Raw Read Error Rates - What is going on?

I had my WD Black Caviar was replaced with a newer WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0 model. Within 8 months, HD Tune is showing raw read errors going from 0 to 14. WD diagnostic tools s/w shows no smart error messages or other errors in the short or quick tests. I noticed tonight the HD was "seeking" in short bursts for no apparent reason so that had me alarmed.

Sam wrote

I had my WD Black Caviar was replaced with a newer WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0
model. Within 8 months, HD Tune is showing raw read errors going from 0 to
14.
WD diagnostic tools s/w shows no smart error messages or other errors in
the
short or quick tests. I noticed tonight the HD was "seeking" in short
bursts for
no apparent reason so that had me alarmed.

Do a full SMART report with something like Everest and post it here.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

Sam wrote

Thanks Ron,

Here you go:

The drive is fine. It will be interesting to see what develops
with the head activity, but there isnt any problem visible in
the SMART report.

--------[
SMART ]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ WDC WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0 (WD-WCAW30071805) ]

01 Raw Read Error Rate 51 200 200 14 OK:
Value is normal
03 Spin Up Time 21 173 171 4333 OK:
Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 0 100 100 429 OK:
Always passing
05 Reallocated Sector Count 140 200 200 0 OK:
Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 0 200 200 0 OK:
Always passing
09 Power-On Time Count 0 98 98 1967 OK:
Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 0 100 100 0 OK:
Always passing
0B Calibration Retry Count 0 100 100 0 OK:
Always passing
0C Power Cycle Count 0 100 100 428 OK:
Always passing
C0 Power-Off Retract Count 0 200 200 4 OK:
Always passing
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 200 200 424 OK:
Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 114 104 33 OK:
Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 200 200 0 OK:
Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 200 200 0 OK:
Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 100 253 0 OK:
Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 200 200 0 OK:
Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 0 100 253 0 OK:
Always passing

[ Hitachi HDP725050GLA360 (GEC534RJ17G8UE) ]

01 Raw Read Error Rate 16 100 100 0 OK:
Value is normal
02 Throughput Performance 54 133 133 139 OK:
Value is normal
03 Spin Up Time 24 117 117 21430598 OK:
Value is normal
04 Start/Stop Count 0 100 100 3059 OK:
Always passing
05 Reallocated Sector Count 5 100 100 0 OK:
Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 67 100 100 0 OK:
Value is normal
08 Seek Time Performance 20 131 131 29 OK:
Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 99 99 7959 OK:
Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 60 100 100 0 OK:
Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 0 100 100 2168 OK:
Always passing
C0 Power-Off Retract Count 0 98 98 3128 OK:
Always passing
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 98 98 3128 OK:
Always passing
C2 Temperature 0 193 193 18, 31 OK:
Always passing
C4 Reallocation Event Count 0 100 100 0 OK:
Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 100 100 0 OK:
Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 100 100 0 OK:
Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 200 200 0 OK:
Always passing

Rod Speed wrote
Sam wrote

I had my WD Black Caviar was replaced with a newer WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0
model. Within 8 months, HD Tune is showing raw read errors going from 0
to 14.

WD diagnostic tools s/w shows no smart error messages or other errors in
the short or quick tests. I noticed tonight the HD was "seeking" in
short
bursts for no apparent reason so that had me alarmed.

Do a full SMART report with something like Everest and post it here.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

The drive is fine. It will be interesting to see what develops

with the head activity, but there isnt any problem visible in

the SMART report.

The read error rate just went up 2 points to 16 since yesterday. What do you mean about the head activity.

Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote

The drive is fine. It will be interesting to see
what develops with the head activity, but there
isnt any problem visible in the SMART report.

The read error rate just went up 2 points to 16 since yesterday.

Given the failure rate of WD drives, make
sure what data matters is fully backed up.

What do you mean about the head activity.

You originally said

I noticed tonight the HD was "seeking" in short
bursts for no apparent reason so that had me alarmed.

That's the head activity I meant.

Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote

The drive is fine. It will be interesting to see what develops with the
head activity, but there isnt any problem visible in the SMART report.

The read error rate just went up 2 points to 16 since yesterday.

Given the failure rate of WD drives, make sure what data matters is fully
backed up.

REALLY?

Fraid so.

WD used to be so reliable!?

They haven't been for years now.

Which drive manufacturer should i be looking into as a secondary drive in
the future?

Hard to say. I prefer Samsungs myself, but they have just sold their hard
drive operation to Seagate and its not at all clear what Seagate plans to do
with that hard drive operation or whether it will be possible to ensure with
the model number that you are getting a Samsung drive with a new name.

Not Seagate?

There are only two now, Seagate and WD.

The raw read error rate is climbing now every day. Now, it's at 18. The
max threshold according to HD Tune is 51. I'll probably reach that by the
end of the year.

It will be interesting to see what happens life wise.

On Wednesday, 3 October 2012 20:11:31 UTC-7, Rod Speed wrote:

WD used to be so reliable!?

They haven't been for years now.

