If the Check Disk tool in XP finds any bad sectors, does
it notify you?

Why I ask, is that I am thinking of buying a used 40Gb
Hard Drive and want to check it for bad sectors.

When Check Disk finds no bad sectors, like on my drive,
it does not tell you.

How can one read any messages it may 'flash at the speed
of light' (LOL) on the screen, after it has done it's
check?

Go to the Hard Drive manufacturer's website, download manufacturer's tools
disk, make not of how to create that floppy disk and instructions for using
it, then boot with that floppy disk and run the diagnostic on that hard
drive. These tools are far more robust than those included with XP and
should let you know if there are any problems with the drive.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ecc101c3bd2a$215c7790$(E-Mail Removed)...
> If the Check Disk tool in XP finds any bad sectors, does
> it notify you?
>
> Why I ask, is that I am thinking of buying a used 40Gb
> Hard Drive and want to check it for bad sectors.
>
> When Check Disk finds no bad sectors, like on my drive,
> it does not tell you.
>
> How can one read any messages it may 'flash at the speed
> of light' (LOL) on the screen, after it has done it's
> check?

Thanks Michael.
The Hard Drive is in a HP computer, which is about 2
years old. It is a 6 hour round trip drive away.The
owner, an acquaintance, has no knowledge of the internal
workings of a computer.

He says there is nothing wrong with the HD, he was having
problems with his RAM failing (so he was told) & bought a
brand new HP.
I'm fairly sure it is an O.E.M Drive of some sort, the
owner won't know the name of it.

I intend to pick up the Hard Drive as I swing past where
it is, on my way back home from a holiday in January 04.

The computer is still operational & I will not have the
time to run a dignostic disk then (10 hour drive home
from my holiday), only the XP Check Disk utility. With
that in mind, are you able to answer my questions about
what Check Disk will do if it finds bad sectors, & can
the messages be made to apear on screen long enough to
note them down? He runs XP Home.

I have those diagnostic tools from Maxtor (my drive),I
downloaded them a year ago to check out a 2GB Bigfoot
Hard Drive that was showing bad sectors under Windows
95/98.
Will they work on other manufactures hard drives?

Trevor Adair
New Zealand



>-----Original Message-----
>Go to the Hard Drive manufacturer's website, download
manufacturer's tools
>disk, make not of how to create that floppy disk and
instructions for using
>it, then boot with that floppy disk and run the
diagnostic on that hard
>drive. These tools are far more robust than those
included with XP and
>should let you know if there are any problems with the
drive.
>
>--
>Michael Solomon MS-MVP
>Windows Shell/User
>Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
>DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/
>
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:ecc101c3bd2a$215c7790$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> If the Check Disk tool in XP finds any bad sectors,
does
>> it notify you?
>>
>> Why I ask, is that I am thinking of buying a used 40Gb
>> Hard Drive and want to check it for bad sectors.
>>
>> When Check Disk finds no bad sectors, like on my drive,
>> it does not tell you.
>>
>> How can one read any messages it may 'flash at the
speed
>> of light' (LOL) on the screen, after it has done it's
>> check?
>
>
>.
>

