UNDERSTANDING HDD BAD SECTOR FAILURE

You might have noticed your computer performing slowly, becoming unresponsive, or even ‘hanging’ and restarting itself. This can be due to an excessive amount of bad software that loads at startup However, most people don’t realize until it is too late, that it is their hard disk drive that is failing. One of the most telling symptoms can be excessively long file transfer times when you copy the data the progress bar tells you it will take several hours or days to copy.

Do you often receive hard disk error messages? Maybe your hard disk contains bad sectors. Remember, bad sectors on the hard disk can lead to data loss situations.

WHAT IS HARD DISK SECTOR DAMAGE?

There are millions of sectors in a hard disk drive. A sector is the smallest physical storage unit. Each sector on a hard disk stores a fixed amount of user-accessible data, that is 512 bytes. Sometimes it may happen that a hard disk sector gets damaged due to any reason. As a result, that part of the hard disk cannot be accessed or used to store data. You may face data loss or the data may become inaccessible. If the hard disk contains bad sectors, this can also affect its performance. A damaged sector of a hard disk is often known as a bad sector failure.

It is not easy for users to detect bad sectors in the hard disk. If you are unknowingly using a hard disk with bad sectors, you are likely to face unwanted consequences. The information stored on the bad sector of the hard disk cannot be read, and you cannot write anything on it either. If there are only a few bad sectors in the hard disk, the disk is completely usable.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF BAD SECTOR?

Over a period of time, the hard disk starts losing its magnetism that may cause bad sectors. In such a situation, the damage is severe and you cannot recover your data from it. Below is a list of the most common causes of bad sector:

On a hard disk, the address mark contains the number and location of the sector. In addition, it provides status information about the sector. When an address mark gets corrupted, the hard disk fails to find the requested sector. Although the data is still present there, your hard disk cannot locate it without the proper ID.

The hard disk uses an EEC (Error Checking and Correction) algorithm to verify the data integrity. If the data is corrupted, your hard disk will try to recover it with the same error checking and correction algorithm. If the correction is successfully done, the hard disk will return the data stored in the sector without reporting any error. But if the correction fails, the hard disk will report an error and no data will be returned.

ECC stands for Error Checking & Correcting or Error Correction Code, and the ECC memory is basically a data storage type that can possibly detect some of the most common internal data corruption types and even correct them. ECC is used for checking the integrity of the data being read by the hard disk. When data is being read, the hard disk calculates its ECC and then compares it. Sometimes the error-correcting code (ECC) can also get corrupted due to any reason and, as a result, there will be no way to verify the integrity of the data. In such a situation, when the hard disk reads the data from the sector, the ECC will not match and the hard disk will not return with any data but an error

The ideal operating temperature of a hard disk is between 35 to 45 degrees Celsius. A hard disk can get very hot when in use for a long duration. Overheating is a serious issue that can cause physical damage to the hard disk and system crash. Long-time overheating can cause bad sectors in the hard disk and, as a result, the data stored in those sectors will become inaccessible.

Dust can be one of the leading causes of hard disk bad sector, although it is generally overlooked. Since the drive head is very close to the hard disk,
sometimes the dust particles can be stuck between the head and the platter surface. As a result, the hard disk fails or it starts causing bad sectors. Dust is also considered one of the important factors for overheating in the hard disk.

Remember, the hard disk failure rates steadily increase with age. An old hard disk is always at high risk of physical damage. Do not forget that every electronic device has a limited lifespan. Overusing the hard disk for a long time can cause bad sectors and put your data at a high risk of loss.

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