40 sectors successfully repaired - OVER and OVER

[tzr916]

I use a third party software "Paragon Backup Restore 16" to make weekly backups of OS drive C. This has worked great, until this week it is failing at 99% due to "unable to read source disk". Paragon support recommends using chkdsk C: /f /r, which I did but it found no errors. So I right click C drive, properties>tools>check> it did find errors and corrected them. Rebooted and tried Paragon backup and still get the same error. I repeated both methods of checking disk for errors several times, and it is no longer showing any errors, yet Paragon backup won't complete.


That's when I decide to purchase HD Sentinel. It says the hard drive health is 100% but I go ahead and run a surface scan with repair. It says it found 40 bad sectors and repaired them. Rebooted and tried Paragon backup and still get the same error. So ran surface scan in HD Sentinel, and it again reports that it finds the same 40 bad sectors and again says it repaired them. No matter how many times I reboot and run surface scan HD Sentinel keeps reporting the exact same thing (see code below).

Can anyone explain or help?

Code: Select all

2/18/2018  10:19:22 AM   Sequential test, Disk: [0] 119 GB C: ADATA SX7000NP [2H1720015512] [Repair]
2/18/2018  10:19:22 AM   Test ID# 1 00030002 00250091 1 4 H: 1144
2/18/2018  10:19:41 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652616, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:41 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652616, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:42 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652616, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:42 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 7652616, Block: 306  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) ]
2/18/2018  10:19:42 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652617, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:42 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652617, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:42 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652617, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:43 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 7652617, Block: 306  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:19:43 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652618, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:43 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652618, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:43 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652618, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:44 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 7652618, Block: 306  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:19:44 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652619, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:44 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652619, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:44 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652619, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:45 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 7652619, Block: 306  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:19:45 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652620, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:45 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652620, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:45 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652620, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:45 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 7652620, Block: 306  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:19:45 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652621, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:46 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652621, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:46 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652621, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:46 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 7652621, Block: 306  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:19:46 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652622, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:47 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652622, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:47 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652622, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:47 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 7652622, Block: 306  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:19:47 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652623, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:48 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652623, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:48 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652623, Block: 306  File: C:\$BadClus
2/18/2018  10:19:48 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 7652623, Block: 306  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:40 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319688, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:41 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319688, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:41 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319688, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:41 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113319688, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:41 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319689, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:42 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319689, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:42 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319689, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:42 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113319689, Block: 4531  [0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:42 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319690, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:42 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319690, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:43 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319690, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:43 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113319690, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:43 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319691, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:43 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319691, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:44 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319691, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:44 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113319691, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:44 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319692, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:44 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319692, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:45 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319692, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:45 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113319692, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (1) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:45 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319693, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:45 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319693, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:45 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319693, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:46 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113319693, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:46 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319694, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:46 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319694, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:46 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319694, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:47 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113319694, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:47 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319695, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:47 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319695, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:47 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113319695, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:48 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113319695, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:48 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323520, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:48 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323520, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:49 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323520, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:49 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113323520, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:49 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323521, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:49 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323521, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:49 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323521, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:50 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113323521, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:50 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323522, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:50 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323522, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:50 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323522, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:51 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113323522, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:51 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323523, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:51 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323523, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:51 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323523, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:52 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113323523, Block: 4531  [0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:52 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323524, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:52 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323524, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:52 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323524, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:52 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113323524, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:52 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323525, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:53 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323525, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:53 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323525, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:53 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113323525, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:53 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323526, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:54 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323526, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:54 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323526, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:54 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113323526, Block: 4531  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:54 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323527, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:55 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323527, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:55 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113323527, Block: 4531  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:55 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113323527, Block: 4531  [0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:56 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812192, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:57 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812192, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:57 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812192, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:57 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113812192, Block: 4551  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:57 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812193, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:58 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812193, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:58 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812193, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:58 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113812193, Block: 4551  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (1) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:58 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812194, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:58 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812194, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:59 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812194, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:59 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113812194, Block: 4551  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:22:59 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812195, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:22:59 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812195, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:00 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812195, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:00 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113812195, Block: 4551  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:00 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812196, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:00 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812196, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:01 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812196, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:01 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113812196, Block: 4551  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (1) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:01 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812197, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:01 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812197, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:01 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812197, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:02 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113812197, Block: 4551  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:02 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812198, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:02 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812198, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:02 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812198, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:03 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113812198, Block: 4551  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:03 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812199, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:03 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812199, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:03 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 113812199, Block: 4551  File: Unused sector on logical drive C:\
2/18/2018  10:23:04 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 113812199, Block: 4551  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:12 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427960, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 90,112 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:13 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427960, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 90,112 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:13 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427960, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 90,112 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:13 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 119427960, Block: 4775  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:13 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427961, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 90,624 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:14 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427961, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 90,624 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:14 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427961, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 90,624 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:14 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 119427961, Block: 4775  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:14 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427962, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 91,136 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:15 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427962, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 91,136 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:15 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427962, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 91,136 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:15 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 119427962, Block: 4775  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:15 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427963, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 91,648 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:15 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427963, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 91,648 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:16 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427963, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 91,648 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:16 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 119427963, Block: 4775  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:16 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427964, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 92,160 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:16 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427964, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 92,160 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:17 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427964, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 92,160 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:17 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 119427964, Block: 4775  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:17 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427965, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 92,672 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:17 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427965, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 92,672 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:18 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427965, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 92,672 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:18 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 119427965, Block: 4775  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:18 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427966, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 93,184 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:18 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427966, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 93,184 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:18 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427966, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 93,184 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:19 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 119427966, Block: 4775  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:23:19 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427967, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 93,696 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:19 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427967, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 93,696 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:19 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 119427967, Block: 4775  File: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-clouddomainjoinaug_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.16299.15_none_29c93cf761d0776c\CloudDomainJoinAUG.dll Position: 93,696 / 113,152
2/18/2018  10:23:20 AM   Repair successful  Sector: 119427967, Block: 4775  [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) ]
2/18/2018  10:25:05 AM   40 sector(s) successfully repaired.
2/18/2018  10:25:05 AM   Test completed

