Sector Scanner & Repair Question

[Gees]

I was wondering if anyone could recommend any good Win Xp software that scans and identifies bad sectors on a hard drive, i need the program to compile a list if possible, so i can take of the problem.
My second question, is about the actual removal, i was thinking of using partition magic to partition out those bad sectors, and then put the good sectors back together again, is that a possible solution.
Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[evongugg]

I am no expert in this field. I recommend Spinrite:

http://www.kickstartnews.com/reviews/utilities/spinrite_v6.html

 

[rforce]

Before you do this, be sure to backup your data. SpinRite might do the trick, but you may find that you may need to run it for weeks before it completes. It all depends on the number of bad sectors that the drive has. It also depends on why the bad sectors are forming. In many cases, the heads may be in the early stages of failure.

If it is a matter of a few bad sectors, you are probably better off using the utilities provided by the drive manufacturer. If the drive has a lot of bad sectors, you will need a professional tool to help shuffle the GList into the PList. In the event that you are actually able to complete the remap of the sectors, I strongly suggest that you have a very good backup routine in place and test it regularly. You do not want to need to spend $1000 on professional data recovery services because you wanted to save $100 on a hard drive.

Of course, my personal thought is that there is no hard drive out there that is worth spending the time or money trying to salvage the bad sectors. Just spend the $100 on a new 500GB hard drive and save yourself the hassle.

 

[Gees]

Thx for the help so far i will try SpinRite and see if it works, of course i have already backed everything up to my external drive, in case something happens.

Of course if anyone else has anymore advice to give, then i'm much obliged.

 

[rodney_ws]

I wouldn't trust a drive with bad sectors... fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me.