Current pending sector count error Part 2

billubakra

Conversation Architect
Hi Guys,

Part 1 link- Current pending sector count error

About this thread Error 1073740791 in Windows 10 somehow I was not convinced that this is caused by some Windows related errors, virus or anything. This machine is very normally used for typing work etc. In the first week of June I checked crystal disk info the hdd was fine. Now Crystal disk info app was giving this error 1073740791 while opening as it requires admin rights. Today opened it via task manager and boom here is the result




Now here is some other issue, current specs of the system

Ryzen 5 1600
Zotac GT 710
Asus PrimeB-350 Plus
Corsair RAM 8gb 2666mhz (3200 mhz supported by mobo, 3200 mhz was oos when this pc was built) and it is used in slot 2. In CPU Z the frequency is mentioned 1197.60 mhz though, why?
Antec vp550p 550w (The previous gpu was Zotac 1060 6gb, so that is why this psu. 710 was bought about a year back)
Corsair Spec 1 case
The ups is a very old local one with some excide battery. Gives a backup of 10-15 minutes atleast
The monitor is from LG 21" or 22" not sure

This WD hdd was a rma product and was covered under warranty till last week of last month, it had to go kaput just a month later :( Anyways the previous hdd went kaput due to this reason only about 2 years back. We have an external hdd which we use to take backups form other machines and then copy in the hdd of this system, hence the need for 2tb space. As you can see from the crystal disk info ss, this unit was not that much used.

Now major queries-

1. Why does this current pending sector error occur in the first place? Is there any more hdd diagnostic software which we can run just to make sure? Maybe something by WD itself?

2. Why are the drives going the current pending sector error way? Both the internal and external one? The external one is also used to take backups like once or twice from all machines and then copy in this system. BTW this external one too showed current pending sector error and was rmaed. Is this current pending sector error happening because of very less usage? I have read that if ssd's are not powered on once in 60-90 days then they loose all the data. Is that true?

3. We need atleast 1.5tb space for backups in this system. Is ssd supported by this setup?

4. Which drive, ssd/hdd would you suggest?

5. Went to a local shop to check the prices of the hdd offline. The shopkeeper was pushing Toshiba over WD and said that the former comes with 3 year warranty vs 2 years on the WD, they had the purple one. Met another guy who was their to confirm the rates. He said that if the hdd is going kaput via the same error current pending sector count then there is something wrong with the rig, either with the main electricity point, ups or psu or something else in the rig. He said that I should find the problem first before buying a new hdd. He's right, got the original internal hdd in july 2017, usage was moderate with light gaming as it had gtx 1060 then. Current pending sector came in April 2019 and was rmaed. After that when the system was downgraded to gt 710 usage became even less, thanks to corona too. The external hdd from wd, went through the same between this timeline only. So, how to find out the culprit and how to rectify the same? We have two old systems at home assembled circa 2010, with p4 80 gb hdd's etc. The drives of the same are fine with no current pending sector error as of now, touchwood. I have a feeling that the ups might be an issue. How? IDK. Here to find the science behind it.

6. Can zero filling the drive fix this issue?

7. If an external hdd, pendrive etc. is used with this drive to copy data then can this drive somehow ruin those external storage drives too?

Any other inputs?


@whitestar_999 @patkim @Desmond @sling-shot

Thanks

Edit-

Checked the system from as per the commands here, ran cmd as admin via task manager

*answers.microsoft.com/en-us/window...to-run-a/8e145f08-fad8-42c4-a5d5-c8c7af3bc601

C:\Users\xxxx>Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19044.1741

No component store corruption detected.
The operation completed successfully.

C:\Users\xxxx>Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19044.1741

[===========================85.8%================= ]
Error: 605

The specified buffer contains ill-formed data.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

C:\Users\xxxx>Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19044.1741

[===========================53.2% ]
Error: 605

The specified buffer contains ill-formed data.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

C:\Users\xxxx>sfc/scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 2% complete.

Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.

C:\Users\xxxx>sfc/scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 2% complete.

Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.


