How to fix/ remap bad block of hybrid SSD drive?

[CHRISCWY]

Hi, I got a hybrid drive of 20GB SSd + 500GB normal SATA drive in my laptop. My laptop always encounter "freezing" or hanging when visiting some website or during starting-up. And the system always run chddsik when start-up.

I found some bad blocks in the hybrid SSD part using HD sentinel. I know the SSD part is only used for fastening the start-up or reboot of the laptop but not for writing or storing data. How can I fix/ remap these bad blocks? Also, it is strange that each time I used the HD sentinel to surface scan this SSD, the bad block locations are not always the same, sometimes fewer and sometimes more... So, I wonder the bad blocks has actually been fixed anytime?

[hdsentinel]

I'm not 100% sure that the problem is with the drive in general.

Such freezing, hanging, chkdsk and similar issues are frequently related to some problem in the operating envrionment: usually problem with cables / connections (yes, can be wrong even in a laptop if the drive does not fit properly).

Such issues are also frequently causing weak sectors, which may cause data corruption, data loss or "just" the freezing issues you noticed.

If the surface test always show problems in different places, this may also confirm that the problem is not really related to a particular sector - but generally in the operation of the drive.
Sometimes such sectors may repair automatically with further use - this is why they may present sometimes - but no longer appear next time.

Yes, generally the SSD part itself is not accessible, can't be read/written directly (and usually its status can't be determined too).
But would be nice to see the complete status of the hybrid drive: if you can use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, I can examine its complete status, verify what can be in the background - and how to improve the situation.

Is it possible to remove the hybrid drive from the laptop? If so, personally I'd try to test it in a different environment, for example by an USB dock connected to a PC and starting both the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read test and (after a complete backup) the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface test, to repair the weak sectors, stabilize the status of the disk and also force the SSD cache to be flushed.
Hopefully then the status will remain stable and no further problems / issues will happen.

[CHRISCWY]

Thanks for your detailed response. However, I am not keen on hardware of the computer, and the hybrid drive this time contains the OS win 7. I don't know how to remove it from my laptop. So, basically I hope to fix the problems using the software means without having to "touch" the internal of the computer.

If the problem is due to the cable/connection, does it mean that I have to unplug or replace the cables of the hybrid drive inside the laptop?

I have just sent the test report to you according to your advice. I also attached the surface test screens of the bad blocks for your reference. Kindly advise the next step you may think of that I can improve the situation.

Thanks very much!

[CHRISCWY]

Further to my message, I attached the hybrid SSD drive picture inside the laptop for your reference, thanks.

[hdsentinel]

Hi CHRISCWY,

Thanks for the images and the report, yes, now I see!

Sorry, to be honest, I was confused: I thought you have a hybrid drive (which is a hard disk and SSD in the same housing).
Many manufacturers use that solution: where the SSD is used for cache - but from the viewpoint of the operating system (and the software) these two devices appear as a single drive which can store data.

But now I see that this situation is different: there is a "normal" 500 GB hard disk plus this SSD. These are separate devices, these can be diagnosed, tested (and hopefully repaired) independently.

The random positioned read errors suggest that the SSD is not able to properly operate: sometimes the data can be read - but sometimes it is not.
The best would be to force the SSD to refresh the complete contents - or even perform a complete rewrite of data.

Personally I'd try to use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read+Write+Read test. This should read, refresh and then write back data plus read again to verify if it's readable and same as with the old, previously stored information.
This test exactly created to attempt repair of flash drives when the stored information is not (or not always) readable or may be corrupted.

If the above test does not help (there may be still problems after it), then you may try Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface on the SSD.
This forces the drive to repair the sectors and then it may be better to use, so a repeated read test may show no problems at all.
But please note that this will delete the contents of the SSD completely.
If I'm correct (according the report) the SSD contains no user partitions/data, but anyway, be careful.

If you can send new developer report(s) after the tests, it is possible to check possible changes in reported values, verify how the status and the internal error/status counters change. This may help to even more detect and report problems with such particular SSD model.

And if these still do not help, I'd ask for a replacement of the SSD, because it may not able to hold data properly (even if it's health seems fine).