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Detect Bad Sectors in IDE-HDD

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by techv Jun 18, 2001 last reply Jun 19, 2001 1 view

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Is there any utility(Win9x compatible) available to confirm physical resence of bad sectors in IDE HDD . i.e. It sholud not ask us to format the HDD freshly.

9 replies

by hrhold1 Jun 18, 2001

Scandisk is a good utility and it is already within the Win9x operating system.
Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Scandisk...... select Surface Scan. It will prompt you for further options and repairs. Scandisk will also you give you the option to 'ignore bad sectors', as long as there isn't 'critical data' stored in them.
Secondly Most HD mfg.'s have their own utility programs available from thier websites.. Western Digital and Seagate offer these for free and create a summary file for dealing with the Tech Support issues should you need them.
Hope this helps............H

by techv Jun 19, 2001

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by csmith Jun 19, 2001

If you are getting bad sectors in the Hard Drive you have a hardware problem.
The number one killer of hard drives is heat.
the number two is shock/vibration.
Check the location and mounting in the case.
If the second program (Manufacturer's) shows the bad sectors don't exist, check for a failing/noisy Power Supply.
Regards, Chris