Formatting a harddrive with bad sectors

[LeeV]

Hi all,

My mother-inlaw's computer stopped working (booting windows) after she tried to "over install" windows 98 on her hard drive. She's convinced the best thing to do is a Fdisk, format, and re-install fresh. I agree with her, but I am concerned because scandisk found bad sectors on the drive awhile back and marked them bad. I thought you were not supposed to re format a bad drive.

Should I even try? She doesn't want to replace the drive, and I think its a must? What about it guys and gals?

Lee


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Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lesson afterward.

[sleddog]

It's probably a sign of more bad things to come. You might re-format, install Windows and have everything work okay. But in a few days or weeks you'll probably get new bad sectors, corrupting the new installation of Windows. Then again, you might not; then again you might... it's a gamble http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

If the computer doesn't store irreplaceable data, then give it a try. Just let your mother-in-lay know that anything she saves on the harddrive might be corrupted and lost tomorrow. She can start saving for a new disk http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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sleddog (http://www.sleddog.f2s.com)
Pulling for a SmartLabrador (http://www.labradorit.nf.ca/smartlabrador/)

[Paleo Pete]

I agree completely. A format/reinstall might work fine, but be prepared for future troubles.

After overinstalling, I think the format/reinstall is a good idea, since overinstalling often brings old problems along with it. Watch the format process, if it takes ages and tries to reclaim lots of bad clusters, you're definitely headed for more trouble up the road..start shopping for a new drive.

Also, after installing Windows, add other programs one at a time, virus scanner last, and test each one for a day to be sure it works OK. That will prevent lots of headaches if you have trouble with any one application, since you'll know immediately what caused the problem, instead of installing everything in one sitting and having no idea where the problem came from. Installing the virus scanner last mainly prevents mistakes caused by forgetting to turn it off before another installation.

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[LeeV]

Thanks Guys,

I went through the Sunday paper and found her a good deal on a drive. I told her it would be her early birthday present, that way she wouldn't have to worry about sudden failure. I'll take her old one home with me to play with! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Lee V.

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Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lesson afterward.

[Charles Kozierok]

Wise move. I never screw around with bad hard drives... my notebook drive a couple of months ago started whining for an hour, then stopped. Out it went the next day, and those things aren't cheap.

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Charles M. Kozierok
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
Note: Please reply to my forum postings here on the forums. Thanks.

[PostCode]

On a side note. Ever drive manufacturer has available from there web sites tools for low leveling their drives. Third party tools such as UX and Tuff Test work great also. I cannot count how many "bad" drives I have fixed because MS has decided they dont like it. Scandisk is a nice tool, but it causes more damage than it fixes. I would jet to the drive manufacturers web site, download there tools and LL the drive, then fdisk/format/scandisk...only at this point would I install. If it comes to performing the LL a few times, do it. This may seem like a bad idea, but think of it this way....every single IDE, EIDE, UDMA, etc...drive is low level formatted at the factory...if they can do it, you can do it. You just need to use the tools that the manufacturer makes for it or tools you know will work. Hope this helps. (I hate to see someone buy a new drive when the one in place may be repairable).

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Eric's BIOS Post Codes (http://www.webenet.net/~ntuser)