What is a reallocated sectors count?
Reallocated sectors count is the number of
Reallocated sector count is part of the S.M.A.R.T hard drive information.
Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T) is a monitoring system included in computer hard disk drives.
Reallocated sectors
Reallocated sectors are bad sectors of the hard drive that can no longer be trusted to safely store data. When a hard drive encounters a read/write/verify data error, it marks that sector “reallocated” and transfers the data to another spare sector to prevent the risk of data corruption.
Should you worry?
A reallocated sector count above zero is not necessarily bad – what’s more important is how that count grows. A continually increasing count is serious and generally an indication of an imminent hard drive failure. We recommend you immediately backup your drive and replace it with a new one.
Note: There is no fix that allows you to lower a reallocated sectors count. You are better off getting a new hard drive.
Checking your reallocated sector count
There are several tools available that can display S.M.A.R.T data. For Windows, you can use CrystalDiskInfo (free), and for Mac use DriveDx (paid).
Free Resources
