Can I modify the SMART value of Raw Read Error Rate Worst Value to be greater than 1?

Question

I have a HP Pavilion g6 2136tx Laptop which was functioning correctly until one day Windows 7 Ultimate x64 couldn't boot up. Tried System Restore and Windows Startup Repair tool, both of which failed. Finally removed the HDD and connected it as external to another laptop. Tried many HDD Scan SW all of which could diagnose only 1 problem:

Raw Read Error Rate: Threshold Value: 51, Current Value: 1, Worst Value: 1 All the softwares predicted imminent drive failure and that all data should be backed up.

Hard Drive Model: Samsung Spinpoint ST500LM012 500GB manufactured by Seagate, 5400RPM
The Date of manufacture is May 2012 and the drive has never failed ever. I removed all partitions and also did a deep format of the entire disk, but the error is still there.

1. What are the options that I have except replacing the disk?
2. Can I modify the SMART value of Raw Read Error Rate Worst Value to be greater than 1 as I saw many manufacturers allow it be greater than 1? Is it editable and if yes, how to do it?

Answer 1

The SMART counters measure the physical/electrical performance of the disk. They're supposed to alert you when the disk is about to experience a failure (or, in your case, already has).

1. You ask if there anything you can do except replace the disk. No, it's a hardware failure. You could replace whatever components have failed (best case that'd mean soldering new components to the control board on the bottom of the drive), but that's not really practical.

2. You ask if you can modify the SMART values. They're not intended to be edited, and doing so wouldn't be useful. The value is just an indicator, changing it won't make it work any better. You could in theory upload a new firmware to the drive to report a lower value (again, in theory, this is not an easy approach). Some drives also have serial (as in "serial port") interfaces, though normally soldering is required, and you might be able to manipulate the values through that interface.

Seagate purchased Samsung's hard drive business, so you can check if its still under warranty with the Seagate Warranty Validation page.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, drives fail, there is no "End-of-life-date" for any type of HDD, regardless of manufacture or size. You could have had that drive for 10 days or 10 years, they just fail for all sorts of reasons. You can't just edit the drives RAW Read Rate, it is a hardware issue, not a software issue. You need to backup your data and get a new HDD. You could try to get it replaced by Samsung if it's still in it's warranty period:

http://support.seagate.com/customer/en-US/warranty_validation.jsp

Best of luck to you John Paul!

Answer 3

1. Unfortunately there are no other options than replacing the drive. HDDs are complex and precise pieces of equipment. Actually there is less than 1 Nanometer between the platters and the head inside the HDD. 1 Nanometer equals 0.000000001 Meters, you cannot just open it and fix it. Nor can you fix a hardware problem using software tools. I'm sorry for your drive but there is just nothing that could help in this case.

2. It is possible to modify the value but that won't fix the drive. This value is just a indicator for the problem it's not the problem itself. Raw Read Error Rate indicates the Frequency of errors appearance while reading RAW data from a disk. Another thing with SMART values is that the higher the Current Value the better. SMART values don't start from 0 and count to 255 ( for example), but instead start from 255 and count down to 0. When the Current value is near and below the Threshold you get notified that the drive is failing. So the value of 1 is the worst value you can get. Even if you modify it and it shows 52 this won't change a thing. The HDD still won't be able to read a thing.