simple question about bad sectors

**illeboc-r** · September 19th, 2004, 10:10 AM

just tested the harddrive mentioned in the previous post and 1 bad sector was found.

what would you guys do in this circumstance? does it justify replacing the drive?

will it get worse?

**edball** · September 19th, 2004, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by illeboc-r

just tested the harddrive mentioned in the previous post and 1 bad sector was found.

what would you guys do in this circumstance? does it justify replacing the drive?

will it get worse?

I would replace it before it get's worse and you lose data.

**illeboc-r** · September 19th, 2004, 07:23 PM

running xp pro..

havent heard of zap/wipe?

will it mean reformatting? or can it reassign the bad sectors without?

...edit.. just read the nfo on ibms site... cant use wipe as the disk is 40gig..

and i have zero filled the drive.. same sector just keeps popping up as bad.. sector 19234547

about a quater of the way in..

seagate tools reported at first before the format both ntfs errors and physical error at the sector address i just mentioned....

after zero fill and reinstall just the bad sector...

this machine has been a pain, not only faulty harddrive but one faulty stick of memory and thermal problems...

**Radical Dreamer** · September 19th, 2004, 07:28 PM

Bad sectors usually, but not always get worse as time goes on. One suggestion is to run SpinRite from Gibson Research Corp http://www.grc.com

This will find the bad sectors and map then into the manufacturers defect table which is space set aside by the maker for bad sectors

Every hard drive produced has bad sectors when it is made, but they are "hidden" through use of the MFD

**illeboc-r** · September 19th, 2004, 07:35 PM

spinrite is a tempting option.. but id rather not shell out the cash right now...

is there another way to remap the bad sectors.. freely?:

**illeboc-r** · September 20th, 2004, 01:03 PM

na its bad sector..

thanks anyway

**slavedriver** · September 20th, 2004, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by illeboc-r

na its bad sector..

thanks anyway

Zap/Wipe is a fantastic program, had many drives that had bad sectors and it fixed them.. drive or two still had bad sectors.

**illeboc-r** · September 20th, 2004, 03:45 PM

ok so zap then wipe?

using the zero fill in ibm tools instead of wipe itsself.since the blurb on ibms site says that it wont work on drives larger than 8 gig, or does it?

**CeeBee** · September 20th, 2004, 03:45 PM

If the bad sector appeared after an improper shutdown (ex. unplugging power cable while the drive was writing data) I would zero-fill it. In most such cases it fixes the problem, and the sector is not really bad, just marked as bad since the data is unreadable. If the bad sector appeared by itself, I would run manufacturer's test and in many cases such drives are detected as bad and accepted for RMA. If you feel that the drive is going away but have no proof of that, you can always use a strong magnet to render it unusable

**slavedriver** · September 20th, 2004, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by illeboc-r

ok so zap then wipe?

using the zero fill in ibm tools instead of wipe itsself.since the blurb on ibms site says that it wont work on drives larger than 8 gig, or does it?

Yes Use zap, zap wipes the MBR to explain this in theory bad sectors are locked in the MBR for one reason or another. wipe is a zero fill program that writes zero's through the drive so you then should have a blank disk, plus wipe will work on any size drive.

If you encounter a bad sector after that then its a bad sector, advise RMA it if possible.

**illeboc-r** · September 20th, 2004, 08:58 PM

ok, thanks for all your help.. im going to wipe the mbr and zero fill the thing again.. if then after a retest its still marked as having a bad sector im going to try limewiring spinrite 6.. if it can remap the bad sector great, one good drive, one happy client and mr spinrite will have one more custmoer..

thanks again chaps/ladies whatever you may be..

**tommo666** · September 21st, 2004, 11:30 AM

Try this: http://www.dposoft.net/

The demo says it will fix the first bad sector it finds, if you've only the one. Then it could be an inexpensive try out.

**illeboc-r** · September 21st, 2004, 05:20 PM

it needs os installed.. and as luck would have it i decided to zap/wipe see if it would solve the problem(so no os).. seagate tools still reports 1 bad sector.. but spinrite.. which is now 6 hours 12mins into its test has discovered none???

will try dposofts tool as soon as spinrite finishes and i have time to reinstall xp..

last resort.. ive got a 3rd floor window

and a hard concrete floor 30ft below...

**illeboc-r** · September 21st, 2004, 07:25 PM

assuming spinrite scans sectors sequentially.. it has passed and checked the offending sector healthy?

seagate tools though reported the sector as bad.

i'll list the order in which ive run the apps....

zap/wipe

fdisk.. 1 primary partion initialised and then formated

seagate tools.. sector marked as bad

spinwrite 5.... drive passed with flying colours

?????

what does this mean?