Hard Disk Monitoring

Test Failed By Read Element 0x79

What is?

Sumario del Disco Duro
Número del Disco Duro,0
Interface,S-ATA II
Modelo de Identificación del Disco Duro,WDC WD3200AAKS-00B3A0
Revisión del Disco Duro,01.03A01
Número de Serie del Disco Duro,WD-WMAT11013776
Medida Total del Disco Duro,305245 MB


Información del Disco
Disk Family,Caviar SE16
Form Factor,"3.5"" "
Capacity,320 GB (320 x 1.000.000.000 bytes)
Number Of Disks,1
Number Of Heads,1
Rotational Speed,7200 RPM
Rotation Time,"8,33 ms"
Average Rotational Latency,"4,17 ms"
Disk Interface,Serial-ATA/300
Buffer-Host Max. Rate,300 MB/segundos
Medida del Buffer,16384 KB
Drive Ready Time (typical),13 segundos
Average Seek Time,"8,9 ms"
Track To Track Seek Time,"2,0 ms"
Full Stroke Seek Time,"21,0 ms"
Width,"101,6 mm (4,0 inch)"
Depth,"147,0 mm (5,8 inch)"
Height,"25,4 mm (1,0 inch)"
Weight,"600 grams (1,3 pounds)"
Acoustic (Idle),"2,5 Bel"
Acoustic (Funcionamiento Mínimo y volumen),"2,6 Bel"
Acoustic (Funcionamiento Máximo y volumen),"2,9 Bel"
Required power for spinup,1.055 mA
Power required (seek),"7,8 W"
Power required (idle),"7,2 W"
Power required (standby),"1,0 W"
Manufacturer,Western Digital Corporation
Manufacturer Website,http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products

It is possible to start the hardware self tests of hard disks. Such tests are able to examine the hard disk components (servo, heads, electrical components, internal memory, etc.) in a more reliable way than software based tests (for example, scandisk).
The extended test also verifies the disk surface: reveals any currently hidden problems with the hard disk and forces the review of pending sectors and reallocation of sectors if required - but without the risk of data loss.

This message "Test Failed By Read Element" is usually displayed if the test cannot be completed because of a problem occured during this test when examining the surface area. This is more common if the drive is not 100% perfect (I did not see the current health and the exact problems with this drive (if any) displayed in the text description area).

Because these tests are hardware based, from software it is not possible to control the execution, we can just examine the current status of the test. The 79 means that error "7" occured (this is the read element = the head) and the "9" means that 90% of test is still remaining - so the problem occured at the beginning of the test.

I'm working on different test method which can be used in this situation or when a drive has no hardware test at all.