DBAN not fix bad sectors

[Mac29]

I've researched online and Anandtech and still need some guidance. I've run autonuke (default) option of Darik's Boot and Nuke and now want to copy some data to a hard drive. The data is copied elsewhere, this is for redundancy on a used HDD. I plan to monitor SMART stats but just want to park some data here as a test.

I believe I need to reformat the drive (NTFS for windows) in order to mark any bad sectors. I think previous use will show these in drive firmware but not sure. Or will the old formatting still be there? If any bad sectors are marked I should be able to copy data, not that I trust the drive for anything important.

Also, will SMART stats be effected from running autonuke or do the numbers only increase? I still don't know if SMART numbers start from zero or begin at much larger numbers.

Thank you for any advice,

Mac

 

[TheELF]

Drives have a number of backup sectors,if you get a sector that's not working right it get's swapped out with one of those,these are called reallocated sectors,if a disk runs out of them it starts to produce bad sectors.
There are specialized tools that read and write each sector several times (hddregenerator) and if this works on a sector that was previously marked as bad it will be marked as ok again.
If you do a surface scan of the disk you get the locations of the bad sectors,it was a common practice back in the days when hdd prices where ginormous to partition the drive new leaving out the areas with the bad sectors.

 

[Mac29]

Thanks, TheELF. So, again, has the format been wiped?

Some say I need to reformat (long) in order to mark bad sectors. Others say those are noted in the firmware and even HDDregenerator won't decrease the count.

Figure it's best to mark, and "fix" if enough spare sectors exist, before vs. after writing any data.

Thanks,

Mac

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The drive is supposed to handle sector reallocation in the background - if you're seeing bad sector alerts, it's a Dead Drive Spinning.

 

[TheELF]

Others say those are noted in the firmware and even HDDregenerator won't decrease the count.

There are specialized tools that read and write each sector several times (hddregenerator) and if this works on a sector that was previously marked as bad it will be marked as ok again.
The count only decreases if some of the bad sectors where flagged as bad while not really being bad,sectors will be flagged if the OS fails to read off of them a few times this can be caused by problems others then the sector being bad,so if you force a few read write circles on those sectors and they work they get flagged as ok again if they are really broke though no amount of doing anything will change that,if it's broke it's broke.

 

[TheELF]

The drive is supposed to handle sector reallocation in the background - if you're seeing bad sector alerts, it's a Dead Drive Spinning.

That's like calling someone with a limp,already dead...
A disk can have a few bad sectors due to manufacturing and newer get any more,it's like dead pixels on your monitor a few dead pixels doesn't mean that your monitor is trash.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

The drive is supposed to handle sector reallocation in the background - if you're seeing bad sector alerts, it's a Dead Drive Spinning.

That's like calling someone with a limp,already dead...
A disk can have a few bad sectors due to manufacturing and newer get any more,it's like dead pixels on your monitor a few dead pixels doesn't mean that your monitor is trash.

A drive with a few bad sectors isn't a problem, and should be handled both by firmware and file-system. If bad sectors are (suddenly) increasing you can cue the final countdown. The drive has most likely suffered a headcrash denting the platter, so every time the R/W head moves past the bad spot it'll scrape of more and more material. That's a dead drive spinning. Get data off ASAP.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

That's like calling someone with a limp,already dead...

Because the limp is due to a gaping thigh wound spraying arterial blood. Not technically dead, but should make peace with its ancestors.

A disk can have a few bad sectors due to manufacturing and newer get any more,it's like dead pixels on your monitor a few dead pixels doesn't mean that your monitor is trash.

Right, and a non-zero reallocated sector account in SMART data would be abnormal too. But if the end user is seeing the alerts, that means the controller has run out of spare area to reallocate, and the number of bad sectors is growing. That's no longer just the bad sectors from manufacturing, that's a whole other problem.

 

[TheELF]

Because the limp is due to a gaping thigh wound spraying arterial blood. Not technically dead, but should make peace with its ancestors.



Right, and a non-zero reallocated sector account in SMART data would be abnormal too. But if the end user is seeing the alerts, that means the controller has run out of spare area to reallocate, and the number of bad sectors is growing. That's no longer just the bad sectors from manufacturing, that's a whole other problem.

