[Duo v2] bad sectors because the two disks are different

filzip77 wrote:

Did you read my post above or is that just a typo CC4H is the latest firmware. Yes, it was a typo. I put the CC4H firmware. Here is an interesting article by Seagate concerning the SMART read by third-party software: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/203971en At the end they say: ... Please remember that these third-party programs do not have proprietary access to Seagate hard disk information, and therefore often provide inconsistent and inaccurate results. SeaTools is more consistent and more accurate and is the standard Seagate uses to determine hard drive failure. Do they mean that if the SMART data report reallocated sectors but that Seatool says everyting is Ok that the disk is fine? This is the case I am If so, they will run Seatool (which reports no error) and return me back the same disk again :( Philippe

You can use ReadyNAS disk health (when in the NAS) or something like Acronis Drive Monitor to see the SMART stats. The stats for fully standard stuff like reallocated sectors are reported correctly. Seagate (and other vendors) have defined some of their own parameters - you can see them with third-party tools, but since the format isn't known they are not helpful. For instance, with my Seagates I see "Head Flying Hours" with a huge number (163221642158668). I have no idea how to interpret that. However, Reallocated Sector Count, Spin Retry Count are all easily understood.

Seagate (and other vendors) are willing to RMA their failed disks, however they do have an vested interest in minimizing returns on marginal disks. So it is good to see the actual thresholds for these key parameters. There are ways to return disks to Seagate even if Seatools passes. Though it is best if you are sure that the disk isn't up to spec before you use them.