Which of these results do I believe?

[Neostarwcc]

Okay so, I just got a new external HDD yesterday (WD My Passport 4TB if you must know) and the UPS driver that delivered my package left it in my dads mailbox in bellow zero weather for several hours. It was VERY cold yesterday with almost -40 wind chills so I'm really pissed that the UPS driver took such good care of my package.

He didn't call my wife and I and tell us that our package was in the mailbox, he didn't leave us a e-mail, nothing. In fact, we didn't even find out it was delivered until we checked the tracking number at like 6 PM last night and saw that it was apparently delivered to our front door at 1PM. My wife and I were home all day, he didn't deliver it to our door. Our dog would have gone ballistic if he did (He loves to bark at fuel trucks, the UPS guy, The Fedex guy, he... just doesn't like trucks for some reason.) So.. he never came within 150 feet of our house so how can it be delivered at our front door? We looked anyway, and didn't see a package. But by a hunch we decided to check the mailbox and sure enough, it was there and the box was freezing cold to the touch let alone the actual hard drive. I let it warm up until about 10 o clock last night and then I hooked it up and there were ALL kinds of errors on a brand new drive. Not only that but apparently the drive has bad sectors. I did several tests on the drive and here's a lot of the results.


HD Tune Pro found 0 bad sectors although there are bad sectors in the drive with the smart scan results:

HDDscan is just stuck in an endless loop of bad blocks it's been running for about 2 hours now and it keeps spitting out errors.

Crystaldiskinfo says the drive is "good" but gives all different kinds of problems.

And when I use WD's own software it won't even scan the drive at all on an extended test and it immediately spits out a "too many bad sectors" error but yet when I do a quick scan it says it passes:

I apologize for the gigantic pictures I have no clue how to resize them and they look normal sized in my image host. Sorry for looking like a dumbass but it's all I can do short of just giving you the link and having you click on it....


Should I be concerned with these results? I backed up about 500GBs worth of data just fine overnight and the programs work just fine. But the thing is, the drive itself is faulty because my desktop has a hard time reading it half the time. You know that disconnect and reconnect sound that you hear when a USB cord connects and disconnects? I hear that a lot and the drive won't even read unless I find the cords sweet spot. I considered buying a new bigger cord (because the cord they give you is SOOOOO small there's nowhere safe to put the drive where it won't get destroyed so I had to stick it on the floor) but why should I pay $15 for a new bigger cord if it's the drive itself that's faulty?

I also don't know if Amazon will allow me to return the drive for free because my prime expired yesterday morning as I don't have the funds to pay $15 a month almost for prime anymore. So... no clue if it's going to cost me a 5th of the cost of the drive to even send it back to get a refurbished replacement.

 

[Alaric]

I would contact WD through their Support webpage and give them the data from the test with their software, along with any/all error codes it provides. Also include the reconnect issue and whatever other issues it has. If you bought a new drive, and it needs to be replaced, don't accept a refurbished replacement. A brand new drive with defects should be replaced with a new drive, IMO.

 

[Neostarwcc]

I would contact WD through their Support webpage and give them the data from the test with their software, along with any/all error codes it provides. Also include the reconnect issue and whatever other issues it has. If you bought a new drive, and it needs to be replaced, don't accept a refurbished replacement. A brand new drive with defects should be replaced with a new drive, IMO.

Well a slight update on that, I did order the drive from Amazon and since I ordered it when I had prime they're willing to replace the drive for free as long as I send the old drive back to them within 30 days. But if the drive will run fine for several years than I'd rather not get a replacement right now. Especially if they're going to send me a refurbished one back. I have a 3 or 5 year warranty (forget which) so... I have a lot of time to send the drive back. It seems to copy and store data fine for now but then again, it's not even 24 hours old. Unless you guys think that it won't last that long or I definitely should get a replacement. No clue if Amazon would send me a refurbished one or a brand new one it didn't specify.

 

[EarthDog]

Return that drive, bud.

 

[Neostarwcc]

Return that drive, bud.

That's what I was told, I called Amazon and they said it was completely my fault and their best guess as to how the sectors got damaged was because I didn't know how to install it.

Really? You put the USB cable into the USB-C port and you install the software by clicking next and "I agree". How hard is that? A one year old can install an external HDD if you tell them which port the cable goes into... He said that leaving the hard drive out in -40 degree weather for 5-6 hours wouldn't really damage the hard drive. If you ask me, that's exactly what happened and it's on the negligence of the UPS driver that delivered my package. Especially when he lied and he said he left it on my front door. No, he didn't. He left it near my mailbox on the ground in the snow in -40 degree weather with barely a plastic baggie protecting it.

Anyway, rant aside Amazon finally decided to give me a drive after they talked to western digital and western digital blamed the UPS guy too and said exactly what I said was wrong with it and basically told amazon to replace it. So they're giving me a replacement drive that's coming the day before XMAS and they're giving me 30 days to return the drive with free shipping on that. So, awesome. I probably should have talked to WD in the first place instead of trying to deal with "Techies who apparently know what they're talking about despite probably never going to college." But, WD probably would have told me to call amazon so meh.

 

[HankB]

From the data sheet for the drive I find

OPERATING SPECIFICATIONS
Operating temperature: 5°C to 35°C
Non-op. temperature: –20°C to 65°C

-20°C is -4°F so if the drive went below that temperature, it was out of specification. Worse yet, if you didn't allow it to warm up to 5°C/41°F there is the possibility of damage.

I wonder what the actual temperature was. Wind chill is an estimate of subjective experience on bare skin. An inert object will approach the actual temperature but not go below it.

Regardless, a new drive should not have problems and should be replaced in kind if it does.