Old HDD lifespan · DIGIT-ARC

H

Hello,

I have two HDDs in my old CPU - WD Green 1TB (Windows 7 installed + storage) and Samsung 320 GB (additional storage).

WD Green was purchased in 2014 and Samsung in 2010. So far both the HDDs are working perfectly, however, it has already surpassed the working capacity.

I would like to know if its time to upgrade to a new storage device or should I continue to use the same, since I am planning to upgrade to Windows 10.

What are all the options? Please advise.

What is your full config?

OP, can you post the report from CrystalDiskInfo here for both of your hard drives?

You need a SSD as boot drive for Win10 & later.

Just use Crystaldiskinfo as suggested earlier. If it shows good, then you are good, but 10 years is a long time. HDDs don't have TBW like SSDs but it is failure prone because of mechanical parts.

H

Attached are the screenshots from Crystaldiskinfo. There's a problem with WD HDD. Can it be fixed?

harsvp said:
Attached are the screenshots from Crystaldiskinfo. There's a problem with WD HDD. Can it be fixed?

Since it is your OS drive, replace it ASAP and don't create useless partitions.

H

Ok, but can the hard disk be repaired and can I use it as a secondary storage device?

I will eventually buy an SSD and use it as the OS drive for Win 10 but I would like to know if I can continue to use any of the HDDs for storage.

harsvp said:
Ok, but can the hard disk be repaired and can I use it as a secondary storage device?

I will eventually buy an SSD and use it as the OS drive for Win 10 but I would like to know if I can continue to use any of the HDDs for storage.

The one which is in caution can fail anytime. So your call. I won't keep anything important there.

harsvp said:
I will eventually buy an SSD and use it as the OS drive for Win 10

What is the rest of the config?

H

SaiyanGoku said:
What is the rest of the config?

Processor - AMD FX 6300

GPU - ASUS GT730 2GB GDDR5

RAM - Corsair Vengeance DDR3 12GB

Motherboard - ASUS M5A78L-M

PSU - Corsair vs450

harsvp said:
Ok, but can the hard disk be repaired and can I use it as a secondary storage device?

I will eventually buy an SSD and use it as the OS drive for Win 10 but I would like to know if I can continue to use any of the HDDs for storage.

I'd personally move all important data to a healthier drive and keep only non-essential data (ones I can afford to lose, music, movies, etc.) to the unhealthy drive.

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Desmond said:
I'd personally move all important data to a healthier drive and keep only non-essential data (ones I can afford to lose, music, movies, etc.) to the unhealthy drive.

Yes, I have already moved the important files to the Samsung drive.

Just wondering if after I upgrade to SSD, should I continue using the defective WD drive for storing non-essential stuff since it's 1TB. All that space would go wasted.

As a rule of thumb, you should have multiple backups of essential data in multiple locations in general.

But yeah, you can continue to use the unhealthy HDD as long as it remains operational. Just don't store anything important on it.

H

harsvp said:
Processor - AMD FX 6300

GPU - ASUS GT730 2GB GDDR5

RAM - Corsair Vengeance DDR3 12GB

Motherboard - ASUS M5A78L-M

PSU - Corsair vs450

Alright, so I'm thinking of using both of my HDD and installing a new SSD with Windows 10 in the same pc.

I would like to know if the above configuration will be able to handle all three drives?

Also, what storage capacity SSD would be suitable?

harsvp said:
Alright, so I'm thinking of using both of my HDD and installing a new SSD with Windows 10 in the same pc.

I would like to know if the above configuration will be able to handle all three drives?

Also, what storage capacity SSD would be suitable?

Yes, unless the mobo has SATA port limitation beyond 2.

Get a SATA 2.5" SSD, not M.2. Crucial MX500 is a good SSD, relatively expensive & performance is still worse than NVMe though. But this should be good for OS for a long time.

H

The motherboard has 6 SATA ports.

What's the difference between Crucial MX 500 and BX 500?

Also, what storage capacity would be ideal for the SSD with the current setup - 500 GB or 1 TB?

Given your PC's config, just get whatever is cheaper because if you decide to get a new PC, you'd likely get a nvme drive too.

H

SaiyanGoku said:
Given your PC's config, just get whatever is cheaper because if you decide to get a new PC, you'd likely get a nvme drive too.

Yeah, makes sense. Don't want to spend too much on an old pc.

Quick question - Which brands external SSD is good to buy if I just want to use it for storing photos, music and games?

harsvp said:
Yeah, makes sense. Don't want to spend too much on an old pc.

Quick question - Which brands external SSD is good to buy if I just want to use it for storing photos, music and games?

Crucial BX500 is decent enough for old CPUs, but is bad for newer powerful CPUs as SSD becomes the bottleneck, observed it on friend's PC with R7 3700X. He later moved OS to Samsung 980.

H

omega44-xt said:
Crucial BX500 is decent enough for old CPUs, but is bad for newer powerful CPUs as SSD becomes the bottleneck, observed it on friend's PC with R7 3700X. He later moved OS to Samsung 980.

Yes, for internal storage I will be purchasing BX500.

But my question was which external/portable ssd is good to use since I am thinking of buying one.

harsvp said:
Yes, for internal storage I will be purchasing BX500.

But my question was which external/portable ssd is good to use since I am thinking of buying one.

I don't recommend ext SSD for purchase because of poor value.

@harsvp – Your WD 1 TB HDD has developed uncorrectable sectors. What this in a way means is that firmware tried to relocate them but finally gave up. They may never be corrected and if it contained any data, it’s gone.

Current pending sector count may be reversible after a full low-level format, if it’s a soft error. Data destructive operation. You may try that. I have successfully restored current pending sector count after a low-level format on some of my HDDs.

The HDD cannot be relied upon anymore. It may remain the same for another year or may fail abruptly. It’s unpredictable. You can use it as non-essential storage. For next few weeks keep closely monitoring it and then take a call.

Just check if any of the WD utilities from below link can help you to analyze it further or check the SMART attributes or do a low-level format.

*support-en.wd.com/app/products/downloads/softwaredownloads

H

patkim said:
@harsvp – Your WD 1 TB HDD has developed uncorrectable sectors. What this in a way means is that firmware tried to relocate them but finally gave up. They may never be corrected and if it contained any data, it’s gone.

Current pending sector count may be reversible after a full low-level format, if it’s a soft error. Data destructive operation. You may try that. I have successfully restored current pending sector count after a low-level format on some of my HDDs.

The HDD cannot be relied upon anymore. It may remain the same for another year or may fail abruptly. It’s unpredictable. You can use it as non-essential storage. For next few weeks keep closely monitoring it and then take a call.

Just check if any of the WD utilities from below link can help you to analyze it further or check the SMART attributes or do a low-level format.

*support-en.wd.com/app/products/downloads/softwaredownloads

Thanks for sharing this. I'll check the WD utilities and see if it helps.

B

harsvp said:
Thanks for sharing this. I'll check the WD utilities and see if it helps.

Did that help the drive?