[hdsentinel]

> using chkdsk C: /f /r,

Generally it is a very bad idea.
It does not fix/repair problems at all, but marks the unreadable sectors (on the file system level) as bad.
The result?
1) backup applications will still fail to perform backup (as the sectors physically remain unreadable)
2) if somehow they can ignore and copy the drive (including the MFT, file descriptors and so) then when you restore the image to new, perfect drive, the "bad sectors" will be also copied, so the new drive will immediately show bad sectors - even if there are no such problems, just the file system descriptors copied.

These described at https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_ca ... ectors.php
because these issues usually related to "weak sectors" detected and displayed by Hard Disk Sentinel.


> So I right click C drive, properties>tools>check> it did find errors and corrected them.

Generally this makes 100% similar as chkdsk.
Maybe chkdsk had no complete rights to run or similar which prevented to make the "repair".


> Rebooted and tried Paragon backup and still get the same error.

Yes, as the problems still there, not fixed, this is normal.


> That's when I decide to purchase HD Sentinel. It says the hard drive health is 100%

This sounds interesting. In such situation, the drive usually reports numerous weak (pending) sectors and the health should not be 100%.
Hard Disk Sentinel detects this case and displays the problems in the text description (and the health in general).


> but I go ahead and run a surface scan with repair. It says it found 40 bad sectors and repaired them.

Yes, the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Disk repair test in Hard Disk Sentinel generally designed to really repair such problems: to fix the problematic sectors, improve the situation. Then these weak (pending) sectors should be no longer displayed and usually this makes the health better (ideally even 100% if there is no other problem found).


> Rebooted and tried Paragon backup and still get the same error. So ran surface scan in HD Sentinel,
> and it again reports that it finds the same 40 bad sectors and again says it repaired them.
> No matter how many times I reboot and run surface scan HD Sentinel keeps reporting the exact same thing (see code below).

Did you check cables, connections, power source and so?
As described on
https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_ca ... ectors.php
these issues are usually (even if think so) independent from the hard disk itself, but caused by some problem in the operating environment.

If such problems not fixed - then it is completely normal and expected that same/similar problems will happen again and again.
Then even if Hard Disk Sentinel fixes the problems - this is temporary only, new and new problems expected from time to time. This may be weeks - but sometimes even hours.

