scan stopped after 20 errors & gave me the report below, my question is: 1. how can i scan the whole disk without stopping after 20 errors found (i'm connecting the hard disk to my pc with USB cable), and 2. can i keep using this hard disk as my laptop hard disk and keep windows on it? or is it not safe? how many bad sectors can i ignore?
SeaTools Online Complete Surface Scan
Started at 2:05:37 PM on 8/20/2006.
Scanning drive: Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller : ST94019A USB Device
Serial Number:
Capacity:40.01 GB
- An error was encountered reading sector 9071427. (and 20 other errors like this that the report has listed but i removed to have more space for my question)
Errors were found during the scan.
SeaTools has stopped scanning drive ST94019A USB Device because at least 20 sectors on the drive are unreadable. As a precaution against data loss, it is strongly suggested that you back up any important data on the drive as soon as possible.
2006-09-20 01:24:56 · 8 answers · asked by whatever 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
also is there a way to isolate those bad sectors? or fix them?
please only answers from ppl who know what they are talking about..
thanks in advance
2006-09-20 01:26:09 · update #1
thanks alot for everyone, those are very useful information for me.
of course i already backed up all data before doing anything. Now i'm trying to see if I can keep the hard disk on my laptop or just replace it and use this one as a USB to move data from place to place...
2006-09-21 07:20:56 · update #2
dewcoons, yes most of the bad sectors reported are next to each others, but not all, here is the full report, i dont know if this means that a whole platter went bad...
- An error was encountered reading sector 9071427.
- sector 9071428.
- sector 9071429.
- sector 9071430.
- sector 9071433.
- sector 9071434.
- sector 9177155.
- sector 9177156.
- sector 9177162.
- sector 11386579.
- sector 11663403.
- sector 11673683.
- sector 11673684.
- An error was encountered reading sector 11920219.
- An error was encountered reading sector 11920220.
- An error was encountered reading sector 11931163.
- An error was encountered reading sector 11931164.
- An error was encountered reading sector 11931165
- An error was encountered reading sector 12658371.
- An error was encountered reading sector 14722549.
2006-09-21 07:22:24 · update #3
Balk, I did a chkdsk like you suggested and it found 832 KB in bad sectors, and in the other partition there are 2,960 kb :(
John D, this was exactly my next part of the question but i forgot to mention it :) i mean about the zero fill format, could it fix bad sectors?
gadatarecovery thanks for answering the part about if bad sectors can be fixed or not.
2006-09-21 07:22:48 · update #4
The reason the test stopped is to give you a chance to save data before it fails completely, you will not be able to test beyond the set number of failures written into Seagates software.
The best thing to do is get everything you need to keep off the drive. Then download DiscWizard from Seagate and try to do a zero fill format on it. Once the format is complete run the SeaTools diagnostic again and see if you are still getting sector errors. If you are, then consider replacing the drive. You could still use it, Windows would even write past the errors, but you would never know when a complete failure was coming.
2006-09-20 01:47:09 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
A bad sector means that there is a small spot on the hard drive that the computer is not able to read from or write to. Every hard drive will have a handful of bad sectors on it. I am asssuming that your bad sectors are next to each other. (Because you deleted all but one of the error lines, I can not tell). If they were not, the scan probably would not have reported them. That would mean that you have a large area of the hard drive that has gone bad. Possbile one entire platter of the drive.
If that is true, then you need to save our data, and replace the hard drive with a new one. When a whole platter goes bad that usually means the little arm that moves the read/write head is out of alignment. If it moves any more the whole hard drive will stop working.
I strongly suggest you back up your data and replace the drive while you still can.
2006-09-20 01:38:59 · answer #2 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Bad sectors are caused by a variety of things. The most common is the media degrading. As time and heat take their toll on a drive, certain parts of the media begin to fail read/write operations. Bad sectors cannot be fixed, and if you continue to use the drive it will fail. You must back up any important data while you still can. Data Recovery companies charge some substantial amounts to recover files.
2006-09-20 02:02:22 · answer #3 · answered by gadatarecovery 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree with the previous posts about the drive dying and the bad sectors.
You're using XP? If you use chkdsk.exe, when Windows finds a bad sector, it should mark it and not use it.
Open up a command-line window and type chkdsk /F. (Stick a drive letter in front of the '/F' if you're not checking drive C.)
Windows will display some statistics, including the number of bad sectors it finds.
If you're checking drive C, continue this way: Select Yes when chkdsk asks if you want to check the disk on the next reboot.
Next, enter chkntfs /t:3
That command tells the chkdsk function to only wait 3 seconds before starting the hard drive check. Otherwise, you have to wait 20 seconds for the program to start. Reboot Windows.
Back up your hard drive, then throw it away if its not under warranty.
2006-09-20 01:42:15 · answer #4 · answered by Balk 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually bad sectors are smal physical damages on your magnetic disk in a hard drive. It may be a scratch or just a dot but still it is a bad sector the only you can do is mark it as bad sector so that the computer would not write on it any longer...
2006-09-20 01:28:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You drive is dying. If I were you I would back up my data and buy a new drive.
A few bad sectors are ok, but it does signal that your drive is dying.
I wouldn't bother scanning after the 20 bad sectors were found.
2006-09-20 01:26:52 · answer #6 · answered by IT Pro 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
20 bad sectors is a warning to you that you are about to lose your hard drive. It is about to crash. Proceeding any further will cause you untold misery.
Back up data, and change your hard drive to a new one. Do not use this one again - just chuck it.
You must be glad you did this test. At least, you now know what to do.
2006-09-20 02:35:25 · answer #7 · answered by Nightrider 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes , you can use HD, but devide and lock particion with bad sectors, HD will not go there and you will be able to use HD for
2-3 years.
:)
2006-09-20 01:33:22 · answer #8 · answered by slavko024 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