Have run chkdsk /r /f also, will get back what it says after restart. Don't have high hopes from this, as cannot go back to a restore point, it gives an error. Windows have downloaded some updates, while shutdown or restart it starts to install them but them says cannot install and undos everything. Yes Windows seem corrupted too. I am fine with the reinstallation now, it is the current pending sector error in the hdd which is worrying me.
 
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Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
I am not really sure but I suspect the HDD is experiencing some hardware faults. Just to be safe, backup all your important data.

Try defragging your drive and see if all sectors are getting read or not. If the warning is still there then perhaps your HDD is not long for this world.
 

patkim

Cyborg Agent
A current pending sector if SOFT is not a problem. If for some reasons system is not able to read properly a sector it is marked as current pending. Most likely a low-level full format should resolve it. If it does not then it’s a matter of concern. It may over a period of time correct itself or on other side worsen into reallocated sector or uncorrectable sector. Once you have a few uncorrectable or reallocated sectors, disk can no longer be trusted.

SSDs have an important spec which is generally not discussed. It's called Retention Period

For consumer SSDs it’s 1 year and for enterprise SSDs it’s 3 months. I.e. if the gap between two power-ons is more than this retention period, the data on SSD cannot be trusted anymore. Hence SSDs are actually not a good choice for long term unattended backups even if you can afford one. HDDs don’t generally have this limitation. At least not this narrow. However, HDD can fail anytime unexpectedly. I have had repeated failures of Toshiba HDD within 2 years again and again.

If PSU is inferior, it might affect the voltage stability and that might affect the HDD and other components. However, if HDD suffers minor physical impact, it’s likely to develop bad sectors sooner.

Copying data from one HDD with a few bad sectors to good one on its own can not damage the other HDD or pendrive. However, if there’s a problem reading data from Bad HDD then the copying process can go on for extended periods stressing drives. Try using Robocopy.exe with /R:1 /W:1 option (max number of retries and wait between retries ) to hopefully limit the process.

A quick search takes me to WD Diagnostic App - WD Software Don’t know if it will be relevant as I don’t have any WD Drives
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
Corsair RAM 8gb 2666mhz (3200 mhz supported by mobo, 3200 mhz was oos when this pc was built) and it is used in slot 2. In CPU Z the frequency is mentioned 1197.60 mhz though, why?
DDR means double data rate so a DDR4 2400 ram is actually running at (2400/2)=1200MHz which is what the cpu-z like software show(aka the actual ram frequency). Your ram is running at DDR4 2400(aka 1200MHz) likely because this is what the system bios decided at without you doing anything to increase it(& not much point either with your usage).

I think your HDDs are either experiencing physical shocks(some minor vibration in floor/table due to some machinery/equipment/appliance usage nearby) or some electrical issue(irregular power supply/fluctuations not able to be filtered out effectively by psu/ups).
 
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billubakra

Conversation Architect
DDR means double data rate so a DDR4 2400 ram is actually running at (2400/2)=1200MHz which is what the cpu-z like software show(aka the actual ram frequency). Your ram is running at DDR4 2400(aka 1200MHz) likely because this is what the system bios decided at without you doing anything to increase it(& not much point either with your usage).

I think your HDDs are either experiencing physical shocks(some minor vibration in floor/table due to some machinery/equipment/appliance usage nearby) or some electrical issue(irregular power supply/fluctuations not able to be filtered out effectively by psu/ups).
Bro the pc is kept on a table. No vibration etc at all in this room. The other older PCs with p4 processors and 15 year old hdds were kept on this table only. About electrical issue, maybe. How to diagnose the same? Again older PC's were kept in the same room with the same electrical socket, though their ups used to be different. Check the usage in the ss posted in the main topic, can that low usage lead to this? How to test psu and cpu if they are fine or not?
Anything for the other points?

The pc restarted after the chkdsk /r /f command, it took about 2 hours for the scan to be completed. By the time I was back the system was already booted up. Now it has become very very slow. Takes like an eternity to boot up. Opening even a folder takes like 10 minutes. Why is this current pending sector happening again and again in this machine?
Can zero filling help?
 
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billubakra

Conversation Architect
A current pending sector if SOFT is not a problem. If for some reasons system is not able to read properly a sector it is marked as current pending. Most likely a low-level full format should resolve it. If it does not then it’s a matter of concern. It may over a period of time correct itself or on other side worsen into reallocated sector or uncorrectable sector. Once you have a few uncorrectable or reallocated sectors, disk can no longer be trusted.

