Re: [PLUG] Seagate warranty return, Smartctl

[Gary Coulbourne <bear@bears.org>]

Lee Marzke wrote:
> Is this enough for a warranty return,  I don't have any easy way to run
> their
> Windows Diagnostic program on their web site.
>   
As I understand it, the density of data on modern drives is so high that 
they rely on error correction to actually function.  I have seen drives 
run with a tool like Spinrite that produce tens of thousands of errors 
per second but which are completely fine.  Apparently, some drive 
manufacturers report the information about the number of errors and some 
don't... and either way is fine according to the SMART standard as long 
as the self-tests report correctly.  The only way to be sure is to run 
the provided diagnostic program.  Still, I suspect the drive is fine.

According to the Wikipedia article on SMART concerning Read Errors: 
"Note that Seagate drives often report a raw value that is very high 
even on new drives, and does not thereby indicate a failure."

Peace,
Gary
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