Tip & How-To about Computers & Internet

How To Fix Bad Sectors on the Hard Drive

Let's try to explain the question that grinds us all when in cams about the hard disk. Can we actually repair a bad block? Before of the answer you must find some information about what is a hard disk, how does it work, what are bad blocks. After that you must identify them because you will need the exact location of the affected sectors. After you have done that you must run a few steps:
- before you try to resolve the problem with the bad sector you must extract the data that was written to that block. To do this you must run a Recovery program that you can find freeware on the net.
- bad sectors are unreadable parts on your hard disk but the nature of them must not be always physically and that part of the platens to be destroyed. The bad sectors can be simulated by some programs. This means that some programs installed on your computer can interrupt the reading process on to another segment of the platens. That is in the most happier cases but the chances that the bad sectors are cause by this is less then 10 percent. In this case is difficult to resolve the problem because even the Scandisk or other identification programs used to discover bad blocks will give a rapport that nothing is wrong with your hard disk. The best way is to uninstall the latest programs applied to the computer.
- lets supposed that you have a 20 gigabits partition on your hard disk that has bad blocks. After the identification program it will indicate you where are the blocks situated on the partition. So this way you can isolate them in to another partition that you must never use again. Another scenario can be created and the bad sectors can be at the beginning of the partition in the middle of it and at the end of the partition. Know it's a little bit tricky because you can't just go on and create three new partitions to eliminate the bad sectors from use. In this case most of the new hard disk has a spare space available just for this type of scenarios. You must access the CASH memory of the hard disk and indicates to the hard disk that instead of writing down on the effected blocks it must write to the spare blocks.
- another to restore the hard disk is to use the low level format option. Many of you think that low level format is a program. Wrong, the low level format option is set for any BIOS and can be easily use if you know some command line programming. The low level format can take to be complete a very long period of time but in the most cases we can obtain marvelous results. Actually the low level option takes every cluster of the hard disk and identifies them again (throw a thermal process) and writes down on the memory of the hard disk what sectors can be written and witch blocks are un-writable. This procedure is the best that can be because it will need no effort from your side to try and avoid the bad blocks that already exists and the hard disk itself know where the bad blocks are.
In conclusion the bad blocks can't be fixed. The problem is a permanent one and we can only try to use the hard disk until it is broken down for good. But if you are having financial problem this is a best way to keep going with your old hard disk.

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how to remove bad sectore of hard disc? s/n=0415j1ftc02540

Hi,

Let's try to explain the question that grinds us all when in cams about the hard disk. Can we actually repair a bad block? Before of the answer you must find some information about what is a hard disk, how does it work, what are bad blocks. After that you must identify them because you will need the exact location of the affected sectors. After you have done that you must run a few steps:
- before you try to resolve the problem with the bad sector you must extract the data that was written to that block. To do this you must run a Recovery program that you can find freeware on the net.
- bad sectors are unreadable parts on your hard disk but the nature of them must not be always physically and that part of the platens to be destroyed. The bad sectors can be simulated by some programs. This means that some programs installed on your computer can interrupt the reading process on to another segment of the platens. That is in the most happier cases but the chances that the bad sectors are cause by this is less then 10 percent. In this case is difficult to resolve the problem because even the Scandisk or other identification programs used to discover bad blocks will give a rapport that nothing is wrong with your hard disk. The best way is to uninstall the latest programs applied to the computer.
- lets supposed that you have a 20 gigabits partition on your hard disk that has bad blocks. After the identification program it will indicate you where are the blocks situated on the partition. So this way you can isolate them in to another partition that you must never use again. Another scenario can be created and the bad sectors can be at the beginning of the partition in the middle of it and at the end of the partition. Know it's a little bit tricky because you can't just go on and create three new partitions to eliminate the bad sectors from use. In this case most of the new hard disk has a spare space available just for this type of scenarios. You must access the CASH memory of the hard disk and indicates to the hard disk that instead of writing down on the effected blocks it must write to the spare blocks.
- another to restore the hard disk is to use the low level format option. Many of you think that low level format is a program. Wrong, the low level format option is set for any BIOS and can be easily use if you know some command line programming. The low level format can take to be complete a very long period of time but in the most cases we can obtain marvelous results. Actually the low level option takes every cluster of the hard disk and identifies them again (throw a thermal process) and writes down on the memory of the hard disk what sectors can be written and witch blocks are un-writable. This procedure is the best that can be because it will need no effort from your side to try and avoid the bad blocks that already exists and the hard disk itself know where the bad blocks are.
In conclusion the bad blocks can't be fixed. The problem is a permanent one and we can only try to use the hard disk until it is broken down for good. But if you are having financial problem this is a best way to keep going with your old hard disk.

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bad block on 250gb Maxtor Hard Drive 6l250r0

Hardware defect = an actual spot on the disk is damaged. This is going to get a lot worse quickly so save all your files and replace the hard disk ASAP.
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My 250g external appears to have corrupted data. windows says it fixed the errors but my last two attempts to back up my computer failed. How do I fix the external drive?

> fixed the errors

The disk-check utility does some "consistency" checks:

* every file listed in the the Table-Of-Contents actually exists on the disk-drive, with no exceptions,

* every file on the disk-drive is listed in the Table-Of-Contents, with no exceptions,

* every "block" of data on the disk is either "free", or used exactly _once_ by a specific file,
i.e., no block on the disk is unaccounted-for, and no block on the disk is "owned" by _more_ than one file.

The disk-check utility does _NOT_ read each "block" of data on the disk, to confirm that each block is "readable". Only when the file-backup attempts to read a file, does the inability to read that block get exposed.

Similarly, it's only when the file-backup utility is trying to write to one of the "free" blocks,
that the inability to write to that block get exposed.

So, what you need to do is to run the 'FORMAT' utility on the external disk-drive,
and to choose the "full" option, not the "quick-format" option.
The utility will try to write to each block on the disk.
When the utility detects a "bad" block, the utility will either flag that block as "never-to-be-used",
or the disk-drive itself will designate one of the "spare" blocks on the disk
as the permanent substitute for the "bad" block.

When the utility completes, it will either report the number of "bad" blocks,
or it will report ZERO "bad" blocks (because the drive's own electronic circuits
will have done that "substitution" in a "transparent" manner).

After the FORMAT completes, try your backup again. It should work.

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1answer

I've put in the cam different disks and it always say impossible reading but the disks are new.

There are tiny fingers in the cam, that read the disks. They can become slightly oxidized, over time, with condensation. You can try to spray some electrical contact clean on them, then get inside with a qtip or soft (lint free if you have it) cloth on a plastic knife, or anything that will fit inside to aid in the cleaning. Otherwise, it can be a bad solder trace on the card holder, or a problem with the microprocessor. The only way to know for sure if your camcorder has the problem, is to verify the disks in another machine, or camera. Your camcorder will have to be serviced, if cleaning can't help it.
Here's one more thought. Read the 2nd review on this webpage, it explains something that might help you:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071126095621AAR8xKa
Good luck, and hope this helps.
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1answer

laptop was dropped hard drive grinding

Your diagnostic is correct, but there may also be some other problems.
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