Will Windows Defender full scan adversely affect a failing hard disc?

Question

A monthly anti-malware full scan was run on this pc using Windows Defender (-aka- Windows Security) as routine, but not this month.

Will running a full scan from Windows Defender adversely affect the failing hard disc?

Popup when hovering over the health status reveals -

Reallocated sector count: 2216
Current pending sector count: 08
Uncorrectable sector count: 08

Additional Information that may or may not be relevant -

PC is a lenovo laptop, 3+ years old
Mild usage, 2-3 hours a day, browsing, streaming YouTube and Netflix and such
It doesn't have any other problems - no malware, no performance issues
No errors or other warning signs except Action centre doesn't work for some reason, but is likely not related to this
I was doing a new year cleanup on the pc, noticed that I hadn't run crytaldiskinfo in forever and discovered the "Caution" health status of the hard disc

SMART Output

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 8.17.12 (C) 2008-2022 hiyohiyo
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    OS : Windows 10  [10.0 Build 19045] (x64)
  Date : 2023/01/20 15:22:46

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
 + Standard SATA AHCI Controller [ATA]
   - ST1000LM035-1RK172
 - Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller [SCSI]

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
 (01) ST1000LM035-1RK172 : 1000.2 GB [0/0/0, pd1]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (01) ST1000LM035-1RK172
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : ST1000LM035-1RK172
        Firmware : LCM2
   Serial Number : WL16N23M
       Disk Size : 1000.2 GB (7.9/137.4/1000.2/1000.2)
     Buffer Size : Unknown
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 1953525168
   Rotation Rate : 5400 RPM
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ACS-3
   Minor Version : ACS-3 Revision 3b
   Transfer Mode : SATA/600 | SATA/600
  Power On Hours : 27993 hours
  Power On Count : 1759 count
     Temperature : 41 C (105 F)
   Health Status : Caution
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., APM, NCQ, GPL
       APM Level : 8080h [ON]
       AAM Level : ----
    Drive Letter : C: D:

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 _72 _51 _34 000000FEA062 Read Error Rate
03 _99 _99 __0 000000000000 Spin-Up Time
04 _66 _66 _20 000000008ADC Start/Stop Count
05 _96 _96 _36 0000000008A8 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 _89 _60 _45 0000318BF5CA Seek Error Rate
09 _69 _69 __0 4E2C00006D59 Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 _97 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0C _99 _99 _20 0000000006DF Power Cycle Count
B8 100 100 _99 000000000000 End-to-End Error
BB __1 __1 __0 0000000000A8 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 _98 __0 000D000D000E Command Timeout
BD 100 100 __0 000000000000 High Fly Writes
BE _59 _47 _40 000029170029 Airflow Temperature
BF 100 100 __0 000000000052 G-Sense Error Rate
C0 100 100 __0 000000000006 Power-off Retract Count
C1 _35 _35 __0 0000000201BA Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2 _41 _53 __0 001400000029 Temperature
C4 _96 _96 __0 0000000008A8 Reallocation Event Count
C5 100 100 __0 000000000008 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 __0 000000000008 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000002 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
F0 _69 _69 _30 24D400006C61 Head Flying Hours
FE 100 100 __0 000000000000 Free Fall Protection

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
        0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9
000: 0C5A 3FFF C837 000F 0000 0000 003F 0000 0000 0000
010: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 574C 3136 4E32 334D
020: 0000 0000 0000 4C43 4D32 2020 2020 5354 3130 3030
030: 4C4D 3033 352D 3152 4B31 3732 2020 2020 2020 2020
040: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 8010 4000 2F00
050: 4000 0200 0200 0007 3FFF 0010 003F FC10 00FB 0110
060: FFFF 0FFF 0000 0407 0003 0078 0078 0078 0078 0100
070: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 001F 8D0E 0006 004C 0040
080: 07E0 001F 346B 7D09 6163 3469 BC09 6163 003F 0054
090: 0054 8080 FFFE 0000 FE00 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
100: 6DB0 7470 0000 0000 0000 0000 6003 0000 5000 C500
110: BA05 78CB 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 401E
120: 401E 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0029 6DB0
130: 7470 6DB0 7470 2020 0002 0140 0100 5000 3C06 3C0A
140: 0000 003C 0000 0008 0000 0000 BDFF 0280 0004 0000
150: 0008 0000 0000 0027 0000 8000 0000 0100 A500 8000
160: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0003 0000
170: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
180: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
190: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
200: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 3035 0000 0000 4000
210: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1518 0000 0000
220: 0002 0000 107F 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
230: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
240: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
250: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 B8A5