SSDs have an important spec which is generally not discussed. It's called Retention Period

For consumer SSDs it’s 1 year and for enterprise SSDs it’s 3 months. I.e. if the gap between two power-ons is more than this retention period, the data on SSD cannot be trusted anymore. Hence SSDs are actually not a good choice for long term unattended backups even if you can afford one. HDDs don’t generally have this limitation. At least not this narrow. However, HDD can fail anytime unexpectedly. I have had repeated failures of Toshiba HDD within 2 years again and again.

If PSU is inferior, it might affect the voltage stability and that might affect the HDD and other components. However, if HDD suffers minor physical impact, it’s likely to develop bad sectors sooner.

Copying data from one HDD with a few bad sectors to good one on its own can not damage the other HDD or pendrive. However, if there’s a problem reading data from Bad HDD then the copying process can go on for extended periods stressing drives. Try using Robocopy.exe with /R:1 /W:1 option (max number of retries and wait between retries ) to hopefully limit the process.

A quick search takes me to WD Diagnostic App - WD Software Don’t know if it will be relevant as I don’t have any WD Drives
What do you mean by SOFT? How to do low level format without connecting the drive to another system? Can zero fill help?

No physical impacts on this system. About psu, how to check if that's the culprit or not? The guy about whom I mentioned in point 5 said the same thing, if hdd's are failing within 2 years with same current pending sector error then something related to electricity or wires is the issue.

The pc restarted after the chkdsk /r /f command, it took about 2 hours for the scan to be completed. By the time I was back the system was already booted up. Now it has become very very slow. Takes like an eternity to boot up. Opening even a folder takes like 10 minutes. Why is this current pending sector happening again and again in this machine?

Did you check other points in the main post?
 
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billubakra

Conversation Architect
I am not really sure but I suspect the HDD is experiencing some hardware faults. Just to be safe, backup all your important data.

Try defragging your drive and see if all sectors are getting read or not. If the warning is still there then perhaps your HDD is not long for this world.
I get that bro but why are all hdd 's failing within 2 years with the same error in this system? I need help in diagnosing the same before going for another disk again.
The pc restarted after the chkdsk /r /f command, it took about 2 hours for the scan to be completed. By the time I was back the system was already booted up. Now it has become very very slow. Takes like an eternity to boot up. Opening even a folder takes like 10 minutes. Why is this current pending sector happening again and again in this machine?
Did you check other points in the main post?
Defragging is not possible as the system has become super super slow now
 
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billubakra

Conversation Architect
@whitestar_999 @patkim @Desmond

The drive was fine when checked via crystal disk info till the second week of this month. On about 16th June error 1073740791 started showing up and we weren't able to open any app that requires admin access. Just yesterday opened cdi via task manager and it showed this current pending sector error. I know noone can predict when a hdd will go kaput, but does these two scenarios have a relation with each other?
 

Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
Have you done a full format of the drive before? I suspect that the unreadable sectors on your drive have always been there and the errors come up later when the drive reaches those sectors with regular use.
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
Bro the pc is kept on a table. No vibration etc at all in this room. The other older PCs with p4 processors and 15 year old hdds were kept on this table only. About electrical issue, maybe. How to diagnose the same? Again older PC's were kept in the same room with the same electrical socket, though their ups used to be different. Check the usage in the ss posted in the main topic, can that low usage lead to this? How to test psu and cpu if they are fine or not?
Anything for the other points?
Older hdd are on an avg more reliable/resilient because of lesser capacity & better build quality. Low usage should have no relation with this issue. You also don't need to check processor(aka cpu I am assuming) & as for psu it might not be worth it as clearly the power supply is clean enough to not damage any other component so assuming it is the reason then it will be very minor fluctuation very hard to detect.

The pc restarted after the chkdsk /r /f command, it took about 2 hours for the scan to be completed. By the time I was back the system was already booted up. Now it has become very very slow. Takes like an eternity to boot up. Opening even a folder takes like 10 minutes. Why is this current pending sector happening again and again in this machine?
Can zero filling help?
If system has become so slow then likely hdd firmware is running some background task trying to reallocate/remap that faulty sector. You can try your luck with zero filling but no guarantees.
 

patkim

Cyborg Agent
What do you mean by SOFT? How to do low level format without connecting the drive to another system? Can zero fill help?