> 2/18/2018 10:19:41 AM ! Error: 23 Data error (cyclic redundancy check)., Sector: 7652616, Block: 306 File: C:\$BadClus

Yes, this confirms that the appropriate sector was failed.
Chkdsk marked as "bad" on the file system level (just like if we'd place a file on it which we call "never-ever-read-or-write-me" - just $BadClus is the name).
There are numerous problems with this approach:
1) the sector is still not readable. The amount of usable space decreased.
2) backup of the file system (if somehow possible) save this descriptor to the new drive (without contents). So the new drive will have such "bad cluster".
3) partition/formatting the drive deletes this - so then the original sector will be re-used again, risking data corruption / data loss.


> > 2/18/2018 10:19:42 AM Repair successful Sector: 7652616, Block: 306 [0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) ]

Yes, this confirms that Hard Disk Sentinel Pro could really perform the repair of the particular sector: then the original sector can be read number can be read without problems - and the amount of such "weak" sectors decreases - and the health of the drive increases.

But if the original cause of the weak sectors (for example cables/connections or so) not fixed - then the same or other sectors can be damaged as well.


So everything seems "normal" (if we can call a problem/error "normal") except one thing you wrote:
you mentioned that the health was 100% and no problems reported, just like if the drive would not able to provide the status (the weak sectors) correctly.

Can you please use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option? It would be nice to check the status of the drive, verify its current situation and possible error(s) reported.
Also if you see any change (for example a new problem later) and you use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option again, I can compare the current situation, verify possible changes.

[tzr916]

Thanks for the detailed reply.
I sent report to developer.

I realize the chances of assuming there's no issues with system power, cables, etc... but this is a brand new motherboard, connection for this drive is not by cable because it is NVMe PCIe M.2, new power supply, running on battery backup and power conditioner.


In the HDS read test status, what is the difference between "damaged" and "bad"? Appears there are no damaged sectors, but there are 4 "bad" ones. Does this mean I can format the drive and those "bad" sectors will be gone? Another possibility is restore C drive from last good backup (Feb 10) and it shouldn't have the "bad" sectors?

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for the report, I just checked.

> I realize the chances of assuming there's no issues with system power, cables, etc... but this is a brand new motherboard,
> connection for this drive is not by cable because it is NVMe PCIe M.2, new power supply, running on battery backup and power conditioner.

Thanks, I see.

Yes, then it confirms why "weak sectors" not reported in the text description and in the health: NVMe M.2 SSDs do not provide such value.
If you compare its S.M.A.R.T. table with any of the hard disks you have, you may see "197 Current Pending Sector Count" attribute present for hard disks. This (and similar attribute) is not present in the S.M.A.R.T. attribute list of the NVMe SSD.


> In the HDS read test status, what is the difference between "damaged" and "bad"?

Damaged means the sector could not be tested (read or written depending on the test) for the first time, but after a retry, it can be tested.
So it is not perfect, but (for example) there is good chance to recover data from it, possibly with retries and/or delays, lower performance.
Bad means the appropriate sector can't be processed at all, even after retries.
(described in the Help: https://www.hdsentinel.com/help/en/61_surfacetest.html )


> Appears there are no damaged sectors, but there are 4 "bad" ones.
> Does this mean I can format the drive and those "bad" sectors will be gone?

In theory yes, this may happen - but I worry that it may not happen. Generally the Disk Repair function of Hard Disk Sentinel would perform even better repairing of those sectors, just like if you'd make a more intensive "format" targeted to the particular sectors.
The problem is that according the test results, the function completed successfully and the "Repair successful" message even confirms that immediately after the repair, the sector is working again without problems.
But if you see the problem later, when you start test again, it confirms that the repairing is temporary only, it could not be fixed permanently.

Personally I'd try to backup all important data: make file copy or similar, instead of trying mirroring. Mirroring/imaging from a damaged drive may not be possible at all as you could see and even if can be completed, we can't be 100% sure that the retrieved data is really correct, not damaged in any ways.

Then I'd try to perform the complete Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface function. This is more intensive than a simple format, so may be better to attempt to make the whole disk surface fresh.


