Quote:
Originally Posted by DonVoigt
what do the charts mean ?
As is highly evident from this post- I know nothing of computer stuff!
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Don, I am not an expert on anything; I know a little about a few things. I build my own PCs, and if something interests me, I'll learn a bit about it.
This chart is from a new software that I don't usually use - I wanted to know the number of reallocated sectors. Those are the 'bad' sectors that are blocked off and Windows can't 'see' or use. Any HDD will typically have some even when new. But when the number starts climbing and the rate increases it means your drive is failing.
I like HDTune & Crystal - they simply say "OK" or "Bad". Simple, even for a moron like me.
What tipped me off, was using Macrium Reflect (also new to me: I had been using Power Quest Drive Image for my backups) to image my 'new' laptop HDDs with Win XP, Win 7.1, Win 8.1, and Win 10 so I could restore them after mucking about with them. Reflect was giving me error msgs and aborting. I'd reboot, try again, and it would work. One time, while imaging this HDD, I ran chkdsk and instead of the usual list of used/good sectors, I got a runaway screen of 'Reallocated Sectors' that went on for several seconds. Bad. I ran HDTune and then Crystal and got the bad news: My HDD was dying.
But I have a drawer full of old HDDs of various sizes, and I only store O/S's and programs on my boot drive and burn my data to CD/DVD so if it did die it's no loss.
So as far as the charts go, if it says 'Good" or is all green, I'm a happy clam. If it's red or says 'Bad" or even yellow and 'Caution", then I spring into action like a snail!
And I cloned another 80GB HDD of this system (dual-boot, 4 partitions, 98 and XP, FAT32 and NTFS) so I'd have a quick cold-swappable backup HDD for emergencies.
We should all learn from Jerry's misfortune.