A SOFT issue with sector is more of an OS or software issue. It is not hardware damage or permanent failure. It may get corrected by a low-level format.

While zero filling, if the system partition is in use it may not be done completely or may not start. So ideally a live disc is recommended. Something like Hiren Boot DVD. You can boot your PC thru such live disc and use suitable tools therein to do a low-level format of your HDD.

About psu, how to check if that's the culprit or not?

For PSU it’s just a guess, generally PSUs from good brands are reliable. However, if you have a DMM just check if the SMPS output voltages are all in range. Still, it’s not a reliable test because PSUs might not work correctly under load, if they have an issue.

Why is this current pending sector happening again and again in this machine?

This is difficult to comment. I have had 2 back-to-back HDD failures in my system and I never doubted the PSU. The third HDD has worked fine on same setup for last 2 years. Even a used HDD that I bought several years ago still works fine! First try a low-level format and check if the issue goes away.
 
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billubakra

Conversation Architect
Have you done a full format of the drive before? I suspect that the unreadable sectors on your drive have always been there and the errors come up later when the drive reaches those sectors with regular use.
Nope never. Got this rma drive back in 2019 and it has worked well. Do you recommend using any software to format it fully? How to fully format it without connecting it to some other machine? I am more inclined towards zero fill, it might kill it or might even have a positive impact.
Do you recommended connecting the system to an external storage media and to try to take backup considering this current pending sector error? Can copying files from this drive make them have this error too?
 
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billubakra

Conversation Architect
Older hdd are on an avg more reliable/resilient because of lesser capacity & better build quality. Low usage should have no relation with this issue. You also don't need to check processor(aka cpu I am assuming) & as for psu it might not be worth it as clearly the power supply is clean enough to not damage any other component so assuming it is the reason then it will be very minor fluctuation very hard to detect.


If system has become so slow then likely hdd firmware is running some background task trying to reallocate/remap that faulty sector. You can try your luck with zero filling but no guarantees.
Any recommended software for zero fills? And the recommended settings for the same please? How much time on an average will it take for a 2tb drive?
Do you recommended connecting the system to an external storage media and to try to take backup considering this current pending sector error? Can copying files from this drive make them have this error too?
 
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billubakra

Conversation Architect
A SOFT issue with sector is more of an OS or software issue. It is not hardware damage or permanent failure. It may get corrected by a low-level format.

While zero filling, if the system partition is in use it may not be done completely or may not start. So ideally a live disc is recommended. Something like Hiren Boot DVD. You can boot your PC thru such live disc and use suitable tools therein to do a low-level format of your HDD.



For PSU it’s just a guess, generally PSUs from good brands are reliable. However, if you have a DMM just check if the SMPS output voltages are all in range. Still, it’s not a reliable test because PSUs might not work correctly under load, if they have an issue.



This is difficult to comment. I have had 2 back-to-back HDD failures in my system and I never doubted the PSU. The third HDD has worked fine on same setup for last 2 years. Even a used HDD that I bought several years ago still works fine! First try a low-level format and check if the issue goes away.
Can you please share a guide as in how to do a low level format via hbcd? And which version of hbcd? The legacy one or the latest one's created by fans?

What's DMM? Is there any app that monitors a psu? I know that an app might not be able to do it well but maybe it can give some clues.

Bro I understand that any drive can go kaput anytime, be it hdd or ssd. But two wd drives going kaput in this systen within two years each when the usage is not that much with the same error made me think that something is not right. Plus that guy whom I met in the offline shop, he seems to be right also. Something related to electronics is causing this same error over and over again. He said that even if I buy a new drive without diagnosing this issue first it will lead to the same result. So, I really want to figure this out. @whitestar_999 bro is right about the reliability of the older drives. Idk why I have doubts on the ups and psu. How to diagnose the ups for any fluctuations or something? Also do you think that the sata cable can cause these issues?

