This could be kinda long, so sit back and relax!
Andy is right. If a bad sector is truly bad, then it is a physical problem and not something that software will remedy.
Formatting or wiping a drive which sets the file allocation table back to its presets, does make it seem like sectors can be fixed. This is true in the situations where data stored in that sector just became corrupted and needed a fresh start. However, this is often an illusion, as the problem usually comes back to haunt you when that sector is put in use again.
Much like when you buy a brand new LCD monitor that came with a dead pixel or two, bad sectors are expected to occur over the average lifetime of a hard drive. The mechanics of a hard drive aren't perfect. Occasionally if a hard drive is powered off too suddenly, or the air flow within the drive's casing isn't consistent, the needle that floats harmlessly above the platters can make contact on the disk. That's one example of how a sector can become damaged. The other common reason is when it loses it's magnetic ability to store data, either from a lot of activity or simply a flaw in the manufacturing process.
Unless you start to see a lot of them in a short period of time, it's nothing to be too alarmed about. Leaving it marked "bad" will prevent the operating system from trying to store data there, which is a good thing!
~cdogg
"
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
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