hesela.devPending sector
A pending sector is a drive-reported sector with an unresolved read problem that may be reassessed or remapped by subsequent device operations.
Pending describes a reported problem awaiting resolution, not completed remapping. Tools may label the counter Current Pending Sector or Pending-Sparing Count. A later write can rewrite the sector or remap it to a replacement. [2]
ATA attribute 197 commonly reports this state, but its meaning requires the model and firmware context. A count can fall after successful rereading or reallocation; some drives retain it after reallocation. [1]
A lower count does not prove recovery of the previous bytes. Overwriting a sector to change its status can destroy data that might otherwise be recovered. Preserve recoverable data before attempting repair. [1]
Field context: A 2007 study describes probation as a state that need not end in remapping. Its model-dependent counter categories are not a universal decoding rule for current devices. [3]
Relations
Limitations
- The count is not a list of affected files or proof of their contents; sector-to-file mapping depends on the storage stack. [1]
Citations
- smartmontools 7.5 smartd.conf manual: -C ID[+] and -v 197,increasing
- Seagate openSeaChest: Drive Health and SMART, Pending Error Count
- Pinheiro, Weber and Barroso (FAST 2007): Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population, sections 3.5.3-3.5.4
Sources & caveats
- Source synthesis, not a device experiment or a drive-replacement threshold. The manual's 512-byte illustration is not used as a universal sector size.