Ive never had this issue before where it wont do anything. Any ideas for me? Im just trying to have it mark sectors bad and put into the spare area. Removed drive letters in disk manager and also did a chkdsk /r and it didnt mark anymore sectors bad so im thinking some may be a false smart read.
Currently running data lifeguard tools on it as sometimes it can do something but I dont see it doing much with this one.
Access denied on refresh data area surface test.
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Re: Access denied on refresh data area surface test.
If you receive the "access denied" message when you try to start the test, it means that something is still using the hard disk and blocking the test to be started.
For write-type tests (like this) the hard disk need to be completely un-mounted - and any other software using the hard disk may prevent this.
Usually if there is no drive letter assigned, then things should work of course.
Please use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, as then it is possible to check the actual situation, verify and advise about the best way to improve the situation.
> I'm just trying to have it mark sectors bad
Not really sure about the current hard disk status, what is displayed by Hard Disk Sentinel?
Do you see "bad sectors" reported?
If so, you do not need to worry about those bad sectors as these are already fixed by the hard disk: now the disk uses the spare area instead of these bad sectors, all read and write operations are using the spare area. This is called "reallocation".
So they never cause problems as they never re-used. Then hard disk tests will test only the remaining good and the spare area - which will ideally report everything as perfect.
Also the "Refresh data area" surface test is not really designed to repair / force hard disk to reallocate bad sectors, this test is designed to keep working SSD / flash media / hard disk in good state by re-freshing the stored information. For example, this may help flash based devices (memory cards, pendrives, SSDs) to keep optimal performance.
The Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise Disk Surface test is designed to force the hard disk to repair any kind of hard disk surface problems - for example by re-allocation or restoring the status of damaged sectors to normal.
> and also did a chkdsk /r and it didnt mark anymore sectors bad
Chkdsk /R never finds or repairs problems with the hard disk, but "repairs" problem only with the logical volume / partition. Even if sounds surprising, this
may be independent form the actual hard disk status.
If chkdsk finds a problem, it means that the hard disk status is not stable, usually "weak" sectors are reported by Hard Disk Sentinel: sectors which are damaged and actively re-used by the hard disk, so the hard disk happily uses these sectors.
If you "repair" with chkdsk (which does NOT really perform repair) the sector will be re-used:
- Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read test in Hard Disk Sentinel will always show that the sector is not readable
- if you ever need to re-partition / re-format, then the sector will be re-used as then the logical drive information saved by chkdsk will be lost
- if you image the drive after such repairing to a new drive, then the "bad sector" marked by chkdsk will be also imaged, so on the new drive you may notice bad sectors reported by chkdsk, while the hard disk is perfect (which will be reported 100% by Hard Disk Sentinel).
The Hard disk case: weak sectors ( http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_cas ... ectors.php ) page clearly describes how chkdsk can't be used to really repair bad sectors and how it may make even more problems.
In contrast, the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise Disk Surface test really repaired the hard disk drive and then both the usabiltiy and hard disk health status improved - and even the manufacturer hardware self tests (Disk menu -> Short self test / Extended self test) completed with no problems.
> so im thinking some may be a false smart read.
This is usually not true (false S.M.A.R.T. happens only very-very rarely and Hard Disk Sentinel has numerous filters against it), but as I do not see the actual status, I'm not sure.
If "bad sectors" reported - but all of them revealed (so there are currently no more hidden problems) then it is normal if the hard disk tests show no prolems, then the hard disk may be used with no problems - with constant monitoring by Hard Disk Sentinel and depeding on the actual health, maybe only for secondary storage (if the health is low) because then there is high chance for new problems.
By using the surface tests in Hard Disk Sentinel, you can verify if the currently used data area is error-free, there are no further errors reported (no weak, damaged sectors, no further problems).
For more information about these "bad sectors", please click on the "?" next to the text description (the text area describing the issues) and check
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#health
> Currently running data lifeguard tools on it as sometimes it can do something but I dont see it doing much with this one.
Generally, tools provided by the manufacturers designed only for RMA / warranty issues, but never designed to reveal, repair problems, degradations, performance issues, etc.
So I'd more recommend to use Disk menu -> Surface test functions in Hard Disk Sentinel, as these methods are more sensitive and designed to reveal and fix hard disk problems in all all possible ways.
Just in Hard Disk Sentinel.you can configure lots of things (eg. overwrite pattern and so) and Hard Disk Sentinel verifies transfer speed (to detect slowly accessible areas), monitors actual performance, temperature, changes in self-monitoring data, retries etc... all of these are ignored by other tools (this and chkdsk, which is not really a hard disk /SSD diagnostic tool).
So I'd more recommend to use the tests as described on the FAQ page, as these together can reveal if there is any problem - or confirm if the drive is fine:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests
And if tests of Hard Disk Sentinel show no problems, then you can be sure that the hard disk drive is stable and can be used - even if the health shows less than 100% percent.
And in this case, you can manually acknowledge the reported problems in Hard Disk Sentinel, to clear the error(s) reported from the text description and restore the health to 100%. That way the software will no longer display the current problems, just reports any possible new issues, errors (if there will be in the future). This is exactly described with sample images at:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_ha ... _drive.php
For more information about bad sectors and further steps, please click on the "?" next to the text description and check
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#health and
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests
A very similar (common) situation described at:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_cas ... ectors.php
For write-type tests (like this) the hard disk need to be completely un-mounted - and any other software using the hard disk may prevent this.
