Bad sectors on NTFS drive -- continual problems

[Guest]

I need some fairly quick advice. I've bought a replacement HD, and am
getting ready to replace my old one, but I'm nervous.

I have a Compaq laptop with a Toshiba 2.5" SATA 40GB drive that started
acting flaky (essentially, everything slows to a crawl and the hard drive
light flashes, slowly, until I hit the power button to shut it off).

I've run chkdsk with /f and /r, and I've defrag'd. The problem keeps
reoccuring (the crawl). I'm guessing that some of my files (perhaps my
Outlook PST files) are ON some of the 20 bad sectors that have been
identified.

The number of bad sectors doesn't seem to be increasing, but I'm replacing
the drive because I just don't trust it.

My problem is that I don't seem to be able to get a good, full backup, even
though I tell my backup program to skip bad sectors. The BACKUP even slows
to a crawl. So I'm worried about restoring when I replace the drive.

But the question, I guess, is -- if I'm running chkdsk correctly, why are
these bad sectors still in use? And is the system slowing to a crawl and the
hard drive light flashing slowly, for ages, a symptom of trying to access
files that reside on bad sectors?

Any an all help / advice / opinions will be appreciated!
Thanks

 

[Guest]

Actually running the file transfer wizard from the xp cd,& saving youre
settings,
files,etc. is probably the best "backup" one can use.Set the wizard as old
pc,select data to save,save in new folder,once data is thru,move to
cd...Also,
with the old hd,you might run the MS-DOS drive utility from its mfg (all
have one),
install to formatted floppy,boot to floppy.Also,try booting to xp
cd,recovery,press
1 for C: Press enter for password,type:CHKDSK C: /R Type:EXIT When thru

 

[Poprivet]

I need some fairly quick advice. I've bought a replacement HD, and am
getting ready to replace my old one, but I'm nervous.

I have a Compaq laptop with a Toshiba 2.5" SATA 40GB drive that
started acting flaky (essentially, everything slows to a crawl and
the hard drive light flashes, slowly, until I hit the power button to
shut it off).

I've run chkdsk with /f and /r, and I've defrag'd. The problem keeps
reoccuring (the crawl). I'm guessing that some of my files (perhaps
my Outlook PST files) are ON some of the 20 bad sectors that have been
identified.

The number of bad sectors doesn't seem to be increasing, but I'm
replacing the drive because I just don't trust it.

My problem is that I don't seem to be able to get a good, full
backup, even though I tell my backup program to skip bad sectors.
The BACKUP even slows to a crawl. So I'm worried about restoring
when I replace the drive.

But the question, I guess, is -- if I'm running chkdsk correctly, why
are these bad sectors still in use? And is the system slowing to a
crawl and the hard drive light flashing slowly, for ages, a symptom
of trying to access files that reside on bad sectors?

Any an all help / advice / opinions will be appreciated!
Thanks

Wise decision. The delays are probably caused by more bad sectors that
aren't weak enough (yet) to be deemed bad, which is why you see what seems
to be multiple read attempts. It could be a large area of a LOT of sectors
ready to go unreadable. Usually once bad sectors have appeared, more are
close behind.

Personally, I'd get the new drive in there like NOW and begin transferring
your data files over to it. Don't forget the little things like email and
Favorites, etc.
The backups you've already created may well be OK, albeit slow to have
been made, but by copying soon, you might have a way to catch any damaged
data if a restore does have problems with some files. I'd guess it won't
have problems, especially if you used "verify" on the backups. Verify isn't
prefect, but it's usually a good indicator of success.

HTH
Pop`

 

[frodo]

1) a laptop SATA drive that is reporting bad sectors (in chkdsk) is
definately bad; and new, so it should be under warrenty, be sure you get
Tosh to pay for it if you can. [Honestly, the hassel of getting
satisfaction may simply not be worth it tho.]

2) as you (sound like) you know, if chkdsk reports bad sectors then the
drive is going bad - modern drives deal w/ bad sectors on there own,
internally, and only report them to the OS when they run out of spares,
which should technically never happen unless the drive is really dieing.

3) the fact that your bad sector count is not increasing is a tad
unusually - I'll bet that it will if given enough time.

