hi. I have a failing Toshiba 2.5 HDD 80GB. The thing is, SMART reports BAD drive. Severel Low Level (Zero Fill) programs will format the drive. Some programs such as PowerMax Bur-in test claim that the drive that passes this test is certified error free. Well, the drive pass the test. Several programs will report the drive as OK. Still I can't format the drive, Windows gives as error at 11%, Ubuntu will stay at 5% for hours until it crashes. Using HDAT2 to view SMART Statistics, all tresholds are OK but one, Sector Rellocation Count Exceded. As far as I know HDD's have some spare sectors to replace bad ones and this is controlled by SMART. Is there any way to reset SMART statistics? Or even reseting only the Spare Sectors section? So that I could Low Level Format the drive again and see if it works? Thanks Once upon a time the floppy disk was king.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-M... "As far as I know HDD's have some spare sectors to replace bad ones and this is controlled by SMART." Please can you link to where you found this information ? Buy a new hard drive, they are cheap.....

I wouldn't think powermax would work since it's a maxtor utility. Also note that a LLF is not the same as a zero-fill, although the terms are often used interchangably. I'm not sure which you've tried. You can always LLF the drive (again). Usually that would be a last resort but if you've already done it at least once I guess trying it again won't make things worse. It'd be best to use a LLF specifically designed for the drive. Unfortunately manufacturers don't offer them anymore. I think the best bet would be to use Disk Manager. I uploaded one here that you can try: http://members.driverguide.com/driv... I don't think S.M.A.R.T has a say in whether you can LLF a drive, but if so, just disable it in cmos/bios setup. Besides Disk Manager, MAXLLF is a good LLF program. It's a maxtor utility but will work with drives from all manufacturers--except JTS. It was designed for drives less than 1 gig. I've used it on larger ones but never anything as large as 80 gig. But again, as a last resort it can't make things worse. Here's some info on maxllf and a download: http://www.ameriwebs.net/groupworks/ Click on 'low level formatting' and then at the bottom of that page, 'maxtor drives'. An LLF can't fix spots that are physically bad. A normal format will mark bad spots and simply not use them so your problem goes beyond that. It's not likely an LLF will fix it but it won't hurt to try. If it doesn't work, well as already mentioned, just get another drive.

Lots of info on HDD Diagnosis at the link below. NO, you cannot Reset S.M.A.R.T. history. It's installed by the MFG for drive evaluation upon failure. (RMA) http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... There is nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.

Sector Rellocation Count Exceded. This means you have already used all the available spare sectors replacing damaged/unusable/bad sectors. It's toast. Goin' Fishin' (Some day)

itguru Read this about spare sectors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_se... The HDD has already been replaced, this is the old 80GB HDD. I was just trying to recover it, many HDD's can be restored by powermax 4.09 as it works on any HDD. I know that zero fill is not low level but its the closest. Thanks Once upon a time the floppy disk was king.

Thanks Dark666, found this: http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7... I must of been asleep ten years ago at college ROFL!!