bad sectors

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geordief

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I have bad sectors and an erratic computer.Can I prolong the agony by reformting? I mean if I put in a whole new (or old) OS will it clear up the bad sectors for now?
Do I need to format the drive or is this done automatically with the Windows CD?
I realis e my Hard Drive may be on the way out but can I buy time this way until I get a new PC?
 
If you reformat and run a utility like scandisk before reinstalling your OS, the bad sectors will get blocked so that the OS can't access them. You'll lose a bit of disk space, true, but your computer should be stable. Also, there's always a small chance scandisk can fix them. Just be sure to run a full surface scan.
 
Thanks
well I have done dozens of full surface scans and the bad sectors are gradually increasing (I put the noisy pc down to this) I will reformat then when I am backed into the corner and order a new pc very soon!
 
You could also just get a new HDD. Seagate or Western Digital are the way to go. May I ask what is the brand/model of your current HDD?
 
I had a similar problem with a Seagate HD. The best thing to do is download the manufacturer's diagnostic tool from their website and see if that can fix the problem. It worked temporarily for me.
 
thanks again for those answers.
My penultimate idea (before I thought of reformatting) was to install a new hard drive but I thought that as it was an old 1998 Compaq Presario 5030 with 4Gigs of Hard Drive (256Ram) it would be hard to find one and it would have to be second hand probably .I have used a Belarc program I have to try and se the manufacturer's name of the hard drive but I can't seem to work it out.I also looked in the Control Panel but can't see there either.
But I did see it written that those bad sectors are really inoperable so am pleased if they can at least be shunted to the end of the drive via reformatting/reinstalling.
 
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