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Can I trust a hard drive that has had to reallocate sectors?
I just ran CrystalDiskInfo and found that the hard drive has one reallocated sector:
Should I worry about this? Is one or a few reallocated sectors okay in normal operation? Should I be concerned? (Note that I maintain weekly system image backups using Windows Backup and Restore Center on an external hard drive, and I've successfully restored a backup before.)
Whether it's a single bad sector or dozens, you're still playing with a ticking timebomb.
If in doubt, ask the hard disk manufacturer if they will warranty a drive with one bad sector. In my experience, they have, so I always take even a single reallocated sector seriously. If the manufacturer won't warranty the disk for you (assuming the warranty period hasn't expired), then they must be reasonably confident that you won't lose your data.
One more thing to keep in mind is that you'll incur a performance hit every time you try to read or write a bad sector--this is why you can sometimes notice your computer getting slower and slower (as more sectors are reallocated) until the hard drive catastrophically dies.
P.S. Sorry, I voted to close but later gave it some more thought. I think a lot of people who vote to close questions must make the same mistake, whether they're willing to admit it or not. It looks like there's not any way for me to take away my vote.
