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  • #2081987

    Bad Clusters

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    by leah_1964 ·

    Can you fix bad cluster on windows 98?

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    • #3900236

      Bad Clusters

      by saman anton ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      I don’t think there is a way to fix the bad cluster.
      But I can suggest you to run Scandisk with a thorough scan mode. The scandisk will move your important files located in the bad cluster to good cluster.

      • #3741639

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3900235

      Bad Clusters

      by hsilva3 ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      Well you can try using Norton Utilities for Win/95/98 or Fix-It Utilities. These programs are not all that expensive, especially the fact that your hard drive’s state is very important. The software mentioned above helps to some what fix the clusters so that you don’t have Error writing to drive pop-ups. The software marks the bad areas so that data is not written to the bad clusters.

      • #3741640

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3900227

      Bad Clusters

      by Anonymous ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      The only chance of fixing bad clusters is to perform a low-level-format on the entire hard drive. This is not something that should be tried by a novice. If you do chose to do this, your information will be lost on the entire drive. If you have datathere that you must save or you only have a few bad clusters, conduct the thorough Scandisk as previously suggested and your computer will move any files out of all bad clusters on your drive and will refrain from trying to use those clusters again.

      • #3741641

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3900221

      Bad Clusters

      by datapro ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      I wouldn’t recommend anything but getting a new drive and saving any data you may have. I experienced bad clusters at home and used Norton and it “fixed” my drive. What was not said to me was that the drive will continue to deteriorate. Norton slowed down my system by maybe half. I could not do a defrag either, so this will also slow the machine down. I kept trying to apply bandaids to the drive. I finally bit the bullet and put in a new drive, man what a speedy machine now. In hindsite, I willalways try to remedy the problem with utilities first as this is the proper channel, but if it doesn’t work right away, I will add a new drive, copy the data and throw the old drive away. Now a days they are cheap enough to be considered disposable.Hope this helps.

      • #3741642

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3900218

      Bad Clusters

      by pat.schmid ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      A “bad cluster” can not be fixed. A bad cluster indicates a the computer is no longer able to accurately read the information recorded in that cluster – the recorded bit image is to weak to read. This could be due to either a physcial probem with the disk media or the recorded image was just lost. The problem could be as small as a single bit.

      You need to run scandisk, or a 3rd party utility like Norton Disk Doctor. These utilities find bad clusters. When a bad cluster is found these utilities wil move the information to a good cluster (still may have garbage data) and then marks the cluster as being unusable. These prevents future file allocations from re-using this cluster.

      Periodcially you should run these utility. As time goes by keep track of the quanity of bad clusters, and the rate at which they are occuring. When a significant % of the disk contains bad clusters you should replace the HD (some might say reformat and try again but I’d recommend the peace of mind of having a new drive)

      • #3741643

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3900214

      Bad Clusters

      by miked ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      *THE* best product for this sort of thing I have ever found is SpinRite from Gibson Research. It will “renue” the low level format on your drive.

      Because drives are mechanical devices, they change over time, drift and such. SpinRite goes out and does all sorts of testing and refreshing of the LL format and tries to recover data (it may or may not) You may end up with more (It may find that once bad sections are now usable) or less space (new sections that no longer pass the tests), but all the space that is there is pretty stable. Give that a try. They are on the net. Search for Gibson Research.

      • #3741644

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3900207

      Bad Clusters

      by dennis@l ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      The answer is yes, it can be done, but there will be nothing left on the disk when it is finished.

      If you have ran scandisk throughly, you have done the best you can at your level in most cases. You can run fdisk delete the partions, create new partions, reformat the drive and reinstall the OS/programs, but it will repair the bad clusters.

      Save/back your important files, time for a new disk. There is software (spinrite etc) out there that can revive/renew some of the bad clusters. There is also hardware out there that you can plug a hard drive into and it will recondition the drive, but that don’t mean that it will be as good as new, close maybe.

      Only hope is Low Level formating (LLF) which is done at outside support level, whichin in most cases a new drive is almost cheaper.

      • #3741645

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3900160

      Bad Clusters

      by dmach ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      Well, the best thing is to replace with a new Hard Drive. Fixing a bad cluster would not solve for the long term when you know you will be using your PC everyday.

      • #3741646

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3900156

      Bad Clusters

      by rsprince ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      Yes and No…

      Yes if you don’t care about your data…

      No if that data was important….

      • #3741647

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3900148

      Bad Clusters

      by billygilbreath ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      You didn’t specify what type of hard drive you are using. By far, IDE is the most common type used on Win98 computers so I’ll assume IDE.
      There are no bad clusters on an IDE drive as it comes from the factory. That is not to say that there are nodefects in the recording surface of the drive but those defects are hidden by the factory low level format process and can’t be found with Win98. Any bad clusters that you see with Win98 are clusters that have gone bad after the drive left the factory. That is not good news!
      I recommend using SCANDISK while in the Win98 “safe mode” to recover whatever data SCANDISK can recover. The next step is to replace the hard disk. If one cluster has gone bad, others are likely on the way to becommingworthless, too.
      Running SCANDISK in safe mode prevents programs running in the background from interfering with the process. (No programs run in the background.)

      • #3741648

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3903141

      Bad Clusters

      by bwaggoner ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      You can’t fix bad clusters and leave the operating system in tact. You can move information to another area by running a thorough scandisk. There is a possibility of correcting the drive by using the manufacturers utilities. Western Digital has utilities that I have used before to correct Western Digital HDD problems. However, you wipe out the HDD when doing this. You may want to go to the Web site of the manufacturer. Most HDDs have a three year warranty that will replace the drive if non correctable errors occur during that period. Good Luck

      • #3741649

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3903097

      Bad Clusters

      by mlittle ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      You could use a surface analysis utility provided by the maker of your hard drive, such as WDDiag for Western Digital hard drives. Using this type of software will either mark defects and compensate for the lost capacity by using spare tracks or let you know that the hard drive is not repairable. Sometimes this types of utilities are destructive so be sure to have a back up of the drive before you do it.
      Also, most hard drives have warranties that cover them for a couple of years, call and see if the drive is under warranty.

      • #3741650

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3903089

      Bad Clusters

      by eap ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      All HDDs have bad clusters, its just that modern HDD’s are smart enough to allocate some space to hide them. You should never see a bad cluster until this allocated space is filled up. Low level formatting might recover the cluster at the expense oftotally erasing all data on the drive, but keep in mind that bad clusters are frequently the result of physical damage to the disk surface, and therefore all you will get from low-level formatting is a lot of time wasted to find out the drive can’t be repaired. In my experience, once one bad cluster shows up, usually (though not always)others are soon to follow. Back up your data NOW and start shopping for a new drive. They are cheap these days. You may also want to persue a warranty claim through the HDD manufacturer if the HDD is less than 3 years old (most HDD’s have a 3 year Warranty)–check the drive manufacturers web-site for RMA info.

      • #3741651

        Bad Clusters

        by leah_1964 ·

        In reply to Bad Clusters

        The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

    • #3741638

      Bad Clusters

      by leah_1964 ·

      In reply to Bad Clusters

      This question was auto closed due to inactivity

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