how to fix bad drives

[Jelsomyno]

greetings

please advise which tests to run and in which order to improve condition of bad drive.
i am not interested in saving or recovering any data, disks are empty.
i am not interested in improving health indicator or s.m.a.r.t.

if i understand correctly these are "fix" test:

write
write+ read
read + write + read
reinitialize
disk repair

and these are only diagnostic tests:

read
short self test
extended self test

thank you

[hdsentinel]

If you prefer to improve the usability of the hard disk drive and the data is not important, then the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise Disk Surface test is the best way. This is the most effective way to stabilize all kind of problems. If this may take longer time, you can attempt Disk menu -> Surface test -> Write test (or the Write + Read test) as these are faster, slightly less effective than the Reinitialise Disk Surface but can be enough in many cases.

Generally what you wrote is correct - except one point. The Read + Write + Read test is NOT a repair type test. It refreshes the stored data but generally usable on a hard disk drive / SSD / pendrive / memory card which works correctly "just" slower than expected. This test does NOT help if the disk drive has unreadable sectors. Then other tests are required to repair.

In general, if the health is relatively high and/or the data is important, then Disk menu -> Surface test -> Disk Repair is the best to attempt as it focuses on the data. If this is not "enough" to repair (for example if the number of problems are high) or if the data can be cleared, then Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise Disk Surface test is the best solution to repair the disk drive.

[shawn]

Can Reinitialise Disk Surface fix "05 Reallocated Sectors Count" problems?
I have two HDDs, both finished surface test with all green blocks, but still 0% healthy because of the 05 error.

[hdsentinel]

No, of course not.

If you see 0% health because the hard disk has enough bad sectors to reach the error level threshold (probably the text description displays numerous bad sectors) then there is nothing to do.

Yes, in this case the Reinitialise Disk Surface is the best way to make sure that the remaining sectors should be stable and (ideally) then the hard disk works without issues if all bad sectors are already reallocated, replaced by the spare area.

Ideally then we can assume the hard disk is good enough to be used.

But in real life, on a such hard disk drive, we can expect more and more bad sectors with time. Maybe not in the near future, but usually soon: so if the hard disk reached 0% health, it is still considered "to be failing" or "bad".
Maybe for secondary storage it can be used (with constant monitoring to be notified about any further bad sectors or other problems) but usually new system installations are not possible. Also (if the hard disk would be covered by warranty period) then you can ask for replacement.

If the error level threshold is not yet reached (if the health is 1% or more) you can manually clear error counters after the test, as described at Support -> Frequently Asked Questions -> How to repair hard disk drive? How to eliminate displayed hard disk problems?

https://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_h ... _drive.php

which page designed exactly to describe this procedure: using the Reinitialise Disk Surface (or the Disk Repair) test to stabilize the hard disk status, force the reallocation / repair of all required sectors and then clearing the errors to be notified about possible new issues only.

But if the hard disk reached 0% health, then it is no longer possible.
Usually hard disks fail much longer before this point, so if your hard disk works perfectly with 0% health, then it is a very lucky situation...

[shawn]

So "0% health but all green test result" means the hard drive has reached the last moment of it's life and there isn't much HDS can fix even with Reinitialize surface.
Thanks for the detailed explanation!

[Jelsomyno]

thank you very much for full explanation!

[Jelsomyno]

if "reinitialize" procedure completes with all green blocks, is it required to run "read" or some other tests to check current condition of drive? for example extended self test. in other words, like "reinitialize" is the "best" repair procedure, what is the "best" check procedure? (i will repeat again that erasing drive is not a problem)

[hdsentinel]

The Reinitialise performs read test too, exactly to verify and confirm that all sectors are both readable (after the multiple overwrites) and they contain exactly the last written data (the 00 bytes).
So if the Reinitialise shows no problems, then no further testing required.

But if you want to be sure, yes, you can any time use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read test, it is the best to reveal problems - or confirm that the hard disk drive is working correctly.