Hardisk check

[Guest]

I do a hard disk check and the result shows 16 KB in bad sector. Should this
be a cause for concern and how can I fix it? In dos prompt I did say c:/f
but at report it finds it again without fixing. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

From "Help and Support" > chkdsk:

"Bad sectors reported by chkdsk were marked as bad when your disk was first
prepared for operation. They pose no danger."

The only worry is that you were short-changed 16KB by the manufacturer!

 

[Poprivet]

I do a hard disk check and the result shows 16 KB in bad sector.
Should this be a cause for concern and how can I fix it? In dos
prompt I did say c:/f but at report it finds it again without fixing.
Thanks.

I assume by "c:/f you meant "c:\chkdsk /f".

Once sectors go "bad" there is nothing can be done to fix them as a rule.

Is the "bad sector" report something that didn't used to be there, or has it
been there all along?

If new bad sectors have been discovered, chkdsk will tell you so, in
addition to listing the already known bad sectors. Check the report closely
after you run chkdsk.
If it hasn't been there for a long period of time and just appeared
recently, then it -might- be the disk beginning to go bad.
If it's a new occurrence, then just keep track of it; run chkdsk say once
a week for the next couple of months or so and note the bad sectors it
reports. If it stays at 16k, forget about it and go on your way.
If you see increasing numbers of bad sectors, it's time to replace the
drive before it gets too trashed to use.

When you run chkdsk, use the /r switch instead of /f. The /r will try to
recover any bad data that might reside in them, in addition to marking them
as bad. The /f only marks them as bad.

FWIW, it's unusual to see bad sectors on today's newer drives. On older
drives, it used to be common but technology has changed that.

HTH
Pop`

 

[BillW50]

[snip]

FWIW, it's unusual to see bad sectors on today's newer drives. On
older drives, it used to be common but technology has changed that.

HTH
Pop`

Yeah since IDE drives, the drive hides bad sectors to a point. They do
this because too many people were returning HD with bad sectors which
all hard drives has. Thus the trick is to hide them from the user. So
the drive looks error free. See also "spare sectors". LOL

http://www.grc.com/sranalysis.htm

 

[Rock]

I do a hard disk check and the result shows 16 KB in bad sector. Should
this
be a cause for concern and how can I fix it? In dos prompt I did say c:/f
but at report it finds it again without fixing. Thanks.

Never run chkdsk unless there is a full and complete backup of important
data. In certain cases chkdsk can result in data corruption that is
unrecoverable. You do backup up regularly don't you?

 

[Curt Christianson]

Hi Chris,

Bad sectors in a brand new harddrive is a fact of life. As others have
said, they are supposedly marked as unusable. A certain amount of bad areas
fall well within the Quality Asurance program of the manufacture, and *is
indeed * a fact of life in the practical world.

If one were to require an absolutely flawless harddrive for any application,
none of us mere mortals could scarcely afford one.

Even after the Defense Dept. spending hundreds of dollars on a toilet seat,
or a hammer, I doubt if even "they" could afford a harddrive of this
caliber.

Besides, *one* hard drive head crash, and the disk would no longer be
"pristine".

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
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