Calibration Retry Count error on HDD?

[apav]

Hey guys,

 

Just noticed my external HDD shows up having a Calibration Retry Count error, and the Data value is 5.  According to Crystaldisk, it also reads 5 under Data, but Recalibration Retries is blue instead of yellow (meaning it's normal) and my health status is Good. I have no idea what this means, only that potentially it could be a problem. I ran an error scan but everything was fine. I also ran a short drive self test and a short genereic test in Seatools, and both tests passed. Looking the error up says it is a sign of a potential drive failure. Should I be worried? Also side question, is there a way to backup 560 GB of data on that drive into a much smaller size with a backup software? How small could I possibly get that backup (containing all 560 GB of everything on that drive) to be? I've never backed up a drive of that size before.

 

Thank you! Oh and here's a picture in case you're wondering:

 

 

 

[markes12344]

you can zip the files into one zip but that will take a extensive amount of time and at least the same amount of space free on the harddrive to be backed up too to be safe. 

 

as for the calibration there is a way to get the disks to re-calibrated, but i have yet to learn how this is done. only ever heard it could be. 

Best Regards 
Markes12344

[Tr3vor]

The clicking you hear on a failing hard drive is a calibration retry because the drive can't see where it is. This is caused by faulty heads/platters. Your hard drive is on its way out.

 

 

If you think you can "recalibrate" or LLF an IDE drive, you can't. Only old ass MFM stepper motor drives can do that. 

[apav]

you can zip the files into one zip but that will take a extensive amount of time and at least the same amount of space free on the harddrive to be backed up too to be safe. 

 

as for the calibration there is a way to get the disks to re-calibrated, but i have yet to learn how this is done. only ever heard it could be. 

Best Regards 

Markes12344

I could do that, but I wonder how much 560GB will be compressed into under maximum compression with 7zip. I think in the past I used Acronis to backup around 200-300GB on my old laptop, and that image file was roughly 20 or 30GB. 

 

The clicking you hear on a failing hard drive is a calibration retry because the drive can't see where it is. This is caused by faulty heads/platters. Your hard drive is on its way out.

 

 

If you think you can "recalibrate" or LLF an IDE drive, you can't. Only old ass MFM stepper motor drives can do that. 

It's a USB drive, so I probably can't recalibrate it, but I don't hear any clicking. Seatools passed the short drive self test and short generic test (didn't run the long test since it asked me to backup since there may be data loss, and I dont have a way to backup ~560GB of space right now) and Cystaldisk didn't give me a warning, so I'm wary about how accurate HDTune is being. No bad sectors or anything, nor do I hear any weird noises with my ear up against the drive. 

[Tr3vor]

I could do that, but I wonder how much 560GB will be compressed into under maximum compression with 7zip. I think in the past I used Acronis to backup around 200-300GB on my old laptop, and that image file was roughly 20 or 30GB. 

 

It's a USB drive, so I probably can't recalibrate it, but I don't hear any clicking. Seatools passed the short drive self test and short generic test (didn't run the long test since it asked me to backup since there may be data loss, and I dont have a way to backup ~560GB of space right now) and Cystaldisk didn't give me a warning, so I'm wary about how accurate HDTune is being. No bad sectors or anything, nor do I hear any weird noises with my ear up against the drive. 

 

 

If I were you, I'd give spinrite a try, it takes forever, but its very thorough with checking disks and doesn't destroy data (unless you want it to...).

 

It says its only happened 5 times, so obviously you won't hear it all the time. Still is a bad sign.

[apav]

It passed the Seatools Long Generic test, so does that mean it's safe to use? Can I be confident in the manufacturer's software and pay no mind to this error HDTune is giving me?

[markes12344]

It passed the Seatools Long Generic test, so does that mean it's safe to use? Can I be confident in the manufacturer's software and pay no mind to this error HDTune is giving me?

age of the drive?

[apav]

age of the drive?

Purchased it in Feb 2013, this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178251

[markes12344]

unless its been tossed around a lot, like into and out of bags. i would't think the life of this drive wouldn't only be a  year and 8 months. Personal bet, id say it still has life left to it, maybe when the drives closer to 30 months old or so i'd start to worry. 

Luckily the guys at Myth-Busters, Jamie and Adam, have a YouTube channel as well as a website with two other techies, and they put together this article on drives. just take a exponential amount of months off per aged year of the device since its a removable external source and not inside a case never bouncing. 

 

Never the lease, if Seagate is anything like WD they should have a pretty dang good warranty, maybe you could think about doing a RMA if really concerned. 

 

Best of Luck
Markes12344

[apav]

unless its been tossed around a lot, like into and out of bags. i would't think the life of this drive wouldn't only be a  year and 8 months. Personal bet, id say it still has life left to it, maybe when the drives closer to 30 months old or so i'd start to worry. 

Luckily the guys at Myth-Busters, Jamie and Adam, have a YouTube channel as well as a website with two other techies, and they put together this article on drives. just take a exponential amount of months off per aged year of the device since its a removable external source and not inside a case never bouncing. 

 

Never the lease, if Seagate is anything like WD they should have a pretty dang good warranty, maybe you could think about doing a RMA if really concerned. 

 

Best of Luck

Markes12344

It actually has gone in my backback a lot. But I haven't been rough with it. I put it gently in a pocket in my backpack, and I don't toss my backpack around or anything. I'd love to RMA it but the warranty on it was only 1 year

[Tr3vor]

I'd still run SpinRite on it if I were you. If anything will find bad sectors, that program will.

[Maiakaat]

Lots of people passing opinion around as fact.

In my experience the clicking and this error are almost certainly due to rare problems occurring between the disk and the computer (bad cables SATA or USB) NOT the disk

Usually the issue is the USB hub, the SATA cable (for internal disks), or rarely the USB to SATA or disk controller itself.

Use a more reliable USB hub and/or cable, but take a 2nd backup for key files just in case

 

I appreciate this is now 2 years old, but if it helps others to not jump to conclusions without any supporting evidence. HD Tune could also perhaps help by not flagging just about anything and everything as some kind of early warning of failure on one single error