I usually dont upgrade unless I have to. Each drive I've owned has gone to RMA at least once. I dont do a fresh clean install. I just use an old image of Win 7 and Acronis.

Not Seagate?

There are only two now, Seagate and WD.

No Hitachi,no Fujitsu? How things change. My WD is very noisy in reading and writing, Has been for day one. No AAM on the new ones.

It will be interesting to see what happens life wise.

I just had WD change the warranty expiry date. They screwed it up during the last RMA. At least I have a few more years.

I think I'll get an SSD drive maybe for Xmas or when on sale. I heard OCD is one to avoid for SSD

Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Sam wrote

WD used to be so reliable!?

They haven't been for years now.

I usually dont upgrade unless I have to.

I don't have much choice, essentially because I use my
PC as a PVR to replace the VCRs and I record a lot more
than I ever get around to watching. Mad, I know.

Each drive I've owned has gone to RMA at least once.

I haven't had one of those for more than 20 years now.

I dont do a fresh clean install. I just use an old image of Win 7 and
Acronis.

Yeah, I mostly do it like that too except with a major change like from XP
to Win7.

Not Seagate?

There are only two now, Seagate and WD.

No Hitachi,

It has just recently been sold to WD.

no Fujitsu?

It got out of 3.5" drives decades ago now.

How things change.

Yeah, we have certainly seen a lot of change in the HD industry.

My WD is very noisy in reading and writing,
Has been for day one. No AAM on the new ones.

My Samsungs are so damned quiet you have to put your
hand on the drive to check if its spinning up when you
build a new system and that's with the covers off too.

It will be interesting to see what happens life wise.

I just had WD change the warranty expiry date.
They screwed it up during the last RMA.
At least I have a few more years.

Yeah, they are reasonable on RMAs.

I think I'll get an SSD drive maybe for Xmas or when on sale.

I haven't bothered myself, essentially because I always have
loads of physical ram, leave the system on 24/7, have all the
apps I ever use much open on the desktop for an instant switch
and only ever do a reboot when Win7 does bog down a bit,
usually only every few months.

I heard OCD is one to avoid for SSD

I haven't bothered to keep up with the detail with those, they
are mostly too young for the data to mean that much yet.

On Thursday, 4 October 2012 00:10:07 UTC-7, Rod Speed wrote:

I don't have much choice, essentially because I use my

PC as a PVR to replace the VCRs and I record a lot more

than I ever get around to watching. Mad, I know.

Not really, I know a few people like that. The PVRs with their HD dont really have any cooling. Our PVR always runs hot.

Each drive I've owned has gone to RMA at least once.

I haven't had one of those for more than 20 years now.

Coincidental, and it probably is just a coincidence. But it seems whenever have my PC go into SLEEP or HIBERNATION mode (both through Windows settings) not idle, the drive seems to have issues with it shortly their after. I know a lot of people who manually hibernate or select sleep instead of shutting down.


My Samsungs are so damned quiet you have to put your
hand on the drive to check if its spinning up when you
build a new system and that's with the covers off too.

Wow, that's almost like being in HD heaven, nice

I haven't bothered myself, essentially because I always have
loads of physical ram, leave the system on 24/7, have all the
apps I ever use much open on the desktop for an instant switch
and only ever do a reboot when Win7 does bog down a bit,
usually only every few months.

How much RAM do you have?

Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote

I don't have much choice, essentially because I use my
PC as a PVR to replace the VCRs and I record a lot more
than I ever get around to watching. Mad, I know.

Not really, I know a few people like that.

Yeah, I find it very handy to watch what I want to watch from
my recorded stash than to howl about whats currently being
broadcast that I can't find anything I want to watch with.

The PVRs with their HD dont really have
any cooling. Our PVR always runs hot.

Yeah, that's why I build my own. And so that I can record
all the free to air TV channels at once if I ever want to.

I do sometimes want to record a surprising number
simultaneously, mostly due to the safety overlaps
at the beginning and end of the scheduled broadcast.

Each drive I've owned has gone to RMA at least once.

I haven't had one of those for more than 20 years now.

Coincidental, and it probably is just a coincidence. But
it seems whenever have my PC go into SLEEP or HIBERNATION
mode (both through Windows settings) not idle, the drive
seems to have issues with it shortly their after.

I do that with my laptop, mainly to get a better time on battery.

I also do it with the test machine.

Never had a problem with the drive dying as a result.

I know a lot of people who manually hibernate
or select sleep instead of shutting down.

I normally reconfigure the laptop to do that auto on lid close.

My Samsungs are so damned quiet you have to put your
hand on the drive to check if its spinning up when you
build a new system and that's with the covers off too.

Wow, that's almost like being in HD heaven, nice

Yeah, and they run very cool compared with Seagates too.

I haven't bothered myself, essentially because I always have
loads of physical ram, leave the system on 24/7, have all the
apps I ever use much open on the desktop for an instant switch
and only ever do a reboot when Win7 does bog down a bit,
usually only every few months.

How much RAM do you have?

16GB. Its so cheap now that there is no reason not to.

Don't run Photoshop routinely either, don't edit pictures much at all.