-- SMART_READ_DATA ---------------------------------------------------------
     +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 0A 00 01 0F 00 48 33 62 A0 FE 00 00 00 00 03 03
010: 00 63 63 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 32 00 42 42 DC
020: 8A 00 00 00 00 00 05 33 00 60 60 A8 08 00 00 00
030: 00 00 07 0F 00 59 3C CA F5 8B 31 00 00 00 09 32
040: 00 45 45 59 6D 00 00 2C 4E 2D 0A 13 00 64 64 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 32 00 63 63 DF 06 00 00 00
060: 00 00 B8 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BB 32
070: 00 01 01 A8 00 00 00 00 00 00 BC 32 00 64 62 0E
080: 00 0D 00 0D 00 00 BD 3A 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 BE 22 00 3B 2F 29 00 17 29 00 00 00 BF 32
0A0: 00 64 64 52 00 00 00 00 00 00 C0 32 00 64 64 06
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 01 C1 32 00 23 23 BA 01 02 00 00
0C0: 00 00 C2 22 00 29 35 29 00 00 00 14 00 00 C4 32
0D0: 00 60 60 A8 08 00 00 00 00 00 C5 12 00 64 64 08
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 10 00 64 64 08 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 C7 3E 00 C8 C8 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 F0 0F
100: 00 45 45 61 6C 00 00 D4 24 0F FE 32 00 64 64 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 71
170: 03 00 01 00 01 A7 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 04 01 01 01 01 01 01 01
190: 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 52 00 00 00 8C 6E 48 2E A8 5B 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 01 00 3E 01 FA E7 5F 05 30 00 00 00
1C0: F7 04 0B F1 2F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0F 12 00 00 01 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 17 00 00 00 2D

-- SMART_READ_THRESHOLD ----------------------------------------------------
     +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 01 00 01 22 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00
010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 14 00 00 00 00
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 24 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 07 2D 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 00
040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 61 00 00 00 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 14 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 B8 63 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BB 00
070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BC 00 00 00 00 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 BD 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 BE 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BF 00
0A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C0 00 00 00 00 00
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 C2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C4 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 00 00 00 00 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 C7 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F0 1E
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FE 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 77

Your drive has sectors it's unable to reallocate, which suggests, it has reallocated all spare sectors it was manufactured to support. Your drive is starting to fail. If additional sectors are lost, the data on those sectors could be lost. Reading a sector could cause the firmware to flag additional sectors, but that would happen regardless if whether you run a scan or not when you read the file on those sectors that have a problem. You have a timebomb waiting to happen. — Ramhound, Jan 20 '23 at 13:21
This disk is already a zombie: It is dead but still moving. Get your important data backupped somewhere else and do nothing else with it. Any more wear and tear could be the end of it. It needs replacing asap. — Tonny, Jan 20 '23 at 13:47

Joep van Steen · Accepted Answer · 2023-01-20T12:48:41.287

On a failing drive you should make certain every read, every interaction works towards the goal of securing, saving the data. Every read is precious and should be treated as if it were the last.

A virus scan is a waste of whatever life the disk has left.

If this were my disk, I'd backup data ASAP and replace it ASAP. It has been reallocating sectors before and there are more pending. I'd treat it as a terminally ill drive and use a tool designed to deal with those such as ddrescue or HHDSuperClone.

People may argue this is 'normal' as "no normalized thresholds were crossed" and after all "this is what spare sector pool is for", I am not one of those people.

I am one of the people you may turn to when a drive all of a sudden craps out and you tell to that the warning signs were there, you noticed them but ignored them.

I am one of the people who'd argue 2216 reallocated sectors and more on the way is not normal for a healthy drive, regardless what normalized values are telling and whether thresholds are exceeded or not.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 20 '23 at 10:59

A failing disk should first be used to backup any data for which you have no backups. It should not be used for anything else before that, to avoid its finally dying and taking the data with it.

After the data is safe, you may do anything that you like with the disk. As long as you take care that its final failure will not cause you any problem.

Usually formatting the disk with a slow (not quick) format might make it usable for some time, as long as you keep watching its SMART attributes. If the number of bad sectors continues to increase, the disk is finished.

Will Windows Defender full scan adversely affect a failing hard disc?

2 Answers2