BAD SECTORS in Hardrive_DBAN error

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Encrypted1024

dlethe, judging by your profile you seem to be a serious hard drive expert. I am aware of software solutions "hiding" bad sectors like spinright, or marking them as bad like chkdsk, but are those truly viable options?
In my experience bad sectors is usually a sign of a failing drive. Is this an incorrect assumption of mine?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Encrypted1024

Thank you for a great explanation. I do have a few more comments and questions.
I think that at some point back in the dark ages of computing (a few years ago) that the drives may not have had the same resiliency and due to firmware and modern technology may be more resistant today than they used to be. This may account for some peoples incorrect assumptions.
Now, if a drives firmware is capable of detecting a bad sector and remapping that sector so it is no longer accessed by the OS, that makes good sense as to why bad sectors are no longer an issue. But if this is the case, why does chkdsk still see them? It would seem that if the OS can see the bad sector that the firmware is not doing its job correctly.
Or am I missunderstanding the role of the firmware in this scenario?

The problem is not remapping, it is what to put there. The HDD has no idea whether that particular sector is being used by an O/S. It just sees 1s and 0s.
So if it remapped it automatically, then that would mean undetected data loss.

A sector will automatically get remapped when you try to write to it.

ASKER

Wow! great explanation Dletthe, you clarify me a lot this issue, and and you give me some hope!! So its not doom! for my Hd.. ok , now to continue with the subject, so how can i do this SMART test that you suggest?

Look what i have done, i formatted my HD, i runned DBAN, and just now i reinstalled XP PRO SP3, so please advice me in how to procede with the SMART Test? do i have to do also de CHKDSK? please let me know, i dont have much computer knowledge (well actually a lot for an architect, i am more like an affitionate, i like to solve my PC problems myself with help of Experts Exchange...)

thanks!

you need to mentally separate file system from the hardware. A basic S.M.A.R.T. test gives a simple pass/fail based on the vendor/product specific algorithm in that hDD, and whether or not it says the disk is degrading. With windows, you can just do the chkdsk option and click on the detect & fix bad blocks, and this will do a full media read test, and chkdsk all at the same time.

I don't use dban, but most of the drive vendors have a free windows utility that will run the embedded self-tests and report SMART status. I would do that. There are some commercial products, but they are overkill for your needs, and of course, not free.

ASKER

I see..

So basically i should run as you say the vendors utility... So the link provided by BRUM07 in my other question will solve that?

" Brum07:
See here if you know the manufacturer

http://www.onlinecomputertips.com/hardware/drive_utilities.html "

What about using HD TUNE? somebody else also recommended it to me a while ago for other situation...

So what i will do is find my HARDDRIVE brand, and then check BRUM07 link, and test the vendors application...? am i right? And in the test, is just a test, or it fixes errors or problems also?

The software is all different, but in general they won't "fix" errors. Nothing much you can fix unless you have the type of software that is in a lab that exposes the soft underbelly, so to speak.

chkdisk with the 2 boxes checked will "fix" bad blocks that have no data on them automatically, and if the bad block is in a file, it will tell you, and try to save a chunk of the file, like I am sure you have seen many times before.

ASKER

One Last doubt DLETHE, i only have installed XP, so there is no more data in the disks, you mention that CHKDSK will only fix BAD BLOCKS that have no data.... But what if when i reinstalled Windows, some files of Windows where written to those Bad sectors?? Is there a way to fix the bad sectors before installing XP, or i dont know,... I dont mind reinstalling XP again, is there something i can do the next time i reinstall XP to be usre that no files of the OS are written to those bad sectors?

no, chkdsk will find all unreadable blocks, and compare with what it knows about the file system. If the block is used by a file, directory entry, whatever, then it will tell you about the corruption, and repair the block by writing zeros to it. You will see this in errors. If the block is free space, it will repair it. In this case there was no file system damage.

You can fix bad sectors before starting by telling windows to format the HDD, or getting any program to just write zeros to all blocks (easy if you have a UNIX sytesm)

SOLUTION

ocanada_techguy

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

ocanada_techguy

A free SMART reader http://www.beyondlogic.org/solutions/smart/smart.htm

ASKER

Hi, please excuse me for the taking so long to response, i have not beeing able to run more tests because of time, been incredibly busy, but i will run them today, and post and close question tonight.

Thanks.

SOLUTION

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.