> Another possibility is restore C drive from last good backup (Feb 10) and it shouldn't have the "bad" sectors?

No, this will not help at all.
This does not "fix" the SSD in any ways. It would not show bad sectors in the logical drive, which means that you'll have problems when you begin accessing the affected files (or the area of the sectors), so then they will be reported again.

Personally (as that particular backup may be good) I'd attempt to restore that to a different drive - and examine / test this one, attempt to fix with the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface and then format it. If a following Read test shows similar problems, then I'd ask for warranty replacement because the drive seems not working correctly.

[tzr916]

....
Then I'd try to perform the complete Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface function. This is more intensive than a simple format, so may be better to attempt to make the whole disk surface fresh....

This is where I was headed but was unsure if Reinitialize re-writes the entire disk, including windows OS files/folders, program files/folders, user files/folders, etc. Or does Reinitialize only re-write the "blank" areas of the disk? Or does Reinitialize only re-write the areas of the disk that were marked "bad"? Or?

[hdsentinel]

Re-initialize overwrites the entire disk: all addressable sectors. This includes the total area used by partitions (both used by files and unused space) and also administrative areas (Master Boot Record, partition table) and areas outside defined partitions.
So clears all data and makes the drive complete empty, ideal for restoring old backup and/or completely new installation.

[tzr916]

Oh yikes! Then the computer will no loner boot after complete.


Just reading: https://www.howtogeek.com/173463/bad-se ... -about-it/

There are two types of bad sectors — often divided into “physical” and “logical” bad sectors or “hard” and “soft” bad sectors.

A physical — or hard — bad sector is a cluster of storage on the hard drive that’s physically damaged. The hard drive’s head may have touched that part of the hard drive and damaged it, some dust may have settled on that sector and ruined it, a solid-state drive’s flash memory cell may have worn out, or the hard drive may have had other defects or wear issues that caused the sector to become physically damaged. This type of sector cannot be repaired.

A logical — or soft — bad sector is a cluster of storage on the hard drive that appears to not be working properly. The operating system may have tried to read data on the hard drive from this sector and found that the error-correcting code (ECC) didn’t match the contents of the sector, which suggests that something is wrong. These may be marked as bad sectors, but can be repaired by overwriting the drive with zeros — or, in the old days, performing a low-level format. Windows’ Disk Check tool can also repair such bad sectors.

Which one do I have?

[hdsentinel]

Your device definitely has physical bad sector, which somehow (as it seems) can't be corrected.

By the way, the definitions are not 100% accurate.

Generally yes, physical bad sectors can't be repaired or corrected in any ways. Yes, the disk surface (or the memory cell in case of an SSD) may be physically damaged and these should not be used as any data written to these sectors may be damaged / lost.
This is why devices maintain the spare area: as soon as they detect the problem with the appropriate sectors, they should re-direct all further reads/writes to the spare area instead of the original sector.
Then the original bad sector(s) are never re-used again, they never cause troubles and the drive may still work for long time.

So then (while the sector is not corrected as it can't be corrected, as no software can replace damaged part of the disk surface or damaged memory cell) the disk can be used, in many cases they will be stable - even if the status is not 100% perfect.

Hard Disk Sentinel (by the test and Disk Repair function) helps devices to recognise such issues sooner and forces the reallocation of such sectors.
So generally this way, yes, even drives with "hard" bad sectors can be improved. Sometimes this method called "regeneration".

It is interesting why your device does not work as expected and the repairing is temporary only: after the repair procedure the sector can be read again (this is confirmed by the "Repair successful" message) - but after some time it goes bad again. Seems like the drive firmware may not working perfectly (not fixing the problem by reallocation).


I suspect they use the term "soft bad sector" for the weak (pending) sectors. These are mentioned above, in most cases related to some issue in the operating environment, for example sudden reset, power loss, power failure etc. can cause such damages. These weak sectors can make troubles but they can be usually fixed and repaired - and in most cases they can be completely eliminated.
Just the way about how to repair is very important:

> These may be marked as bad sectors, but can be repaired by overwriting the drive with zeros
> or, in the old days, performing a low-level format.