4) if you can find the exact maker of the drive (dev mngr, or just open it
up and look at the label), most have a diag tool available that you can
use to test the drive - search the web and try that, if it reports the
drive as failed then it surely is. If it says it's fine, then you have
more detective work to do.

5) in any case, do your best to copy off as much of your personal files as
you can NOW. They are unreplacable, XP and the apps can be reinstalled
(hopefuly - you did make the disaster recovery disk set when it was new,
didn't you!?).

In a laptop HD failure is most often caused by heat - NEVER place a laptop
onto a soft surface (bed or sofa) that blocks the under-side air vents -
it must breath! Each year around thanksgiving we are always getting calls
about dead laptops from college students. It takes about that long for
their new laptop to die, and when asked about where they typically use it
the answer is always "while lying in bed". My advice to them is to
"borrow" a cafeteria tray, turn it upside down, and use that as a platform
to rest their laptop on on top of the beadspread. Then you can lounge and
it can breath...

 

[Spikey]

I need some fairly quick advice. I've bought a replacement HD, and am
getting ready to replace my old one, but I'm nervous.

Have you scanned for virus and malware both in/out of safe mode, with hidden
files folders showing? You didnt mention any scans.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to everyone. Great advice all around. Just so's ya know:

I had been scanning for viruses, regularly, and had found nothing.

The drive was a Toshiba, and they have no disk repair utility. I downloaded
one from Seagate, but even that couldn't help.

The drive had no warranty, as it came in a Compaq laptop whose warranty had
expired, and Toshiba doesn't offer a warranty past the OEM's.

I've replaced it with a similar Western Digital, who I trust more. I also
bought a cool little device from Vantec (whose support seems a bit lacking)
via Newegg - it's an USB adapter for SATA and IDE drives -- not an enclosure,
but just a connector via USB. (I had an old IDE drive with stuff on it that
I wanted to connect, too.) I'm keeping the old Toshiba drive around and
pulling stuff off it as I need it (albeit quickly, in case its life -is-
limited.

So I think I'm okay. I appreciate all the advice! THANKS

 

[Guest]

Like most people, my notebook requires me input a username/password
combination. When using the drive adapter (Vantec), how were you able to make
the folders/files (under Documents & Settings) available? I can see
everything under Administrator, Guest, and ALL Users, but I keep getting an
'Access denied' window when attempting to see those folders/files under my
signon. It doesn't give me the option to input my password.

 

[Jim]

Like most people, my notebook requires me input a username/password
combination. When using the drive adapter (Vantec), how were you able to
make
the folders/files (under Documents & Settings) available? I can see
everything under Administrator, Guest, and ALL Users, but I keep getting
an
'Access denied' window when attempting to see those folders/files under my
signon. It doesn't give me the option to input my password.

The best approach is to create two users. One is a member of the
administrators group; the other is a member of the users group.
To see the stuff that an ordinary user has no access, you just login to the
more privileged user.
You should avoid using the built in administrator account; in fact, you
should rename it because otherwise it is a security risk that need not
be taken.
Jim

 

[Guest]

Thanks for responding, but what you wrote goes without saying. My situation
is that I have pulled the notebook's HD and have attached it to a Vantec
SATA/IDE to USB adapter, because the notebook the HD was installed in will
not post. I wanted to get some of the files off the HD before sending it in
for repairs. With the HD attached to the drive adapter, I can see the
Administrator, Guest, and All Users folders (under Documents & Settings) and
all their folders/files. What I can't see are the folders/files that fall
under my personal login. I can see the name of my folder (ie MyFolder), but
not the subfolders of it.

 

[dobey]

Your account on the old machine does not exist in this situation.

If I have read correctly, you have removed the disk from a laptop and
connected it to a desktop using an adapter.

Any user/password information that applied is only under the XP installation
running from the laptop installation.

In this instance your machine will see the user as an unknown person. Have
you tried taking ownership of the files using the Security properties. Were
you using encryption under the laptop installation?

 

[dobey]

Your account on the old machine does not exist in this situation.

If I have read correctly, you have removed the disk from a laptop and
connected it to a desktop using an adapter.

Any user/password information that applied is only under the XP
installation running from the laptop installation.

In this instance your machine will see the user as an unknown person. Have

Edit that: I meant your machine will see the owner of the files as unknown.