If you are going to format the drive and clear off whatever stuff is on
there anyway, I'd boot with a Windows 9x boot disk and run scandisk from
DOS, do a thorough scan and you will see any bad sectors.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:033201c3bd3a$0e637de0$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thanks Michael.
> The Hard Drive is in a HP computer, which is about 2
> years old. It is a 6 hour round trip drive away.The
> owner, an acquaintance, has no knowledge of the internal
> workings of a computer.
>
> He says there is nothing wrong with the HD, he was having
> problems with his RAM failing (so he was told) & bought a
> brand new HP.
> I'm fairly sure it is an O.E.M Drive of some sort, the
> owner won't know the name of it.
>
> I intend to pick up the Hard Drive as I swing past where
> it is, on my way back home from a holiday in January 04.
>
> The computer is still operational & I will not have the
> time to run a dignostic disk then (10 hour drive home
> from my holiday), only the XP Check Disk utility. With
> that in mind, are you able to answer my questions about
> what Check Disk will do if it finds bad sectors, & can
> the messages be made to apear on screen long enough to
> note them down? He runs XP Home.
>
> I have those diagnostic tools from Maxtor (my drive),I
> downloaded them a year ago to check out a 2GB Bigfoot
> Hard Drive that was showing bad sectors under Windows
> 95/98.
> Will they work on other manufactures hard drives?
>
> Trevor Adair
> New Zealand
>
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Go to the Hard Drive manufacturer's website, download
> manufacturer's tools
> >disk, make not of how to create that floppy disk and
> instructions for using
> >it, then boot with that floppy disk and run the
> diagnostic on that hard
> >drive. These tools are far more robust than those
> included with XP and
> >should let you know if there are any problems with the
> drive.
> >
> >--
> >Michael Solomon MS-MVP
> >Windows Shell/User
> >Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
> >DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/
> >
> ><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> >news:ecc101c3bd2a$215c7790$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> If the Check Disk tool in XP finds any bad sectors,
> does
> >> it notify you?
> >>
> >> Why I ask, is that I am thinking of buying a used 40Gb
> >> Hard Drive and want to check it for bad sectors.
> >>
> >> When Check Disk finds no bad sectors, like on my drive,
> >> it does not tell you.
> >>
> >> How can one read any messages it may 'flash at the
> speed
> >> of light' (LOL) on the screen, after it has done it's
> >> check?
> >
> >
> >.
> >

Hi,

XP chkdsk would not tell you the bad sector.
If you run chkdsk /f/r and it find any bad sector(take
several hours depends on the CPU speed and the disk size
and speed), it just move the files on that bad sector to
other sectors. In NTFS system, windows is smart enough to
avoid saving files on bad sectors.
In device manager or in the mobo BIOS, you can find the
brand and model of the harddisk. So you can download the
tools from the manufacturer's website.
To save your time, you can request your friend to run the
diagnostic tools for you and save the log file. You can
view the log file when you visit him later.

Peter

>-----Original Message-----
>Thanks Michael.
>The Hard Drive is in a HP computer, which is about 2
>years old. It is a 6 hour round trip drive away.The
>owner, an acquaintance, has no knowledge of the internal
>workings of a computer.
>
>He says there is nothing wrong with the HD, he was
having
>problems with his RAM failing (so he was told) & bought
a
>brand new HP.
>I'm fairly sure it is an O.E.M Drive of some sort, the
>owner won't know the name of it.
>
>I intend to pick up the Hard Drive as I swing past where
>it is, on my way back home from a holiday in January 04.
>
>The computer is still operational & I will not have the
>time to run a dignostic disk then (10 hour drive home
>from my holiday), only the XP Check Disk utility. With
>that in mind, are you able to answer my questions about
>what Check Disk will do if it finds bad sectors, & can
>the messages be made to apear on screen long enough to
>note them down? He runs XP Home.
>
>I have those diagnostic tools from Maxtor (my drive),I
>downloaded them a year ago to check out a 2GB Bigfoot
>Hard Drive that was showing bad sectors under Windows
>95/98.
>Will they work on other manufactures hard drives?
>
>Trevor Adair
>New Zealand
>
>
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>Go to the Hard Drive manufacturer's website, download
>manufacturer's tools
>>disk, make not of how to create that floppy disk and
>instructions for using
>>it, then boot with that floppy disk and run the
>diagnostic on that hard
>>drive. These tools are far more robust than those
>included with XP and
>>should let you know if there are any problems with the
>drive.
>>
>>--
>>Michael Solomon MS-MVP
>>Windows Shell/User
>>Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
>>DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/
>>
>><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:ecc101c3bd2a$215c7790$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> If the Check Disk tool in XP finds any bad sectors,
>does
>>> it notify you?
>>>
>>> Why I ask, is that I am thinking of buying a used 40Gb
>>> Hard Drive and want to check it for bad sectors.
>>>
>>> When Check Disk finds no bad sectors, like on my
drive,
>>> it does not tell you.
>>>
>>> How can one read any messages it may 'flash at the
>speed
>>> of light' (LOL) on the screen, after it has done it's
>>> check?
>>
>>
>>.
>>
>.
>