I bought a WD external hard drive near the end of 2024, and CrystalDiskInfo now reports its health as "Caution." The highlighted SMART values are Reallocated Sectors Count: 000000000DA60 and Current Pending Sector Count: 00000000002D. I also accidentally dropped the drive shortly after buying it, which loosened the top cover before I put it back in place. How serious are these readings? Replacing the drive immediately would be difficult financially, so I'd like to know whether it might safely last another couple of years or whether I need to act now.
3 Answers
Yes, treat this as a failing mechanical hard drive. Reallocated sectors mean the drive has already found damaged areas and substituted spare sectors, while pending sectors are areas it currently cannot read reliably. The hexadecimal values correspond to roughly 55,904 reallocation events and 45 pending sectors, although the exact raw-value interpretation can vary by manufacturer. The important point is that both attributes are nonzero, and the pending count is especially concerning. Copy anything important to another drive immediately and assume this one could stop working without warning. If the counts increase, the physical problem is getting worse. A “Good” status would not necessarily guarantee safety, but “Caution” on these attributes should not be ignored.
Do not use this as the only place for documents, photos, or anything you cannot replace. Back up or clone the data as soon as possible, preferably by copying the most important files first. Avoid stress-testing it or running a repair utility before the backup, since repeated reads and attempted repairs can make a weak drive deteriorate or turn recoverable data into corrupted data. After your files are safe, check whether the drive is still under warranty and request a replacement if possible.
There is no reliable way to predict whether it will die tomorrow or continue working for months or years. Some damaged hard drives keep functioning for a long time, but they can also suddenly develop more bad sectors, corrupt files, or become inaccessible. If replacing it immediately is impossible, use it only for expendable copies such as media that you can download again, keep a second backup elsewhere, and monitor whether the SMART counts rise. Waiting a couple of years while trusting this drive with your only copy would be a serious risk.
The fact that it is an external drive does not make the SMART warnings less serious. The enclosure may have helped cause the damage if the drive was dropped, but the disk itself is still reporting read problems.