Do you recommended connecting the system to an external storage media and to try to take backup considering this current pending sector error? Can copying files from this drive make them have this error too?

Has anyone of you tried toshiba hdd's? Or any other brand besides wd?
 

Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
Nope never. Got this rma drive back in 2019 and it has worked well. Do you recommend using any software to format it fully? How to fully format it without connecting it to some other machine? I am more inclined towards zero fill, it might kill it or might even have a positive impact.
Do you recommended connecting the system to an external storage media and to try to take backup considering this current pending sector error? Can copying files from this drive make them have this error too?
I don't think there would be any issue backing up your files. I cannot guarantee that doing a full format would fix the issue but you could try. In either case it's better if you get a new HDD and demote this one to a secondary or tertiary storage.

To format, you can either connect this drive to another machine and format from Window or use a Linux Live USB with gparted and format that way.

Edit: You can get a dedicated gparted live USB ISO from here - GParted -- Live CD/USB/PXE/HD
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
Any recommended software for zero fills? And the recommended settings for the same please? How much time on an average will it take for a 2tb drive?
Do you recommended connecting the system to an external storage media and to try to take backup considering this current pending sector error? Can copying files from this drive make them have this error too?
Many software already suggested above & there is no "recommended setting". It is just a matter of selecting the option to fill with zero.
*www.diskpart.com/articles/hirens-boot-cd-low-level-format-0001.html

The time it will take depend on your hdd condition. If everything is normal it would take around same time as to write 2TB of data to hdd & assuming usb 3.0 interface & other factors avg speed should be around 80-100MB/s so around 350GB per hour. Because of bad sector the process will halt at that step & again depending on many factors how much delay this will cause is not something which can be predicted accurately.

Recommended method is to connect the faulty hdd to a secondary system via sata(or usb if sata not available).

Robocopy is mentioned above with switch in command line that skip copying any data after 1 failed retry so you can try that because normally the windows copying process keep retrying to copy data from faulty hdd sector. I think similar option to skip copying data from bad sectors on hdd is also there in more user friendly gui based copying software like fastcopy(use nonstop option as mentioned in description of its usage in below link).
*fastcopy.jp/help/fastcopy_eng.htm
 

patkim

Cyborg Agent
DMM = Digital Multi Meter. A hand held device to measure electrical parameters like voltages, current etc
A poor SATA cable or excessively bent cable may give rise to CRC errors but in your case there are none. See CrystalDiskInfo output.
About low-level format just one comment I would like to make is to keep only the drive in question attached, to avoid accidently selecting wrong drive for formatting. The process is one way and cannot be reversed.

About electrical aspect, only thing I can comment is to try another new PSU. Preferably one with capability of continuous output rated temperature at 40C. Check if this param is specified in detailed specs. Also consider checking with the guy in shop if he has anything further to comment.
How old is Antec vp550p?

In 'era' when computer hardware was more reliable that today, I had serious failures with Toshiba HDDs. One of my Toshiba HDDs developed 16K bad sectors in no time between 2 reboots within just 1199 Hours of usage. For last few years I have opted for Seagate and so far there have not been any failures. You may check hard drive failure rates online but most stats are available for higher capacity drives and don't know if that data is genuine.


toshiba.png
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
@whitestar_999 - Completely random. One was OEM and another offline.
Over my years of extensive hdd buying both from offline & online places I have come to a conclusion that in India at least farther the offline place is from the hdd distribution centre more will be the chances of physical shocks/mishandling which in turn means more chances of hdd failure. For online place I have come to a conclusion that portable 2.5" hdd sold on amazon/flipkart via their official/own sellers have less chances of experiencing physical shocks/mishandling compared to other online places. I absolutely advice against buying 3.5" hdd online unless you think your luck is not so bad & you are ordering from the established "online shops" like mdcomputer/vedant/primeabgb/theitdepot.

It seems both these hdd came from offline sources & coupled with the fact that his city is a tier-2/3 my guess is that his city is simply not suitable to buy 3.5" hdd or his luck is bad enough to get these 2 hdd via bad offline sources(I once saw one of the biggest pc shop in Nehru Place Delhi employee throwing packaged portable hdd like a cricket ball to other guy to catch & take it to the counter for invoicing).
 
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