HD problems on HP Pavillion ze5602ea notebook

G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

Hi

My HD seems to be experiencing some problems. About a month ago XP suddenly
stopped starting, It would get to the XP logo screen then just black screen.

I tried to run XP repair console but it wouldnt allow me admin rights even
though it didnt ask for password although it did run CHKDSK and reported one
or more unrecoverable problems?? It also seemed to be unable to see OS on HD
from cd setup and wouldnt give option to repair only to install XP and it
just showed empty partition instead of OS.

So I just installed XP and formatted with a fresh OS this lasted about 2
weeks until the same thing happened again, XP wouldn't start and wouldnt
appear in setup to repair. It was like there was no OS on notebook but this
time I could see that the partition size was 38155 MB and there was 29855 MB
free space so the files were still there. Again CHKDSK said one or more
unrecoverable problem.

So I though perhaps I could create a partition just for OS and Apps away
from bad sectors (I'm presuming this is what CHKDSK is trying to tell me)
and keep my files seperate.

BUT XP setup would only formatted my basic 8000 MB partition to 95% and no
further so I thought I'd create another partition of 12000 MB and format
that instead but setup would always attempt to format the 8000 MB partition
first resulting in nothing happening after it reached the 95% again. So I
removed the partitions and tried to format the 38 gig drive but format now
reached 20% of this before stopping (well didn't stop but wouldn't format
any more)

So I concluded that 95% of 8 gig and 20% of 38 gig is where the problem is
occuring so I slightly reduced the size of partition to 7gig and it
formatted no problems.

Then I installed XP and used disk management to create a 30 gig partition in
the unallocated space left. However I still cannot get this to format or
even error check from inside XP.

Does anyone know how I may make use of the remaining 32 gig of HD I have?

And since it is less than 18 months old will HP give warranty on HD?


Regards

Gary
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

What is the warranty on the laptop? If it is one year, you are very much out of
luck.

Dewaine

Garyo wrote:

> Hi
>
> My HD seems to be experiencing some problems. About a month ago XP suddenly
> stopped starting, It would get to the XP logo screen then just black screen.
>
> I tried to run XP repair console but it wouldnt allow me admin rights even
> though it didnt ask for password although it did run CHKDSK and reported one
> or more unrecoverable problems?? It also seemed to be unable to see OS on HD
> from cd setup and wouldnt give option to repair only to install XP and it
> just showed empty partition instead of OS.
>
> So I just installed XP and formatted with a fresh OS this lasted about 2
> weeks until the same thing happened again, XP wouldn't start and wouldnt
> appear in setup to repair. It was like there was no OS on notebook but this
> time I could see that the partition size was 38155 MB and there was 29855 MB
> free space so the files were still there. Again CHKDSK said one or more
> unrecoverable problem.
>
> So I though perhaps I could create a partition just for OS and Apps away
> from bad sectors (I'm presuming this is what CHKDSK is trying to tell me)
> and keep my files seperate.
>
> BUT XP setup would only formatted my basic 8000 MB partition to 95% and no
> further so I thought I'd create another partition of 12000 MB and format
> that instead but setup would always attempt to format the 8000 MB partition
> first resulting in nothing happening after it reached the 95% again. So I
> removed the partitions and tried to format the 38 gig drive but format now
> reached 20% of this before stopping (well didn't stop but wouldn't format
> any more)
>
> So I concluded that 95% of 8 gig and 20% of 38 gig is where the problem is
> occuring so I slightly reduced the size of partition to 7gig and it
> formatted no problems.
>
> Then I installed XP and used disk management to create a 30 gig partition in
> the unallocated space left. However I still cannot get this to format or
> even error check from inside XP.
>
> Does anyone know how I may make use of the remaining 32 gig of HD I have?
>
> And since it is less than 18 months old will HP give warranty on HD?
>
> Regards
>
> Gary
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

Forget chkdsk. It is an extremely poor substitute for the manufacturer's hard
drive diagnostics, which can be downloaded from the mfr's web site and run. If
your drive is a Toshiba, use the Maxtor or the Hitachi diagnostics, which run
with any brand of hard drive.

If the drive has even one bad sector, it is no longer reliable, so replace it.
30GB drives are not terribly expensive any more.

