fix a hard drive sector

[preston]

I partitioned my hard drive, but when I tried to format it I got a message saying that I had a bad sector and I could not format the disk. How can I fix the sector?

[steveo]

I'm afraid there's not much you can do to fix bad sectors. You can shrink the size of the active partition (that is to say the partition the operating system will be located on) by not enabling full disk support when promted during your fdisk commands. Try using 75% partition size then do your format as you normally would. You may have to try again using a smaller percentage until you no longer get the bad sector message. This would de-size the volume of the hard drive but still make it usuable. Hopefully the bad sectors arn't located near the beginning of the drive. If the remaining volume of the hard drive doesn't suit your needs then you'll probably have to invest in a new drive. But give it whirl.

Post back if you have any problems.

good luck

[Paul Komski]

I don't know if there is a special problem created after partitioning but is it worth trying to run the HDD maker's diagnostic utility? I know that I have downloaded one from Seagate in the past and then created a bootable floppy.

You could also have a peep AT THIS (http://techsoup.coolboard.com/discussion/msgshow.cfm/msgboard=9670340407871924&msg=7013931811792676&page=1&idDispSub=6556344602828827)

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Take nice care of yourselves - Paul

[Hobit]

Hi preston,

I did the same thing a couplof weeks ago. I'm having a real technopfile look at it - will let you know.

Hobit

[andyswork@beci.net]

I agree with all the above.
I had the same thing happen to me, and I used western digital hard drive tools and it corrected the problem.
It seems to me worth a try you have 50 50 change that it will work.
I also had one crashed and it was replaced free of charge, because it was not yet a year old.
Welcome to the PC Guide.

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One day I will be a pro, Thanks Andy

[This message has been edited by andyswork@beci.net (edited 01-21-2002).]