Western Digital: Sector Relocation Error (code 226)

Question

I have a nearly new WD Green, but warranty is already expired. It was lying on a shelf.

I would like to test it before use.

The first step I made is running full test using Data Lifeguard Tools. This test gives me an error

0226 Sector Relocation Error

The official recommendation is to replace the drive. However it's obvious that the vendor is motivated to sell more hard drives.

S.M.A.R.T. status says that is zero remaps, so I have no clue what the error could be here. I wonder if there is a way to remap the problematic sectors?

Update: S.M.A.R.T.

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Caviar Green (AF)
Device Model:     WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Serial Number:    WD-WCAV********
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 259379483
Firmware Version: 80.00A80
User Capacity:    1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is:    Fri Nov 22 12:52:42 2013 UTC
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82) Offline data collection activity
                    was completed without error.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                    without error or no self-test has ever
                    been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:        (20100) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:            (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:    (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:    ( 231) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:    (   5) minutes.
SCT capabilities:          (0x3031) SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   167   122   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       4633
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       30
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       23
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       13
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       8
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       21
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   117   103   000    Old_age   Always       -       30
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
Warning: ATA error count 14 inconsistent with error log pointer 5

ATA Error Count: 14 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
    CR = Command Register [HEX]
    FR = Features Register [HEX]
    SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
    SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
    CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
    CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
    DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
    DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
    ER = Error register [HEX]
    ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 14 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22 hours (0 days + 22 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 61 46 00 00 00 40  Device Fault; Error: ABRT

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  ef 03 46 00 00 00 40 00      04:30:32.893  SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
  ef 03 46 00 00 00 40 00      04:30:32.892  SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:30:32.890  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  70 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:27:11.365  SEEK [OBS-7]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:27:11.362  IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 13 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22 hours (0 days + 22 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 61 46 00 00 00 40  Device Fault; Error: ABRT

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  ef 03 46 00 00 00 40 00      04:30:32.892  SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:30:32.890  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  70 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:27:11.365  SEEK [OBS-7]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:27:11.362  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  70 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:26:15.054  SEEK [OBS-7]

Error 12 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22 hours (0 days + 22 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 61 00 00 00 00 40

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  70 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:27:11.365  SEEK [OBS-7]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:27:11.362  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  70 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:26:15.054  SEEK [OBS-7]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:26:15.052  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  70 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:24:33.301  SEEK [OBS-7]

Error 11 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22 hours (0 days + 22 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 61 00 00 00 00 40

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  70 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:26:15.054  SEEK [OBS-7]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:26:15.052  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  70 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:24:33.301  SEEK [OBS-7]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:24:33.298  IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 10 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22 hours (0 days + 22 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 61 00 00 00 00 40

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  70 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:24:33.301  SEEK [OBS-7]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 40 00      04:24:33.298  IDENTIFY DEVICE

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Conveyance offline  Completed without error       00%        22         -
# 2  Conveyance offline  Completed without error       00%        18         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

Answer 1

The WD Web page you refer to is quite clear about the meaning of error 226:

226 Sector Relocation Error

Failure to relocate a sector during drive repair. The drive has to be replaced.

All disks have a small pool of back-up sectors, which are used to replace bad sectors in two distinct phases of an HDD life, first during manufacture and then during normal disk operation. When a bad sector is found, it is marked as defective and thus de-commissioned, and replaced with a functioning sector from its spare pool. At this moment, the spare pool sector is re-mapped to appear as occurring in the logical sequence at precisely the same spot as the de-commissioned sector.

It is perhaps useful to remark that these defects occur even immediately after completion of the manufacturing process, and it is a testament to the efficacy of these recovery mechanisms that most us are not even remotely aware of the existence of the defects and of the recovery strategy. In other words, all of us, all of the time, are using partially defective disks.

At some point, however, the spare pool is exhausted, and no relocation nor remapping can take place. When this occurs, data loss will take place. If a sector in a critical position fails (there are linked lists on any HDD), most if not all of the data on the entire disk will essentially be lost, or may be potentially recovered only with some effort. In any case, even if the failure does not occur in a critical sector, it will entail data loss of some sort.

This is why WD's suggestion to replace the disk is a sound one; your disk is still fully functional, but just yet. The manufacture's message is basically a you have been warned sign.

Answer 2

You should try to shrink the partition and find out if you must do so by the beginning or end of it. This is to avoid bad sectors that can not be replaced by backup sectors (non-existent).