3 TB drive out of warranty, what to do?

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Majestic

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So my drive was dying, and had a smart error. Long story short, over 2 days I got my data off the drive. I checked the warranty and it's expired. This is a Seagate ST3000DM 3 TB hard drive. I bought a new one, WD RED 3 TB ( 3 year warranty ).

Anyway, I'm curious-- Can I still use this drive, that is-- if i use Spinrite to recondition it, or zero out all the bad sectors etc.. I wouldn't put critical data on it but it seems like such a waste to just dump it. I know there's hard drive reconstructor, spinrite and some other utilities that claim to rescue your drive, but what about usage?

What do you all recommend? I really don't want to put it in the trash.

Majestic
 
Unless you enjoy the experience of moving into a reconditioned room on the Titanic, I suggest you deepsix this drive.

Thats the way the ball bounces.....

coffee
 
Coffee is absolutely right. However . . .

What does "drive is dying" mean?

Having a SMART error and imminent hard drive death aren't necessarily the same thing. A 1tb Seagate external drive that I use regularly has had SMART "Caution" on it for probably 3 years or more. It works fine, and if I didn't check it periodically I'd never know it has/had a problem. But I don't use if for anything that would bring me to my knees if it failed.

As long as you won't be devastated WHEN the drive fails completely, go ahead and use it if you want to. Make it a learning experience.
 
mraikes said:
Coffee is absolutely right. However . . .

What does "drive is dying" mean?

Having a SMART error and imminent hard drive death aren't necessarily the same thing. A 1tb Seagate external drive that I use regularly has had SMART "Caution" on it for probably 3 years or more. It works fine, and if I didn't check it periodically I'd never know it has/had a problem. But I don't use if for anything that would bring me to my knees if it failed.

As long as you won't be devastated WHEN the drive fails completely, go ahead and use it if you want to. Make it a learning experience.
Click to expand...

Drive is dying means there was about 100 GB of bad sectors (I'm guesstimating here) on the drive. Had a hard time reading many portions but eventually it got through.
 
I'd can it. If you still want to use it and just throw useless stuff on it, then by all means. If you have a backup in place then you have nothing to worry about.
 
AndyM said:
Or coasters. They're just the right size for a cup :D

Andy
Click to expand...


Maybe I should invent a new martial art called HARD-DRIVE-FU and it'll all be about using hard drives to knock your opponents unconscious. We can put multiple drives on a batman-like utility belt and also attach a kind of sling to them. Might be effective! ?!?!?!
 
Majestic said:
Drive is dying means there was about 100 GB of bad sectors (I'm guesstimating here) on the drive. Had a hard time reading many portions but eventually it got through.
Click to expand...

Pull!!!!

1336500690_clay_pigeon_shooting.gif
 
With that may bad sectors.....the drive is toasted.

Do as others have suggested....Don't use!

Spin-rite, and other "tools" will offer at the best, a VERY temporary "fix". Then you will lose your data.

Drives are cheap (and junky), get another and backup.

Harold
 
I posted a blog on my site about how I feel about Seagate DM series drives - http://www.recoveryforce.com/seagate-hard-drive-failures/

You are fortunate to have had a warning and got your data off. Consider yourself lucky, like you won the lottery.

Instead of taking a month to run a piece of garbage snake oil like SpinRite, why not download the free MHDD and erase the drive, then run a scan to take note of the number of bad sectors and then post for sale on ebay?
 
I used Spinrite twice, and it was basically in the school labs years ago. My instructor at the time really liked it but I could never find the justification to pay for such a tool. Now I know why lol.
 
Spinrite is a wast of money and a good way to kill drives. All it does is force the drive to continually hit the bad sectors until it either kills the drive (most likely) or forces it to remap the damaged sectors (losing the data in the process). Trust me, run away from that stupid program.
 
lcoughey said:
I posted a blog on my site about how I feel about Seagate DM series drives - http://www.recoveryforce.com/seagate-hard-drive-failures/

You are fortunate to have had a warning and got your data off. Consider yourself lucky, like you won the lottery.

Instead of taking a month to run a piece of garbage snake oil like SpinRite, why not download the free MHDD and erase the drive, then run a scan to take note of the number of bad sectors and then post for sale on ebay?
Click to expand...

Wow Luke, coming from you I'm absolutely shocked. I've been always getting barracuda drives thinking they were top notch. I guess it's a good thing I replaced that drive with a Western Digital 3 TB Red Series. How do you feel how those drives? I'll steer clear of the DM series moving forward for sure.

Is there any 7200 rpm line of drives you absolutely recommend? I'd love to hear from you on that. I hate variable drives btw :)

Majestic
 
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