Hard Drive with Recurring Problems

[Jint0]

Hello there,

I have a Asus K50ID Laptop that is just past a year old and has about 2yrs of use on it (it get's worked hard everyday).

My Problem is the last few months it will run super slow at the end of the week, i will run windows check disk witch will report 60~100 bad sectors and says it repairs them. After this the laptop is back on it's feet full speed till the end of the next week then i have to do it all over again.

My Question is i can't afford a new hard drive right now (nor anytime soon) is there any trick or tips to fix the bad sectors or keep the hard drive from using them? In other words fix a hard drive that should be replaced.

FYI the laptop gets backed up every night on to a NAS so if i need to reformat or anything of the sort it's no problem if i need to. Thank you ahead of time any feedback, tips, tricks and info. Help is all ways appreciated.

 

[price_th]

The only thing that might help is a low level format. That requires backing up an image or full reinstall. Even with that chances are slim. There is no way to know where the issue is. Bad platter or head. You should really try to find some way to replace the drive. Put out an APB to all your friend and family for a good used drive. A lot of folks are updating system and have good parts out there.

 

[rolli59]

The problem is not going away without replacing the drive, I do not know if you have a 1 year warranty on the laptop but chances are that the drive has more so check with the drive manufacturer.

 

[alyoshka]

Yah, I agree that the problem will not go away without replacing the HDD but during our DOS days we used to have a Seagate Utility Disc. Black in color and that used to do wonder with HDDs with bad sectors. It would Block those addresses out completely where the bad blocks were located and you could either then use the drive for ages after that without running the risk of the bad sectors increasing. Check with older utilities if your drive is out of it's warranty period, and it will be most probable since OEM models have a pretty neat trick, when you enter their serial numbers for a warranty check, they just don't show up, or if they do, then they direct you to the Manufacturer's site for warranty claims.

 

[alyoshka]

The name of that utility is DM.... Diskmanager....

 

[Jint0]

Thanks for the fast reply guys, no the warranty on laptop was 1yr and i have had it longer then that. I will just have to keep a ear out even though everyone in the family has desktops. I pretty much know my way around a computer but not %100 sure on how to block specific sectors i am sure i can fig it out with some help from Google. Thanks again for the replys and info.