HDD and SSD SMART Attribute 05 Reallocated and C5 Pending Sectors Triage
Analyze SMART Attribute 05 (Reallocated Sectors Count) and Attribute C5 (Current Pending Sector Count) to prevent catastrophic hard drive and data loss.
Internal desktop parts run on harmless 12V DC voltage and cannot shock you. Simply unplug the wall power cable first, then touch the unpainted metal case frame to ground static electricity.
Common Symptoms & Tells
- CrystalDiskInfo reports Caution with non-zero raw values on 05, C5, or C6
- Windows displays warning: Windows detected a hard disk problem
- File copy operations freeze or fail with Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error
Interactive Fix Checklist
0 of 4 steps completedInspect Attribute 05 (Reallocated Sectors Count)
Check the Raw Values column in CrystalDiskInfo (Function -> Advanced Feature -> Raw Values -> 10 [DEC]). A non-zero value indicates physical bad sectors have been permanently remapped to reserve tracks.
Inspect Attribute C5 (Current Pending Sector Count)
Pending sectors are unstable sectors that could not be read and are waiting for a write operation to verify whether they can be recovered or must be reallocated.
Prioritize data backup over disk repair
Do not run intensive surface scans (chkdsk /r) while unbacked-up critical files remain on the drive. Copy essential files to an external drive immediately, starting with smallest most important files.
Run CHKDSK to force sector reassessment
After backup, open Command Prompt as Administrator and run chkdsk D: /f /r to force drive controller to read, rewrite, or permanently reallocate pending sectors. If reallocated sector count continues rising, replace drive.
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