Yes, this is 100% true.

By Hard Disk Sentinel, it is possible to perform the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitailise disk surface (or sometimes the simple Write test is enough) to perform the complete overwrite to fix - not only that particular sector but also make the drive empty, like new. Just this may be hard so it is better to use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Disk repair which only repairs the required sectors, without affecting other data. So this is like if we would "target" the Reinitailise disk surface only to the sectors where repair required.

> Windows’ Disk Check tool can also repair such bad sectors.

This is not true at all - as this tool fixes only on the level of the logical drive (partition). It does NOT fix the physical device.
This makes things worse, as then the original problem is not fixed: the logical drive will show "bad sectors" and disk imaging may not work at all (or may "copy" the bad sector itself). Moreover re-partitioning / re-formatting will re-use the bad sector, so it is not fixed.

[tzr916]

I have replaced the drive with new one. Ran HDS read test - all normal.

Before I send this drive to factory for warranty fix/replace, I want to try your HDS Initialize. Problem is, this is an M.2 drive. The motherboard has only one M.2 slot. I have no way to connect this drive. I would have to buy a SATA drive, install windows on it, boot to that, then run HDS Initialize... Unless HDS has bootable USB option or something?

[tzr916]

Purchased identical new drive. Installed OS, test 100% good in HDS- no bad areas.

Planning to send the "bad" drive to ADATA for repair/replace under warranty.

I would try HDS Initialize but this is an M.2 drive, motherboard only has one M.2 slot. Using as OS drive, so unable to perform Initialize on system drive. Unless HDS can be run from command line after boot from Win10 install usb? or other usb boot solution? Open to suggestions on how to secure wipe an M.2 drive (without installing OS onto another drive)....

[hdsentinel]

There is Hard Disk Sentinel Professional Portable version, available as separate download:

https://www.harddisksentinel.com/hdsent ... rtable.zip

You can boot a live Windows from pendrive and if that pendrive contains Hard Disk Sentinel Professional Portable, you can launch and diagnose, test - and perform complete, secure wipe by the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface function.

[tzr916]

Just sent you a disk report.

I found a PCIe adapter for the ADATA M.2 disk. Performed HDS Initialize that completed with zero bad areas! Ran HDS Read Test and is showing completely CLEAN - no bad areas. But the HEALTH of the disk is still showing 99%

I also tried formatting the drive in Windows and ran "disk check" in properties, which found no issues. Then rebooted the PC, but the HEALTH is still showing 99%

Why is that? Can HEALTH be reset to 100% somehow?

I am now even more confused about whether I should keep the disk, or send it in to ADATA for warranty repair/replace?

[hdsentinel]

There is no need to ask for warranty replacement of course.

Please check the text description. It clearly shows:

The status of the solid state disk is PERFECT. Problematic or weak sectors were not found.
The health is determined by SSD specific S.M.A.R.T. attribute(s): Available Spare (Percent), Percentage Used

It means that there are no errors, so of course we can expect that all tests should show no problems at all.

As you may know, the memory cells in solid state devices experience wear during each write operations and each cells tolerate only a limited number of overwrite passes.
The "wear-leveling" feature of the SSD tries to hide/minimise this effect but generally the SSD device reports the overall health of the memory cells by various attributes.

If there are no further problems found, Hard Disk Sentinel reads these attributes which determine the complete health of the solid state device.

This is what you can see in the text description area: there are no problems found, but the "Percentage Used" attribute determines the overall health
of the device. You may check how that attribute changes with time on the S.M.A.R.T. page, as you can see now it is "1" - which means 1% lifetime of the SSD already used.

This is completely independent from software, OS, restart, partition/format and so: as the amount of written data increases, the health slowly and surely decreases. This is completely normal - and you do not need to worry, as only 1% lifetime used (considering that the drive has 210 days power on time, it is not bad at all).

Of course this is not covered by warranty - and as the device is working perfectly, there is no need to replace.

Not possible (and also no need to) restore the health to anything.

It seems you configured very strict health threshold in Hard Disk Sentinel - so the health (even if 99% is very high) displayed with (Fair) note.
I'd recommend to adjust the health threshold back to default level, exactly to show the status in green at
- Configuration -> Thresholds/Tray Icons page (50 and 25% health levels), which sets global threshold for ALL devices
- select this device and on the overview page, double click on the Health bar to configure custom thresholds for only this particular device.

