Hdd Problems

[Overkill]

I'm having some hdd problems, hard disk sentinel is saying my laptop hdd has 77 bad sectors so my question is, how accurate is this program and what is the best software to fix bad sectors if that is indeed the case?

 

[Plexx]

Before doing anything, do a check disk via command prompt as administrator:


chkdsk [volume]: /r

replace [volume] with your HDD drive letter


the /r command locates bad sectors and recovers readable information. Unreadable data is lost.


The /r command already implies /f and /p.

Report results first

PS: prepare to invest sometime doing something else while that is being done.

One more question: what brand/manufactor is your hard drive?

 

[Overkill]

That was my first thought, I was also thinking of a low level format but not sure which software to try...I have hirens boot cd and ultimate boot cd so I may try some of those tools that are on those cd's.

 

[Plexx]

/r command and a full format is basically the same result. I would hold on the low level format and do the checkdisk first before using other tools to further diagnose the hard disk.

on most scenarios, unless its a hardware issue, /r resolved the issue.

 

[madyrocksin]

mee too would suggest chkdisk 1st

 

[Overkill]

Okie dokie, i'll do chkdsk first but if it doesn't fix it i'm gonna try this utility on hirens boot cd called HDAT2
I was lucky enough to get everything off of it to my brand new 1 tb hdd, so i'll be a bit busy for awhile, wish me luck

 

[Plexx]

I wish you patience, not luck. Depending on the size of the current HDD that is.

640GBs took me around 4 hours on chkdsk /r

 

[imsoadude]

Also if you have hirens boot cd in the dos category under hard drive there should be a program called hdat2, its purpose is for repairing bad sectors also i use it and it usually repairs unless its crc.. etc

 

[Gnosis]

640GBs took me around 4 hours on chkdsk /r

Yep. Those big drives take a while to be scanned.

 

[Overkill]

I'm aggravated, i've ran hdat2,hdd regenerator,chkdsk and ran killdisk 1 pass zeros and none of the utilties detected any bad sectors...what else is good for bad sectors? at one time I was wondering how accurate hard drive sentinel is but crystal disk also said it had alot of bad sectors so

 

[imsoadude]

Usually hdd regenerator and hdat2 finds any bad sectors i have so it could possibly be that its wrong

 

[ultradolby1]

...I tried Crystal Disk Info (free) on my HD, & it came back with an issue, & as I scrolled down the page I noticed the name of that issue attached to a fix-it program (oh great), but then I noticed it cost $30, (oh but of course), so I'm convinced 3rd party tools are going to try to get your money...
CDInfo is 2mb, 1 program for all, 3rd party etc. - further surfing I found Seatools for Windows, 20mb, just for my model#, NOT 3rd party, & FREE too- I ran all the tests & all came back perfect, no issues

http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

Here's a page of links for other brands that might be of interest

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/tophddiag.htm

good luck...

 

[madyrocksin]

if i was u i wouldn't bother further,
i think ur HDD is all good !!

 

[Overkill]

Does anyone know what the tech's use? I'm beginning to think that as well but just incase i'm gonna keep searching and i'm going to try hddguru.
Thanks Guys

 

[madyrocksin]

as far as i know every tech first uses chkdsk if it says ok, they generally dont look further until or unless u r facing some HDD related issues

 

[Plexx]

Does anyone know what the tech's use? I'm beginning to think that as well but just incase i'm gonna keep searching and i'm going to try hddguru.
Thanks Guys

Most use windows technology of chkdsk commands (/r to be exact).

Some use the tools on Hirens Boot but only after doing the above.

Hope your HDD problems are sorted

 

[Overkill]

Does anyone know what the tech's use? I'm beginning to think that as well but just incase i'm gonna keep searching and i'm going to try hddguru.
Thanks Guys

Most use windows technology of chkdsk commands (/r to be exact).

Some use the tools on Hirens Boot but only after doing the above.

Hope your HDD problems are sorted

Welllll I have just about finished troubleshooting this HDD and I have came up with 2 theories...#1 the low level format fixed it #2 the utilities that said it had bad sectors were wrong because currently I have Active@ Hard Disk Monitor installed and it shows the hdd health status OK.