I have done at least 10 hard drive replacements in the past three months, with
several notebook computers involved... Ben Myers

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 20:39:05 GMT, "Garyo"
<gorr@nospampleasewerebritishblueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>Hi
>
>My HD seems to be experiencing some problems. About a month ago XP suddenly
>stopped starting, It would get to the XP logo screen then just black screen.
>
>I tried to run XP repair console but it wouldnt allow me admin rights even
>though it didnt ask for password although it did run CHKDSK and reported one
>or more unrecoverable problems?? It also seemed to be unable to see OS on HD
>from cd setup and wouldnt give option to repair only to install XP and it
>just showed empty partition instead of OS.
>
>So I just installed XP and formatted with a fresh OS this lasted about 2
>weeks until the same thing happened again, XP wouldn't start and wouldnt
>appear in setup to repair. It was like there was no OS on notebook but this
>time I could see that the partition size was 38155 MB and there was 29855 MB
>free space so the files were still there. Again CHKDSK said one or more
>unrecoverable problem.
>
>So I though perhaps I could create a partition just for OS and Apps away
>from bad sectors (I'm presuming this is what CHKDSK is trying to tell me)
>and keep my files seperate.
>
>BUT XP setup would only formatted my basic 8000 MB partition to 95% and no
>further so I thought I'd create another partition of 12000 MB and format
>that instead but setup would always attempt to format the 8000 MB partition
>first resulting in nothing happening after it reached the 95% again. So I
>removed the partitions and tried to format the 38 gig drive but format now
>reached 20% of this before stopping (well didn't stop but wouldn't format
>any more)
>
>So I concluded that 95% of 8 gig and 20% of 38 gig is where the problem is
>occuring so I slightly reduced the size of partition to 7gig and it
>formatted no problems.
>
>Then I installed XP and used disk management to create a 30 gig partition in
>the unallocated space left. However I still cannot get this to format or
>even error check from inside XP.
>
>Does anyone know how I may make use of the remaining 32 gig of HD I have?
>
>And since it is less than 18 months old will HP give warranty on HD?
>
>
>Regards
>
>Gary
>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

Hi well whatdayaknow
I think this HD is running again............
I had only created a single 7 gig partition before, so the rest of the drive
was RAW and unformatted (it wouldnt format from XP setup remember) So after
creating another partition the size of the available space in Disk
Management I tried to format it, after half an hour it hadnt done anything
so I stopped it and then tried again same result. I then tried a quick
format for a change which completed in about 3 seconds on 30gig. Disk
properties reported partition full. Tried error checking which took a bit
longer..so when I got up next day drive E: shows 30 gig free space.

Guess that my OS will be more stable in error free spartition but what about
my work files, keeping them weel backedup but suppose your suggesting should
still replace as unreliable? You dont think might just be virus then??

Thanks for your help

Garyo
<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:4333f4f8.3728683@nntp.charter.net...
> Forget chkdsk. It is an extremely poor substitute for the manufacturer's
> hard
> drive diagnostics, which can be downloaded from the mfr's web site and
> run. If
> your drive is a Toshiba, use the Maxtor or the Hitachi diagnostics, which
> run
> with any brand of hard drive.
>
> If the drive has even one bad sector, it is no longer reliable, so replace
> it.
> 30GB drives are not terribly expensive any more.
>
> I have done at least 10 hard drive replacements in the past three months,
> with
> several notebook computers involved... Ben Myers
>
> On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 20:39:05 GMT, "Garyo"
> <gorr@nospampleasewerebritishblueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>Hi
>>
>>My HD seems to be experiencing some problems. About a month ago XP
>>suddenly
>>stopped starting, It would get to the XP logo screen then just black
>>screen.
>>
>>I tried to run XP repair console but it wouldnt allow me admin rights even
>>though it didnt ask for password although it did run CHKDSK and reported
>>one
>>or more unrecoverable problems?? It also seemed to be unable to see OS on
>>HD
>>from cd setup and wouldnt give option to repair only to install XP and it
>>just showed empty partition instead of OS.
>>
>>So I just installed XP and formatted with a fresh OS this lasted about 2
>>weeks until the same thing happened again, XP wouldn't start and wouldnt
>>appear in setup to repair. It was like there was no OS on notebook but
>>this
>>time I could see that the partition size was 38155 MB and there was 29855
>>MB
>>free space so the files were still there. Again CHKDSK said one or more
>>unrecoverable problem.
>>
>>So I though perhaps I could create a partition just for OS and Apps away
>>from bad sectors (I'm presuming this is what CHKDSK is trying to tell me)
>>and keep my files seperate.
>>
>>BUT XP setup would only formatted my basic 8000 MB partition to 95% and no
>>further so I thought I'd create another partition of 12000 MB and format
>>that instead but setup would always attempt to format the 8000 MB
>>partition
>>first resulting in nothing happening after it reached the 95% again. So I
>>removed the partitions and tried to format the 38 gig drive but format now
>>reached 20% of this before stopping (well didn't stop but wouldn't format
>>any more)
>>
>>So I concluded that 95% of 8 gig and 20% of 38 gig is where the problem is
>>occuring so I slightly reduced the size of partition to 7gig and it
>>formatted no problems.
>>
>>Then I installed XP and used disk management to create a 30 gig partition
>>in
>>the unallocated space left. However I still cannot get this to format or
>>even error check from inside XP.
>>
>>Does anyone know how I may make use of the remaining 32 gig of HD I have?
>>
>>And since it is less than 18 months old will HP give warranty on HD?
>>
>>
>>Regards
>>
>>Gary
>>
>>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

