Locking out bad sectors?

[maddangerous]

hey all, i was wondering if any of you have any good suggestions for something that i can boot from a cd and lock out bad sectors on a hdd?

i didnt see much of anything while i googled, so i though id ask. thanks in advance

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Why exactly?? If you have a bad sector problem then i would suggest spinrite...

 

[Joe C]

It might be possible to create a partition around the bad sector if you know where the bad sector is on the drive. MHDD or even Spinrite should be able to tell you the location of the bad sector.
Bad sectors on the drive only get worse, so consider the possibility of replacing this drive in the future

 

[maddangerous]

well for one i have been wanting to play around with it a bit, i know i have a couple on one of my older hdd's, but i was working on a computer for a friend and well.. the drive just crapped this morning. fails SMART short and long tests in about 5 seconds. *sigh* now i have to tell him he needs a new hard drive lol

 

[carnageX]

Chkdsk /r does this..

The /r flag marks off bad sectors to not be used by the OS.

 

[maddangerous]

Thanks, im not all that familiar with checkdisk, although i really should be. ill give this a shot if i can get the drive to format..

 

[Joe C]

Checkdisk will mark the bad sector so that windows will not use that part of the drive.....do that

The problem I had with a bad sector, was that it was at the beginning of the drive and I couldn't get windows installed...the pc locked up when the files reached that part of the drive. Your format might fail if that sector is badly damaged. That's was why I found that if I made a partition after the bad sector....I was able to get windows to install. And yes, the drive was eventually replaced anyway

 

[maddangerous]

Checkdisk will mark the bad sector so that windows will not use that part of the drive.....do that

The problem I had with a bad sector, was that it was at the beginning of the drive and I couldn't get windows installed...the pc locked up when the files reached that part of the drive. Your format might fail if that sector is badly damaged. That's was why I found that if I made a partition after the bad sector....I was able to get windows to install. And yes, the drive was eventually replaced anyway

Gotcha. do you know if there is a bootable version (or comparable version) to checkdisk? i cant seem to get it to run, and get this, i can get windows installed, with a bad sector at the beginning of the drive.

Im positive i need to in this order

-format the drive with NTFS
-Run checkdisk /r
-Install windows.


i need something that i can boot to without having windows installed to run checkdisk though.

 

[carnageX]

Gotcha. do you know if there is a bootable version (or comparable version) to checkdisk? i cant seem to get it to run, and get this, i can get windows installed, with a bad sector at the beginning of the drive.

Im positive i need to in this order

-format the drive with NTFS
-Run checkdisk /r
-Install windows.


i need something that i can boot to without having windows installed to run checkdisk though.

Boot off of your Windows disc. Depending on if it's an XP or Vista/7/8 disc, it's a bit different.

For XP, you need to go to the Recovery Console; so just press R when you're onthe initial screen for the XP setup.

For Vista/7/8, after you select your language, there should be a link that says "Repair my computer" on the screen with the Install Now page. Click the link, and it should take you to a new window where you can open up a Command prompt. Run this command:

chkdsk c: /f /r

It will go through 5 stages (could take a while depending on the size of the drive) and mark off any bad sectors.

After that, I would recommend formatting with NTFS using a GParted LiveCD, as it's formatting technique is much better than Windows' IMO.

Then install Windows on the drive.

 

[maddangerous]

Boot off of your Windows disc. Depending on if it's an XP or Vista/7/8 disc, it's a bit different.

For XP, you need to go to the Recovery Console; so just press R when you're onthe initial screen for the XP setup.

For Vista/7/8, after you select your language, there should be a link that says "Repair my computer" on the screen with the Install Now page. Click the link, and it should take you to a new window where you can open up a Command prompt. Run this command:

chkdsk c: /f /r

It will go through 5 stages (could take a while depending on the size of the drive) and mark off any bad sectors.

After that, I would recommend formatting with NTFS using a GParted LiveCD, as it's formatting technique is much better than Windows' IMO.

Then install Windows on the drive.

Awesome thanks a bunch ill post how it goes when im done