"offset"; line "5" in "S.M.A.R.T." - changed? Disk is of high quality? And other questions

[krikunewz]

Hello everyone! My name is Dan.

I have a few questions. Let me ask the first ones. The rest of the questions depend on the answer to the first ones.

I apologize if other users have already asked these. I searched, but I don't speak English well.

In the test "Surface Test" -> "view" -> "information" -> block = XXX sectors
YYY mb
S.M.A.R.T. - clean. (maybe it was reset)
Column "offset" = 0 (maybe the values ​​were changed by the seller before sending the product to me. I can't say for sure.)

Question #1:
Column "offset" = 0 Is there any way to find out if any changes were made to this column before the disk was sent to me?

Question #2:
If there are bad blocks, they will be shown in the line "Reallocated Sectors Count".

[hdsentinel]

> In the test "Surface Test" -> "view" -> "information" -> block = XXX sectors
> YYY mb

Please check the Help:
https://www.hdsentinel.com/help/en/61_surfacetest.html
which describes that the Disk menu -> Surface test function shows 10000 blocks (small squares) and each of them represent 1/10000 of the total disk capacity. So in the Surface test window, you can check that each block contains X sectors (or Y MB). For example, on a typical 3 TB hard disk drive, each blocks represent approx. 300 MBytes ( 300 x 10000 = 3 TB)


> S.M.A.R.T. - clean. (maybe it was reset)

There are many indicators if S.M.A.R.T. data modified or not, you can verify them in Hard Disk Sentinel.

For example, on Seagate hard disk drives, the FARM log is a good option to verify if the attributes (including but not limited to the Power On Time) changed. See: https://www.hdsentinel.com/seagate-hard-disk-farm-log.php

And for any hard disk drive or SSD, you can use Disk menu -> Device Specific Information to check/examine internal logs (errors / statisitcs) of the drive.
For example, if the internal log shows that an error found at 1000 hours of lifetime and/or an internal self test started when the drive powered for 1000 hours (but the S.M.A.R.T. data suggests that the drive is new) then it confirms that the value cleared/altered.
Please see: https://www.hdsentinel.com/device-specific-information.php


> Column "offset" = 0 (maybe the values ​​were changed by the seller before sending the product to me. I can't say for sure.)

Column "offset" = 0 means that no offset configured NOW, in this installation of the software.


> Question #1:
> Column "offset" = 0 Is there any way to find out if any changes were made to this column before the disk was sent to me?

The Offset function is related to the current installation. It can't be used to permanently modify/adjust any value (of course).

This function designed to (after diagnosing the hard disk, after revealing and stabilizing, repairing problems) acknowledge the reported status, correct the error-counter(s) of the hard disk drive to prevent displaying issues related to the past and be notified about possible new problems only.
For example, this can be used to ignore previous problems related to cables/connections, bad power supply and so.
Please check: https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_case_communication_error.php
for more details.
But if you install the drive to a completely different PC, then the original (unadjusted) values are displayed immediately.
So no, the seller could NOT make any changes with the Offset column.


> Question #2:
> If there are bad blocks, they will be shown in the line "Reallocated Sectors Count".

Yes, or the Off-line Uncorrectable Sector Count for this drive (other drives may have different attributes).
Bad sectors and/or other kind of problems would be immediately displayed in the text description on the Overview page. So there is no need to manually check the S.M.A.R.T. page and attributes one-by-one.

As suggested, generally it is always good idea to perform tests, especially on a used drive, exactly to
- reveal any kind of problems
or
- confirm that the drive is working correctly, without problems.

Please check:
Support -> Frequently Asked Questions -> Hard disk health is low or recently changed or I just installed a new (used) hard disk. How can I perform a deep analysis?
https://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests

And if you use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, it is possible to check the status of the drive and advise (better than any images).

[krikunewz]

Thanks for the detailed answers! I read the help, but maybe I missed something. I'll go through it again. There were also moments that were unclear to me, and I didn't find answers to my questions. In any case, I'll read it again.