[tzr916]

Thanks for all the help!

[Morpheus]

Hi, I just joined this board, so forgive the intrusion. But I've been intensely interested in hard disk health for many years and this particular topic intrigues me.

I'm an old user of Steve Gibson's SpinRite, an early attempt to revitalize hard disks by reclaiming weak sectors. I actually was able to use it to successfully restore several "ancient" hard drives to perfect health, and am very familiar with the techniques used.

I recently had a disk in my NAS HD array crash and was prompted to look for a more contemporary solution (SpinRite doesn't work on 3 TB drives). My research led me to this product and site. I downloaded the HDS trial and am very impressed with the capabilities and support.

Having said that, I'd like to ask a general question about the current "state of the practice" regarding hard disk data recovery and media restoration. Is it possible to refresh the media, bring the sectors back to a usable state, and update the SMART data so that the sector's history is updated?

I've seen some discussions regarding the viability of media reclamation, and secure erasing the media (including the areas where sectors are remapped), etc. I've familiarized myself with the Linux-based hdparm, the DOS-based HDD Erase, and other fan favorites like DBAN, etc. All of them are focused on data security via secure erasing, as opposed to media restoration.

I also realize that storage is so cheap these days, that it's not really worth it to wait 24-72 hours to restore a big drive to good health.

Can someone tell me what the current thinking is?

Thank you.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for your message and thoughts.

Hard Disk Sentinel can perform the disk repair to restore the status of the weak sectors completely. In most cases, the result is a perfect disk drive (with 100% health). Yes, this may require long time to perform on a modern hard disk drive (or SSD) but the result is usually a perfectly working, stable disk drive.

Yes, some other tools may not support all newer hard disk drives (or SSDs, SSHDs and similar) and may have drawbacks, eg. need to boot into DOS.
With Hard Disk Sentinel, you can perform the disk test in the background (or even perform numerous disk tests at the same time) both to reveal and fix problems in all possible ways.

While yes, usually it is possible to completely repair these weak sectors and restore the hard disk to good (better) and more stable condition - the goal is different.
At this point, usually we already have unreadable, damaged, corrupted or even lost files, unreadable folders or similar - so problem already happened. Yes, we can use different techniques to repair the disk in all possible ways, but usually the affected files may remain unreadable or "just" damaged.

While Hard Disk Sentinel can effectively help to repair the sectors and does everything to attempt to recover the original contents and force the disk drive to re-read and recover to minimise FILE damage (as the most important are the files, the stored data itself) - but its main purpose exactly to AVOID weak sectors and other problems at all.

So the main purpose and main focus is exactly the data - not the disk drive itself. Yes, disk prices go lower and lower - but please consider that the amount of data increased so upon any problems, we may lose more and more sensitive data.
This is why we'd need to be prepared, monitor the disk status and be notified about possible issues, degradations - long before they can even cause a weak sector (and thus a damaged/corrupted file).

Many times cables, connections and other environmental-issues are causing weak sectors - and if we have a software (for example Hard Disk Sentinel) which can detect and report these - then we can do the best even before a weak sector (which would require attention and sometimes long time to perform a repair) would appear.
This helps not only to save money and time but also prevents more troubles: if you'd not perform repair, not waste time and replace the disk drive, it is possible that the new drive will have same issues.

So the primary goal is to monitor disk status - and any repairing is secondary.

[Morpheus]

Thanks for the detailed reply - it makes sense. And, apparently, what you have is probably the current "state of the practice" - which was my question.

I just recently downloaded your trial, and it seems pretty robust. I just may buy your full version to see if it will resuscitate a recently failed 3TB drive. It was part of the RAID array in my Synology NAS. Fortunately, the array has redundancy built-in, and my data was safe. But consider me fortunate.

I doubt that it can be repaired, since WD Diagnostics can't even perform a low-level format. It crashes after a few minutes with multiple sector errors. But I'd like to see, as an experiment, if your tool can do any better.

Again, thanks for the detailed reply.