IF...yes IF they are growing there is a problem,that's what we all are saying.
And even then it can just as well be corrupt ram(or a borked mobo that makes the ram not work right) that causes the written data to not correspond with the read data causing bad sectors.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

IF...yes IF they are growing there is a problem,that's what we all are saying.

Since OP is seeing the problem at all, the quantity of bad sectors has already exceeded the controller's ability to deal with it. Which means it has been growing. So toss the drive in a shredder and move on, don't waste time trying to "fix" it.

And even then it can just as well be corrupt ram(or a borked mobo that makes the ram not work right) that causes the written data to not correspond with the read data causing bad sectors.

That's an excellent argument to simply scrap the entire computer instead of wasting time troubleshooting it. Do you by any chance work in my company's IT department? ;-)

 

[Mac29]

Sorry for falling behind. Helping someone w/iMac stuff.

So I'm not seeing ANY SMART stats at all. I get an error. I have managed to format and put partitions on the drive. But Seagate DiscWizard says not found any HDD and MHDD doesn't see it either. Drive Fitness sees it but I need to check SMART stats. Thought that was held in firmware, not on the drive. So maybe I wiped it w/autonuke.

Trying to find how to make a bootable usb (or CD) from CrystalDiskInfo 7.6.0 but I can't find anything telling me how. I unzipped files and have a 32b .exe, a 64b .exe and an .ini file plus 3 folders.

Also the usb thumbdrive I wanted to use got hosed by Rufus, so it isn't recognized. I can't format it. Haven't found a way to fix that either. USBtoolkit doesn't recognize it. I have some small thumbdrives that prob will work if I can figure out how to make a bootable.

I have Hiren's UBCD 5.3.5 and 15.1 but can't find anything besides Drive Fitness that sees the HDD.

Technology just makes me tired alot of the time, ya'know.

Very much appreciate all the interest. Unfortunately I don't have the SMART info to base any decision on yet. This is really holding me up at this point. Want to test using Images with this 2TB HDD before I reinstall OS on another HDD and separate data to another.


Well again, thank you everyone,

Mac

 

[VirtualLarry]

First of all, good luck making a bootable CD with CrystalDiskInfo, it wasn't designed for that, it's strictly a Windows Application. Maybe you could hack a WinPE bootable disc image and add the .EXE.

Secondly, why not just make a Linux LiveUSB, like from www.linuxmint.com , and boot that (no need to install), and then run the "Disks" tool, which I believe can give you SMART info on your HDDs.

 

[Mac29]

Yeah I found CrystalDiskInfo portable but no steps on what to do w/the .exe's. Lame.
Thanks for the headsup, I have Mint CDs and will give that a try.

Big thumbs up!

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Very much appreciate all the interest. Unfortunately I don't have the SMART info to base any decision on yet. This is really holding me up at this point. Want to test using Images with this 2TB HDD before I reinstall OS on another HDD and separate data to another.

Sounds like you got a bad drive. It happens. I wouldn't spend too much time trying to troubleshoot, since you don't have important data on it.

If you're going to reinstall to a different drive, get an SSD to use as a system drive. You'll thank me later, life is too short to bother with running an OS from a HDD.

As a side note, you may want to look into your backup strategy. HDDs will fail, and backups are the only defence against that.

That's an excellent argument to simply scrap the entire computer instead of wasting time troubleshooting it.

(Not reflecting on TheELF in any way, shape or form. Hope you don't mind)

"I'd rather spend an entire workday troubleshooting this PC, because I've got nothing more important (yeah, right) to do, then admit it's done in and should just be scrapped. Because PCs are expensive". I've met that type from time to time. Depressing.

 

[leexgx]

Once drives show any events relating to relocate you should replace the drive (some people seem to be quite happy to use a drive that could fail) I had drives that fail without any smart errors (newer drives seem more incline to fail harder then older drives, unless it's odd Fujitsu hard drive that would fail magically want a 2 months after the Warranty period or the Hitachi Deathstars)