Which disk errors are unrepairable?

[btcomm]

I forgot which ones were not repairable.

 

[MikeTheC]

Well, for one, SMART failures are purely hardware ones, of one sort or another. If you get any read or write errors, and under some circumstances any disk I/O errors, those are hardware.

And naturally if you hear any strange noises (clicks, thumps, banging, etc.), that's definitely hardware.

 

[bousozoku]

In my experience, B-Tree errors can't be reliably repaired and of course, the aforementioned hardware errors, of course.

 

[slffl]

Well, for one, SMART failures are purely hardware ones, of one sort or another. If you get any read or write errors, and under some circumstances any disk I/O errors, those are hardware.

And naturally if you hear any strange noises (clicks, thumps, banging, etc.), that's definitely hardware.

I have an external WD Mybook HDD that I keep getting I/O and R/W errors. What program can I use to make sure this is hardware problem so I can get it sent back and repaired?

I have tried Disk Utility and DiskWarrior, but neither seems to offer a hardware test feature for external HDDs.