation will find new defects, if they exist, and will retest any sectors that are marked as "pending reallocation". Zero-filling will not retest or recover sectors that have already been reallocated.

Message Edited by fzabkar on 06-08-2009 02:35 PM