nas smart disk errors - hdd close to dying?

[high_revs]

it's a fairly new nas. got it used but it hardly used since the seller had another one right away after getting this one. it's a netgear rnd2150. i only have a single drive in it so far (dual drive capable). since hdd prices are kinda high right now, i'm waiting for them to go down before i purchase. i backed up my data to another external hdd for now.

question is how close to bad i am with the sector count error. a 500gb drive typically has 976,562,500 sectors. i've been getting emails about every 1.5-2 weeks now. when does the error count volume become "concerning."
my yahoo-fu seems pretty weak finding data on this and not much on the netgear forum from searches. it's only been maybe 3 months since i got this.

Reallocated sector count has increased in the last day.

Disk 1:
Previous count: 39
Current count: 48

Growing SMART errors indicate a disk that may fail soon. If the errors continue to increase, you should be prepared to replace the disk.

[meaty-btz]

sector errors that are growing represent imminent disk failure. Don't wait, replace it NOW. What is happening is usually there is micro-failures in the coating on the disk surface. Essentially this is a terminal condition and all at once large sections of sectors may go south taking their data with them. SMART isn't very smart. Once you start getting SMART Errors your disk is in terrible condition. Most reallocations are silent, SMART usually starts talking about them when it runs out or gets low on "spare sectors" (every drive has them) which the hardware will silently handle on startup.

Pretty much if you are getting SMART errors any data on the drive is at risk of corruption, that kind of corruption can spread through auto-backups! So disable those and transfer only files you know are good.

I would discontinue the use of the NAS until you can get a replacement drive.

[2shotjoe]

could be a bad wire, i'd replace those and backup the data.

[high_revs]

ok. wasn't sure if there's a threshold when a # represents bad. i've not opened the enclosure yet but will check it too.

[meaty-btz]

A bad wire would not generate sector failures. Sector failure and shutdown are handled "onboard" the disk itself

[Merc1138]

The occasional reallocated sector once in a few months isn't a problem. 9 in a day? Swap it.

[high_revs]

!@#$#$^%!@#$.... i only used this for a couple of months and even then, light use. aren't hdd prices kinda high right now? was going to get 2x1tb. not sure yet if i want to go wdd. i used to like ibm drives in the past.

thinking i reformat/reset.. damn thing went up to 60 errors counted or something like that. LOL

[Merc1138]

!@#$#$^%!@#$.... i only used this for a couple of months and even then, light use. aren't hdd prices kinda high right now? was going to get 2x1tb. not sure yet if i want to go wdd. i used to like ibm drives in the past.

thinking i reformat/reset.. damn thing went up to 60 errors counted or something like that. LOL

Those errors are internal errors on the disc itself. The more you use it, the more they're going to increase until he drive eventually completely fails.

Yes, HDD prices are through the roof right now because of that flooding in Thailand(and it was forecasted that they aren't expected to start to return to normal till Q2 2012).

If you don't have anything currently on the drive(since it sounds like you factory defaulted the NAS), contact the manufacturer of the NAS or the HDD inside it and get it replaced under warranty.

[high_revs]

called them yesterday. lady was cool to offer help even though technically i was over the alloted time for tech support. odd that the instructions/info from netgear says that sector error counts over 50 should be considered close to failure. netgear's processes says i must have at least 100 before they replace the drive, even if it just jumped another 9 from the previous night. so i'm at 73 now. wonder how i can speed up/increase the error since obviously, uploading data is a wasted effort if it'll be wiped again.

[Merc1138]

Did you call the drive manufacturer? I know WD lets you check the disk warranty just by punching in the serial number on their support page.

[high_revs]

haven't called seagate yet (or checked their website). i figure i would have to go to the mfr that bundled the drive first? but i'll check seagate's website to see if it might be speedier there.

i just restored to factory status again and the error count jumped to 77 since yesterday. guess i just have to do this a few times w/o choking my network copying stuff over again until it hits 100.

[Merc1138]

haven't called seagate yet (or checked their website). i figure i would have to go to the mfr that bundled the drive first? but i'll check seagate's website to see if it might be speedier there.

i just restored to factory status again and the error count jumped to 77 since yesterday. guess i just have to do this a few times w/o choking my network copying stuff over again until it hits 100.

But if Seagate is willing to take care of it, you could have had it dealt with a week ago

[high_revs]

np. Could've should've

count now up to 88 from yesterday.