I'll repeat. The only way to get a reasonable degree of confidence in the hard
drive is to run the manufatcurer's diagnostics. If one partition is
"error-free" and there are bad sectors elsewhere on the drive, it is just a
matter of time before the partition develops bad sectors. In the old circa 1993
days of 3600rpm 40MB drives, people would tolerate bad sectors. Modern drives
are manufactured with very small physical tolerances. If a sector has become
bad because the drive head floated too close to the platter surface, some oxide
coating gets scraped off. From that point on, the oxide can potentially
contaminate anything inside the sealed drive heads.

If you do not value the data on the hard drive, go ahead and use one with bad
sectors. I sure won't... Ben Myers

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 16:14:41 GMT, "Bert Rand" <noone@home.net> wrote:

>Hi well whatdayaknow
>I think this HD is running again............
>I had only created a single 7 gig partition before, so the rest of the drive
>was RAW and unformatted (it wouldnt format from XP setup remember) So after
>creating another partition the size of the available space in Disk
>Management I tried to format it, after half an hour it hadnt done anything
>so I stopped it and then tried again same result. I then tried a quick
>format for a change which completed in about 3 seconds on 30gig. Disk
>properties reported partition full. Tried error checking which took a bit
>longer..so when I got up next day drive E: shows 30 gig free space.
>
>Guess that my OS will be more stable in error free spartition but what about
>my work files, keeping them weel backedup but suppose your suggesting should
>still replace as unreliable? You dont think might just be virus then??
>
>Thanks for your help
>
>Garyo
><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>news:4333f4f8.3728683@nntp.charter.net...
>> Forget chkdsk. It is an extremely poor substitute for the manufacturer's
>> hard
>> drive diagnostics, which can be downloaded from the mfr's web site and
>> run. If
>> your drive is a Toshiba, use the Maxtor or the Hitachi diagnostics, which
>> run
>> with any brand of hard drive.
>>
>> If the drive has even one bad sector, it is no longer reliable, so replace
>> it.
>> 30GB drives are not terribly expensive any more.
>>
>> I have done at least 10 hard drive replacements in the past three months,
>> with
>> several notebook computers involved... Ben Myers
>>
>> On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 20:39:05 GMT, "Garyo"
>> <gorr@nospampleasewerebritishblueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>>Hi
>>>
>>>My HD seems to be experiencing some problems. About a month ago XP
>>>suddenly
>>>stopped starting, It would get to the XP logo screen then just black
>>>screen.
>>>
>>>I tried to run XP repair console but it wouldnt allow me admin rights even
>>>though it didnt ask for password although it did run CHKDSK and reported
>>>one
>>>or more unrecoverable problems?? It also seemed to be unable to see OS on
>>>HD
>>>from cd setup and wouldnt give option to repair only to install XP and it
>>>just showed empty partition instead of OS.
>>>
>>>So I just installed XP and formatted with a fresh OS this lasted about 2
>>>weeks until the same thing happened again, XP wouldn't start and wouldnt
>>>appear in setup to repair. It was like there was no OS on notebook but
>>>this
>>>time I could see that the partition size was 38155 MB and there was 29855
>>>MB
>>>free space so the files were still there. Again CHKDSK said one or more
>>>unrecoverable problem.
>>>
>>>So I though perhaps I could create a partition just for OS and Apps away
>>>from bad sectors (I'm presuming this is what CHKDSK is trying to tell me)
>>>and keep my files seperate.
>>>
>>>BUT XP setup would only formatted my basic 8000 MB partition to 95% and no
>>>further so I thought I'd create another partition of 12000 MB and format
>>>that instead but setup would always attempt to format the 8000 MB
>>>partition
>>>first resulting in nothing happening after it reached the 95% again. So I
>>>removed the partitions and tried to format the 38 gig drive but format now
>>>reached 20% of this before stopping (well didn't stop but wouldn't format
>>>any more)
>>>
>>>So I concluded that 95% of 8 gig and 20% of 38 gig is where the problem is
>>>occuring so I slightly reduced the size of partition to 7gig and it
>>>formatted no problems.
>>>
>>>Then I installed XP and used disk management to create a 30 gig partition
>>>in
>>>the unallocated space left. However I still cannot get this to format or
>>>even error check from inside XP.
>>>
>>>Does anyone know how I may make use of the remaining 32 gig of HD I have?
>>>
>>>And since it is less than 18 months old will HP give warranty on HD?
>>>
>>>
>>>Regards
>>>
>>>Gary
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

