How "bad" are bad sectors?

[gusbrunston]

[tt]
Hi:

I have approximately 10 mb of bad sectors on my 60 gigabyte HD. I have reinstalled the W2000 OS, and everythings seems to be working OK.

Is it important to replace this drive?...or will the OS continue to work around the bad sectors, or what kind of trouble will I be facing in the future.

I appreciate your looking at this post and for any advice you can give.

Cheers,[/tt]

[tt] Gus Brunston - Access2000(DAO)[/tt] Intermediate skills.

 

[jpm121]

Seems like a lot to me; bad sectors usually mean an imperfection on the actual media that cannot be repaired, and will never be accessed by the drive controller.

If it's a new drive, return it. If it's old, make backups religiously (especially if you notice more and more bad sectors appearing over time -- that would indicate a deteriorating condition within the inner workings of the drive.)

 

[technome]

To add my two cents...
If after multiple disk surface tests, the number of "bad" sectors continues to grow, you disk is cortisone, plan for it's funeral services.

 

[bcastner]

The website of the drive manufacturer likely has a free diagnostic download.

Try the several non-destructive tests available with these utilities. Some can even non-destructively "re-certify" the drive.

 

[tgtcat6]

If this were my hard drive i would back up all my data and RMA the drive. you don't know when one of the sectors that fails could be one filled with important data...its not worth the risk...replace it asap

 

[gusbrunston]

[tt]
Thanks for the advice.

I'm going to make another post about 7200 IDE ATA drive compared to the serial ATA that I just heard about.

Thanks again.

Cheers,[/tt]

[tt] Gus Brunston - Access2000(DAO)[/tt] Intermediate skills.