hard drive - Can I modify the SMART value of Raw Read Error Rate Worst Value to be greater than 1?

I have a HP Pavilion g6 2136tx Laptop which was functioning correctly until one day Windows 7 Ultimate x64 couldn't boot up. Tried System Restore and Windows Startup Repair tool, both of which failed. Finally removed the HDD and connected it as external to another laptop. Tried many HDD Scan SW all of which could diagnose only 1 problem:

Raw Read Error Rate:
Threshold Value: 51, Current Value: 1, Worst Value: 1
All the softwares predicted imminent drive failure and that all data should be backed up.

Hard Drive Model: Samsung Spinpoint ST500LM012 500GB manufactured by Seagate, 5400RPM
The Date of manufacture is May 2012 and the drive has never failed ever. I removed all partitions and also did a deep format of the entire disk, but the error is still there.

1. What are the options that I have except replacing the disk?


2. Can I modify the SMART value of Raw Read Error Rate Worst Value to be greater than 1 as I saw many manufacturers allow it be greater than 1? Is it editable and if yes, how to do it?

Answer

The SMART counters measure the physical/electrical performance of the disk. They're supposed to alert you when the disk is about to experience a failure (or, in your case, already has).

1. You ask if there anything you can do except replace the disk. No, it's a hardware failure. You could replace whatever components have failed (best case that'd mean soldering new components to the control board on the bottom of the drive), but that's not really practical.




2. You ask if you can modify the SMART values. They're not intended to be edited, and doing so wouldn't be useful. The value is just an indicator, changing it won't make it work any better. You could in theory upload a new firmware to the drive to report a lower value (again, in theory, this is not an easy approach). Some drives also have serial (as in "serial port") interfaces, though normally soldering is required, and you might be able to manipulate the values through that interface.

Seagate purchased Samsung's hard drive business, so you can check if its still under warranty with the Seagate Warranty Validation page.