Usually if there is no drive letter assigned, then things should work of course.
Please use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, as then it is possible to check the actual situation, verify and advise about the best way to improve the situation.
> I'm just trying to have it mark sectors bad
Not really sure about the current hard disk status, what is displayed by Hard Disk Sentinel?
Do you see "bad sectors" reported?
If so, you do not need to worry about those bad sectors as these are already fixed by the hard disk: now the disk uses the spare area instead of these bad sectors, all read and write operations are using the spare area. This is called "reallocation".
So they never cause problems as they never re-used. Then hard disk tests will test only the remaining good and the spare area - which will ideally report everything as perfect.
Also the "Refresh data area" surface test is not really designed to repair / force hard disk to reallocate bad sectors, this test is designed to keep working SSD / flash media / hard disk in good state by re-freshing the stored information. For example, this may help flash based devices (memory cards, pendrives, SSDs) to keep optimal performance.
The Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise Disk Surface test is designed to force the hard disk to repair any kind of hard disk surface problems - for example by re-allocation or restoring the status of damaged sectors to normal.
> and also did a chkdsk /r and it didnt mark anymore sectors bad
Chkdsk /R never finds or repairs problems with the hard disk, but "repairs" problem only with the logical volume / partition. Even if sounds surprising, this
may be independent form the actual hard disk status.
If chkdsk finds a problem, it means that the hard disk status is not stable, usually "weak" sectors are reported by Hard Disk Sentinel: sectors which are damaged and actively re-used by the hard disk, so the hard disk happily uses these sectors.
If you "repair" with chkdsk (which does NOT really perform repair) the sector will be re-used:
- Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read test in Hard Disk Sentinel will always show that the sector is not readable
- if you ever need to re-partition / re-format, then the sector will be re-used as then the logical drive information saved by chkdsk will be lost
- if you image the drive after such repairing to a new drive, then the "bad sector" marked by chkdsk will be also imaged, so on the new drive you may notice bad sectors reported by chkdsk, while the hard disk is perfect (which will be reported 100% by Hard Disk Sentinel).
The Hard disk case: weak sectors ( http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_cas ... ectors.php ) page clearly describes how chkdsk can't be used to really repair bad sectors and how it may make even more problems.
In contrast, the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise Disk Surface test really repaired the hard disk drive and then both the usabiltiy and hard disk health status improved - and even the manufacturer hardware self tests (Disk menu -> Short self test / Extended self test) completed with no problems.
> so im thinking some may be a false smart read.
This is usually not true (false S.M.A.R.T. happens only very-very rarely and Hard Disk Sentinel has numerous filters against it), but as I do not see the actual status, I'm not sure.
If "bad sectors" reported - but all of them revealed (so there are currently no more hidden problems) then it is normal if the hard disk tests show no prolems, then the hard disk may be used with no problems - with constant monitoring by Hard Disk Sentinel and depeding on the actual health, maybe only for secondary storage (if the health is low) because then there is high chance for new problems.
By using the surface tests in Hard Disk Sentinel, you can verify if the currently used data area is error-free, there are no further errors reported (no weak, damaged sectors, no further problems).
For more information about these "bad sectors", please click on the "?" next to the text description (the text area describing the issues) and check
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#health
> Currently running data lifeguard tools on it as sometimes it can do something but I dont see it doing much with this one.
Generally, tools provided by the manufacturers designed only for RMA / warranty issues, but never designed to reveal, repair problems, degradations, performance issues, etc.
So I'd more recommend to use Disk menu -> Surface test functions in Hard Disk Sentinel, as these methods are more sensitive and designed to reveal and fix hard disk problems in all all possible ways.
Just in Hard Disk Sentinel.you can configure lots of things (eg. overwrite pattern and so) and Hard Disk Sentinel verifies transfer speed (to detect slowly accessible areas), monitors actual performance, temperature, changes in self-monitoring data, retries etc... all of these are ignored by other tools (this and chkdsk, which is not really a hard disk /SSD diagnostic tool).
So I'd more recommend to use the tests as described on the FAQ page, as these together can reveal if there is any problem - or confirm if the drive is fine:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests
And if tests of Hard Disk Sentinel show no problems, then you can be sure that the hard disk drive is stable and can be used - even if the health shows less than 100% percent.
And in this case, you can manually acknowledge the reported problems in Hard Disk Sentinel, to clear the error(s) reported from the text description and restore the health to 100%. That way the software will no longer display the current problems, just reports any possible new issues, errors (if there will be in the future). This is exactly described with sample images at:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_ha ... _drive.php
For more information about bad sectors and further steps, please click on the "?" next to the text description and check
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#health and
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests
A very similar (common) situation described at:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_cas ... ectors.php
Re: Access denied on refresh data area surface test.
Ive had the refresh data fix issues before to the point where they wernt as bad. Never got it completely better but about an hour after I posted this it allowed it to run. Came on the computer today to notice now the drive lost its initalization and everything so im trying to get data off right now.