Sorry Ben I'm not sure whom the manufacturer is is there anyway to tell
without physically removing HD?

if not Can I just run maxtor or Hitachi diagnostics on it then to save me
removing it (I've misplaced my wee screwdriver set in all the excitement)

regards

Garyo
(sorry changed screen details due to spaming)


<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:433841f2.27711639@nntp.charter.net...
> I'll repeat. The only way to get a reasonable degree of confidence in the
> hard
> drive is to run the manufatcurer's diagnostics. If one partition is
> "error-free" and there are bad sectors elsewhere on the drive, it is just
> a
> matter of time before the partition develops bad sectors. In the old
> circa 1993
> days of 3600rpm 40MB drives, people would tolerate bad sectors. Modern
> drives
> are manufactured with very small physical tolerances. If a sector has
> become
> bad because the drive head floated too close to the platter surface, some
> oxide
> coating gets scraped off. From that point on, the oxide can potentially
> contaminate anything inside the sealed drive heads.
>
> If you do not value the data on the hard drive, go ahead and use one with
> bad
> sectors. I sure won't... Ben Myers
>
> On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 16:14:41 GMT, "Bert Rand" <noone@home.net> wrote:
>
>>Hi well whatdayaknow
>>I think this HD is running again............
>>I had only created a single 7 gig partition before, so the rest of the
>>drive
>>was RAW and unformatted (it wouldnt format from XP setup remember) So
>>after
>>creating another partition the size of the available space in Disk
>>Management I tried to format it, after half an hour it hadnt done anything
>>so I stopped it and then tried again same result. I then tried a quick
>>format for a change which completed in about 3 seconds on 30gig. Disk
>>properties reported partition full. Tried error checking which took a bit
>>longer..so when I got up next day drive E: shows 30 gig free space.
>>
>>Guess that my OS will be more stable in error free spartition but what
>>about
>>my work files, keeping them weel backedup but suppose your suggesting
>>should
>>still replace as unreliable? You dont think might just be virus then??
>>
>>Thanks for your help
>>
>>Garyo
>><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>>news:4333f4f8.3728683@nntp.charter.net...
>>> Forget chkdsk. It is an extremely poor substitute for the
>>> manufacturer's
>>> hard
>>> drive diagnostics, which can be downloaded from the mfr's web site and
>>> run. If
>>> your drive is a Toshiba, use the Maxtor or the Hitachi diagnostics,
>>> which
>>> run
>>> with any brand of hard drive.
>>>
>>> If the drive has even one bad sector, it is no longer reliable, so
>>> replace
>>> it.
>>> 30GB drives are not terribly expensive any more.
>>>
>>> I have done at least 10 hard drive replacements in the past three
>>> months,
>>> with
>>> several notebook computers involved... Ben Myers
