Seagate ST96812A 60 GB = False report of bad drive due S.M.A.R.T

[Kiriakos GR]

This is a fresh story of a old Seagate 2.5" HDD: ST96812A = 60 GB   PATA/IDE
Seagate Momentus
5400 RPM
Buffer Size 8192 KB
Ultra-ATA/100
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My first ever laptop this is an  ACER Travelmate 2410,  PATA/IDE , single INTEL core support, 2GB of Ram Max, INTEL VGA, WinXP.
Back then I did upgrade the 40GB Hitachi HDD with one WD Blue 160GB, mostly for HDD speed benefits.

This laptop is going to be partially retired,  and I wanted to remove the speedy ...WD Blue 160GB and use it elsewhere.
Originally I thought this used ST96812A as a better replacement VS the older 40GB Hitachi HDD.
And so, I did clone ACER Travelmate 2410 original operating system partitions over the Seagate HDD.

At first boot of my ACER laptop, I got a message .... WARNING ...  SMART issue detected, you need to replace the HDD the soonest possible.
Press F1 to continue booting with this drive. 
   

a) I did use Seagate HDD tool for windows = unable to fix the drive SMART issue.
b) I did use an other utility, all HDD sectors = 100% healthy.
c) I did delete / format the drive, still the SMART issue was still there.
e) Finally with the help of CrystalDiskInfo I did see the supposed SMART Issue,  a single relocated sector count event, this was considered as the major issue. 

In summary, this Seagate HDD this is a totally healthy drive, S.M.A.R.T  alert this is totally insignificant.
Most laptops of that age, they do not have S.M.A.R.T check disable option at BIOS boot.
And so, your only option this is buying a new HDD and to trash a healthy drive due a software scam that Seagate thought to implant at their HDD firmware.

This Seagate ST96812A it is a keeper for me as hardware, but if you install it at any laptop the Warning message this will be there for ever.
The only remaining option this is using it as external HDD / USB (within 2.5" aluminum case).

Seagate never was my favorite brand, this ST96812A 60,0 GB was salvaged from an very old DELL laptop.
My advice if you do deal with the same incident?
Do not trash the drive. 

I do own a Western digital Raptor 75GB 10.000rpm, that I did buy at 2005,  the HDD show a relocated sector count event at first year of operation, still working great at 2023 = 18 Years

[Kiriakos GR]

Here are my proofs, that WD thinks that even 200 relocated sectors, that this is not considered as a source of EVIL 
This is WD1600BEVE-00UYT0 160GB = WD Scorpio of 2008.
 
Its a fact that WD Scorpio of 2008, this is a much larger, faster, better HDD.

Feel free to to save at your PC and compare side by side these test results images, and do a favor to your self by keeping a distance from Seagate for ever. 

[Kiriakos GR]

I am after cleaning up the stock of used laptop HDD that I had salvage over the years due premature failed laptop PC.

At another test,  WD1600BEVS 160GB this used as external HDD this suddenly started failing.
Over 14 bad sectors appear.

WD Elements SATA 2.5" USB 2.0 HDD enclosure tear-down / what’s inside
https://www.ittsb.eu/forum/index.php?topic=673.0

And my replacement this is now one ST9160310AS (SEAGATE MOMENTUS 5400.5  2.5'' 160GB SATA)
2 May 2009
This is now clean of any issues and or bad sectors.

From the other hand its now obvious, that at Crystal DiskInfo, its essential us to focus at Raw-Values column.
When there is recorded at Relocated Sectors count  any number of Raw-Values, this is the big proof of real HDD damage.