XPS M1330 Samsung 320GB SMART Status

Hi,

Just looking throught the SMART data from speedfan for my Samsung HM320JI 320GB hard drive and I notice the pending sector count is rather large. I'm wondering if anyone else with the same drive could post their SMART info. Are these values normal for a large drive that uses PMR recording. The output is below:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 100 000 Pre-fail Always - 3
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 252 252 000 Pre-fail Always - 2625
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 738
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 252 252 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 252 252 000 Old_age Always - 31
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 77
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1281
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 16
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 112 106 000 Old_age Always - 42 (Lifetime Min/Max 16/44)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1492
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 358
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 346
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0036 252 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x000a 252 252 000 Old_age Always - 0

 

I have the same Samsung drive in an Alienware m15x. I get a similar reading from speedfan's SMART monitoring tab, I've run all the tests in HDTune and the drive appears to be in good operating condition.

NOTE : your hard disk has 453 pending sectors (this value is very large and your hard disk should be replaced).

NOTE : your hard disk has 1258 offline uncorrectable sectors (this value is very large and your hard disk should be replaced).

Raw Read Error Rate 100 68 Very good
Spin Up Time 252 2750 Very good
Start/Stop Count 98 22629 Very good
Reallocated Sector Count 252 0 Very good
Power On Hours Count 252 372 Very good
Power Cycle Count 100 183 Very good
GSense Error Rate 100 4539 Very good
Power Off Retract Count 100 20 Very good
Reallocated Event Count 100 11213 Very good
Current Pending Sector 100 453 Very good
Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count 100 1258 Very good
Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate 252 0 Very good
Write Error Rate 252 0 Very good

 

I have the 250GB version of this drive and speed fan displays similar warning
However, I'm really concerned about the G sense error rate. This is substantially higher than for any other value and I think it should be 100 for first countdown. It has fallen from 62 to 55 in just 2 days! If I read this right that means that 458427 G sense errors have occurred.
This is consistent with worrying emergency head parking noises (though a lot of people have them) and the occasional shrill beep from the drive which I asssume must be the arm jamming the spindle as it turns quickly. The drive doesn't have a speaker. I've disabled PC internal speaker and muted sound card speakers too. It will beep quietly on shutdown every if you hibernate PC too and the sound is definitely from the hard drive. It will beep when idle and thats much louder. A bit worrying as some other people with this problem have had a drive fail.


When I run full sector scan using samsungs dos utility it passes everytime.

Raw Read Error Rate 100 13 Very good
Spin Up Time 252 2687 Very good
Start/Stop Count 100 2536 Very good
Reallocated Sector Count 100 5 Normal
Power On Hours Count 252 446 Very good
Power Cycle Count 100 255 Very good
GSense Error Rate 55 458427 Normal
Power Off Retract Count 100 82 Very good
Reallocated Event Count 100 25949 Very good
Current Pending Sector 100 762 Very good
Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count 100 2820 Very good
Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate 252 0 Very good
Write Error Rate 252 0 Very good


All of the attributes of your hard disk have normal values. This is good.

NOTE : your hard disk has 762 pending sectors (this value is very large and your hard disk should be replaced). Those are sectors that couldn't be properly read and that the hard disk logic is waiting for a write operation to try to remap to a spare sector (if available). According to the Reallocated Sector Count attribute, your hard disk seems to have available spare sectors. A simple disk surface scan won't be enough to force the remap operation. You need a read/write surface scan to remap the sector. The best option should be a tool that knows about what should be read from that sector so that it has some option to apply the best fix to the missing data.

NOTE : your hard disk has 2820 offline uncorrectable sectors (this value is very large and your hard disk should be replaced). Those are sectors that an offline scanning found as unreadable. Offline scanning is a process that can be automatically started by the hard disk logic when a long enough idle period is detected or that can be forced by some tool. Those unreadable sectors are identified and the hard disk logic is waiting for a write command that will overwrite them to try to remap them to spare sectors (if available). According to the Reallocated Sector Count attribute, your hard disk seems to have available spare sectors. A simple disk surface scan won't be enough to force the remap operation. You need a read/write surface scan to remap the sector. The best option should be a tool that knows about what should be read from that sector so that it has some option to apply the best fix to the missing data.

These values might be normal for these samsung drives as smart still has them down as best possible value (100).