>>>
>>> On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 20:39:05 GMT, "Garyo"
>>> <gorr@nospampleasewerebritishblueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Hi
>>>>
>>>>My HD seems to be experiencing some problems. About a month ago XP
>>>>suddenly
>>>>stopped starting, It would get to the XP logo screen then just black
>>>>screen.
>>>>
>>>>I tried to run XP repair console but it wouldnt allow me admin rights
>>>>even
>>>>though it didnt ask for password although it did run CHKDSK and reported
>>>>one
>>>>or more unrecoverable problems?? It also seemed to be unable to see OS
>>>>on
>>>>HD
>>>>from cd setup and wouldnt give option to repair only to install XP and
>>>>it
>>>>just showed empty partition instead of OS.
>>>>
>>>>So I just installed XP and formatted with a fresh OS this lasted about 2
>>>>weeks until the same thing happened again, XP wouldn't start and wouldnt
>>>>appear in setup to repair. It was like there was no OS on notebook but
>>>>this
>>>>time I could see that the partition size was 38155 MB and there was
>>>>29855
>>>>MB
>>>>free space so the files were still there. Again CHKDSK said one or more
>>>>unrecoverable problem.
>>>>
>>>>So I though perhaps I could create a partition just for OS and Apps away
>>>>from bad sectors (I'm presuming this is what CHKDSK is trying to tell
>>>>me)
>>>>and keep my files seperate.
>>>>
>>>>BUT XP setup would only formatted my basic 8000 MB partition to 95% and
>>>>no
>>>>further so I thought I'd create another partition of 12000 MB and format
>>>>that instead but setup would always attempt to format the 8000 MB
>>>>partition
>>>>first resulting in nothing happening after it reached the 95% again. So
>>>>I
>>>>removed the partitions and tried to format the 38 gig drive but format
>>>>now
>>>>reached 20% of this before stopping (well didn't stop but wouldn't
>>>>format
>>>>any more)
>>>>
>>>>So I concluded that 95% of 8 gig and 20% of 38 gig is where the problem
>>>>is
>>>>occuring so I slightly reduced the size of partition to 7gig and it
>>>>formatted no problems.
>>>>
>>>>Then I installed XP and used disk management to create a 30 gig
>>>>partition
>>>>in
>>>>the unallocated space left. However I still cannot get this to format or
>>>>even error check from inside XP.
>>>>
>>>>Does anyone know how I may make use of the remaining 32 gig of HD I
>>>>have?
>>>>
>>>>And since it is less than 18 months old will HP give warranty on HD?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Regards
>>>>
>>>>Gary
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

The Hitachi diagnostics will run with any EIDE drive and identify the
manufacturer of the drive. The likely brands of notebook hard drives are
Hitachi, IBM, Toshiba and Seagate. If the drive is a Toshiba, there are no
diagnostics available from the Toshiba web site... Ben Myers

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 02:35:16 GMT, "Bert Rand" <noone@home.net> wrote:

