Hi RalphyG, welcome to SysChat
BAD SECTOR ISSUE
i do not have personal experience using "Hard Disk Sentinel", but i assume its working by checking the diagnostic status of your western digital hard drive.
my first thought is that we should check the western digital hard drive for bad sectors through the diagnostic tool created by Western Digital itself.
its called "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic"
it has a Windows installer version, and a bootable DOS version that you run on a CD. i would recommend that you use the bootable DOS version.
- Download the .ISO file of the cd here: WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD Caviar Black
- Use a CD burning program like Nero or InfraRecorder to burn the .ISO file to a bootable CD.
- Boot your computer from the CD drive. The Western Digital Diagnostic tool should run.
- Select the western digital hard drive.
- Choose to run the Extended Test (we're skipping the basic quick test as we want to thoroughly verify the bad sector report of Hard Disk Sentinel.
- Allow the test to complete. The tool will inform you if a bad sector was detected, it might offer to repair the bad sector, BUT BE CAUTIOUS. It is best to backup your documents and files first before trying to repair the bad sector even when using the WD Diagnostic tool.
Once you have made a backup of your files and documents on a different computer, try running the diagnostic tool again. If it gives the same error message, then it is confirmed that the drive has a defect.
Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool can attempt to perform a repair/recovery of bad sectors. Since you have already made a backup of your files and documents, proceed to run the repair/recovery. When the repair has completed, restart your computer.
Check if your operating system and files are still intact. Hopefully the bad sector parts that were repaired did not damage files critical to the operating system. Their contents might have been relocated to a different and working sector of the hard drive. If your operating system asks you for a disk check, allow it to run and complete.
If your operating system boots well and your files are intact then lets do one last test -- run the diagnostic tool again. This time it should no longer detect a bad sector.
hard drive errors that can be repaird by the manufacturer's diagnostic tools normally do not need to be sent for RMA and warranty. in case the same error appears/ or a new one happens, then its time to send back the drive for RMA.
HDD TEMPERATURE ISSUE
While it is true that prolonged overheating of hard drives may contribute to rapid wear and tear, i think hard drives are made durable enough for occassional hot temperatures. There's not much that we can do to control the hd temperature, but you can install cooling fans on the side casing (most generic cpu cases have these). And if your case has intake holes in the front, you can try installing intake cooling fans. The goal is to get cool air from outside of the case to blow through the hard drives. The exhaust fans should then blow the hot air outside of the case.
