Help on understanding S.M.A.R.T. test outcome for WD20EARS

[sTefAnOsTe]

Hello,

I have a WD20EARS that's failing the Quick Test from the Data LifeGuard utility but PASSES the Extended one. The error reported during the Quick test is "06-Quick Test on drive 2 did not complete! Status code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 97 (Unknown Test) SMART self-test did not complete on drive 2!".

Most of the tools I used reported the S.M.A.R.T. status as OK, and a full HD Tune 2.55 scan for bad sectors found none.

Any hint? Is it time for RMA?

[Wizer · Accepted solution]

yup it's time for RMA 

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/251/p/227,294/session/L3RpbWUvMTM0MTg1NjI4Ny9zaWQvak...

[sTefAnOsTe]

Hello and thank you.

I was going to request the RMA, but I decided to low level format the drive, most of all for a privacy issue.

After I run the  "Write zero" task of the Data LifeGuard utility, I run again the Quick Test for curiosity. The outcome was surprisingly "PASS".

Isn't this strange? Is the drive still eligible for RMA, to you?

[Wizer]

Yeah,  I will replace it just in case

[Bill_S]

The reason Wizer is saying that is that a drive comes with so many extra sectors to replace bad sectors when they are found.  However, if too many start happening at once, it's generally an indication that there the media may be failing.  So, when you run the extended test, it will replace the bad sectors, and tell you that everything is okay.  But can you trust the drive?  Well, you can certainly continue to use it, but it would require keeping a close eye on whether any more bad sectors start showing up.  If that happens, then yeah, things are definitely going downhill.