Weak sectors found- should i use chkdsk?

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BlueDogAnchorite

Member
i have some monitoring software, and i am getting a slowly increasing number of weak sectors found. the raw read error ate has hit 1700 now.

I think I am supposed to use chkdsk now? I have done nothing like this before.

Using windows 7, I would just do this?

Open the "Computer" window
Right-click on the drive in question
Select the "Tools" tab
In the Error-checking area, click <Check Now>.

Should I backup my data, is there a chance that chkdsk wil destroy my data, that is, if i'm even doing the right thing?

Thanks.
 
If you do have bad sectors from the diagnostic tests, then back up your files and reinstall on a new hard drive. DO NOT clone your drive to the new drive. It could create problems with the bad sectors.

Nice thread, John. Didn't notice until now.
 
thanks for the info.
It failed a basic test unfortunately ..
It is recommending me to run sea tools for dos, which it says has a good chance to repair most problem sectors.
I am not however convinced by this? I may as well get is replaced, it is still within warranty period ?

I will back up data now though anyway regardless.
 
No program can repair a bad sector. Once an area of the hard drive is damaged or demagnetized there is no going back.

If you are still under warranty then they should definitely cover this kind of problem.
 
claptonman said:
If you do have bad sectors from the diagnostic tests, then back up your files and reinstall on a new hard drive. DO NOT clone your drive to the new drive. It could create problems with the bad sectors.

Nice thread, John. Didn't notice until now.
Click to expand...

Could I have some confirmation on this please? I thought that bad sectors were physical damage. The information on the bad sectors wouldnt get copied accross, but its impossible to get that information by copying and pasting anyway? My drive couldnt reallocate them.

Oh, and a big thanks to everyone, I'm been leeching mroe information than usual recently, and the forum has been a big help.
 
Once you start getting bad sectors, its always best to replace the drive. Usually once bad sectors start appearing then they just keep appearing until your drive is overran by them and it becomes useless. You don't want to get to the point where you start losing your data because of bad sectors.
 
Wish I had read this earlier. I tried a rescue clone via clonezilla which failed horribly. I booted the bad drive up afterwards, its bad sectors hadnt increased, but the read/write errors have jumped from 2k to 40k... also the drive I was cloning to is not visible under my computer atm.

I need to make it reappear asap, so i can have a desperate last attempt to copy n paste stuff over, preferrably with rebooting my comp as few times as possible. I fear for the bad drive.

The errors I got with clonezila were like:
failed command read dma
status {drdt err}
error {unc}
exception emask
buffer io error on device logical block
emask media error

when i tried to boot from the backup drive i got this error:
0xc000000F
boot select failed, required device is inaccessible..

It is clearly viewable from the boot menu at least,
and my hard drive monitor can see it when loaded up, just not from "my computer"

Any ideas how i get that damn drive visible again? Thanks.
 
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