>Sorry Ben I'm not sure whom the manufacturer is is there anyway to tell
>without physically removing HD?
>
>if not Can I just run maxtor or Hitachi diagnostics on it then to save me
>removing it (I've misplaced my wee screwdriver set in all the excitement)
>
>regards
>
>Garyo
>(sorry changed screen details due to spaming)
>
>
><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>news:433841f2.27711639@nntp.charter.net...
>> I'll repeat. The only way to get a reasonable degree of confidence in the
>> hard
>> drive is to run the manufatcurer's diagnostics. If one partition is
>> "error-free" and there are bad sectors elsewhere on the drive, it is just
>> a
>> matter of time before the partition develops bad sectors. In the old
>> circa 1993
>> days of 3600rpm 40MB drives, people would tolerate bad sectors. Modern
>> drives
>> are manufactured with very small physical tolerances. If a sector has
>> become
>> bad because the drive head floated too close to the platter surface, some
>> oxide
>> coating gets scraped off. From that point on, the oxide can potentially
>> contaminate anything inside the sealed drive heads.
>>
>> If you do not value the data on the hard drive, go ahead and use one with
>> bad
>> sectors. I sure won't... Ben Myers
>>
>> On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 16:14:41 GMT, "Bert Rand" <noone@home.net> wrote:
>>
>>>Hi well whatdayaknow
>>>I think this HD is running again............
>>>I had only created a single 7 gig partition before, so the rest of the
>>>drive
>>>was RAW and unformatted (it wouldnt format from XP setup remember) So
>>>after
>>>creating another partition the size of the available space in Disk
>>>Management I tried to format it, after half an hour it hadnt done anything
>>>so I stopped it and then tried again same result. I then tried a quick
>>>format for a change which completed in about 3 seconds on 30gig. Disk
>>>properties reported partition full. Tried error checking which took a bit
>>>longer..so when I got up next day drive E: shows 30 gig free space.
>>>
>>>Guess that my OS will be more stable in error free spartition but what
>>>about
>>>my work files, keeping them weel backedup but suppose your suggesting
>>>should
>>>still replace as unreliable? You dont think might just be virus then??
>>>
>>>Thanks for your help
>>>
>>>Garyo
>>><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>>>news:4333f4f8.3728683@nntp.charter.net...
>>>> Forget chkdsk. It is an extremely poor substitute for the
>>>> manufacturer's
>>>> hard
>>>> drive diagnostics, which can be downloaded from the mfr's web site and
>>>> run. If
>>>> your drive is a Toshiba, use the Maxtor or the Hitachi diagnostics,
>>>> which
>>>> run
>>>> with any brand of hard drive.
>>>>
>>>> If the drive has even one bad sector, it is no longer reliable, so
>>>> replace
>>>> it.
>>>> 30GB drives are not terribly expensive any more.
>>>>
>>>> I have done at least 10 hard drive replacements in the past three
>>>> months,
>>>> with
>>>> several notebook computers involved... Ben Myers
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 20:39:05 GMT, "Garyo"
>>>> <gorr@nospampleasewerebritishblueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Hi
>>>>>
>>>>>My HD seems to be experiencing some problems. About a month ago XP
>>>>>suddenly
>>>>>stopped starting, It would get to the XP logo screen then just black
>>>>>screen.
>>>>>
>>>>>I tried to run XP repair console but it wouldnt allow me admin rights
>>>>>even
>>>>>though it didnt ask for password although it did run CHKDSK and reported
>>>>>one
>>>>>or more unrecoverable problems?? It also seemed to be unable to see OS
>>>>>on
>>>>>HD
>>>>>from cd setup and wouldnt give option to repair only to install XP and
>>>>>it
>>>>>just showed empty partition instead of OS.
>>>>>
>>>>>So I just installed XP and formatted with a fresh OS this lasted about 2
>>>>>weeks until the same thing happened again, XP wouldn't start and wouldnt
>>>>>appear in setup to repair. It was like there was no OS on notebook but
>>>>>this
>>>>>time I could see that the partition size was 38155 MB and there was
>>>>>29855
>>>>>MB
>>>>>free space so the files were still there. Again CHKDSK said one or more
>>>>>unrecoverable problem.
>>>>>
>>>>>So I though perhaps I could create a partition just for OS and Apps away
>>>>>from bad sectors (I'm presuming this is what CHKDSK is trying to tell
>>>>>me)
>>>>>and keep my files seperate.
>>>>>
>>>>>BUT XP setup would only formatted my basic 8000 MB partition to 95% and
>>>>>no
>>>>>further so I thought I'd create another partition of 12000 MB and format
>>>>>that instead but setup would always attempt to format the 8000 MB
>>>>>partition
>>>>>first resulting in nothing happening after it reached the 95% again. So
>>>>>I
>>>>>removed the partitions and tried to format the 38 gig drive but format
>>>>>now
>>>>>reached 20% of this before stopping (well didn't stop but wouldn't
>>>>>format
>>>>>any more)
>>>>>
>>>>>So I concluded that 95% of 8 gig and 20% of 38 gig is where the problem
>>>>>is
>>>>>occuring so I slightly reduced the size of partition to 7gig and it
>>>>>formatted no problems.
>>>>>
>>>>>Then I installed XP and used disk management to create a 30 gig
>>>>>partition
>>>>>in
>>>>>the unallocated space left. However I still cannot get this to format or
>>>>>even error check from inside XP.
>>>>>
>>>>>Does anyone know how I may make use of the remaining 32 gig of HD I
>>>>>have?
>>>>>
>>>>>And since it is less than 18 months old will HP give warranty on HD?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Regards
>>>>>
>>>>>Gary
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>