33 Bad Sectors - Good or Bad

[Toronto11]

It's a 320GB HDD. I used the Disk Utility and SMART function and saw some bad sectors.

I've attached the below image.

Is it time to get a new HDD?

Thanks for your help.

[Ender Shadow]

Well, my hard drive has 222 bad sectors, and it's fine.
I'd say that your hard drive is doing okay, though it depends on the type of hard drive.

[DuckHook]

My experience with HDs is: if they have bad sectors when new, these are usually relatively safe and the HD doesn't deteriorate any further. However if they develop bad sectors with age, then this is often a sign of a failing HD. Given how cheap HDs are these days, you may wish to invest in a new HD.

[squakie]

+1. Most equipment, if it is going to fail, will fail quite quickly when new. There are a given number of bad sectors to be expected from the manufacturer, and they "reserve" some for mapping later as the drive ages. It used to be something to be concerned about, and if it was me I would probably do 2 things:

(1) make sure to backup frequently

(2) watch the count very closely - if it keeps climbing replace the drive.

[mcduck]

It's a 320GB HDD. I used the Disk Utility and SMART function and saw some bad sectors.

I've attached the below image.

Is it time to get a new HDD?

Thanks for your help.

If the count of bad sectors doesn't increase, it's likely to be a result from some one-time only physical damage to the drive. IN that case tou aren't in any danger, and 33 bad sectors isn't a reason to replace the drive.

However if you see the amount of bad sectors increasing, even slowly, that would be a sign of the disk surface degrading and the drive being close to failing.

So the main thing with a small number of bad sectors is not if there are any or not, it's if the amount stays the same or is increasing over time.