Will Windows' format mark bad sectors?

[Bert Hyman]

The external (USB connected) hard drive I use for backups apparently has

developed some bad spots. Formatting the drive starts producing System

Event Log entries at about 12% into the format, with the decription being

"The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk3\D."



If I allow the format to continue, will it eventually plow its way through

the bad area and mark those sectors as bad, or is this whole exercise a

waste of time?



--

Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert@iphouse.com

 

[Chuck]

Waste of time would by my feeling!

When a "modern" drive has enough errors, it runs out of reserved (by the

drive controller) spare storage, and starts showing errors to external

software and so forth.

I'd strongly suggest that you copy any important data, etc to another drive

as soon as possible. The errors usually spread, and make the drive

unreliable.



When the copying has been acomplished, see if you can obtain the mfrs

utilities for the drive. They may help you to make the salvage or replace

decision.

Given the current low cost of drives, I'd likely just replace it.



Since the drive is a USB drive, this is both a blessing and a curse.

Easier to replace, perhaps harder to dignose, due to the USB interface.



Today's price for a 1.5Tb drive are far less that the price I paid for my

first 40Meg drive.



"Bert Hyman" wrote in message

news:Xns9D8D65A2F82E8VeebleFetzer@207.46.248.16...

> The external (USB connected) hard drive I use for backups apparently has

> developed some bad spots. Formatting the drive starts producing System

> Event Log entries at about 12% into the format, with the decription being

> "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk3\D."

>

> If I allow the format to continue, will it eventually plow its way through

> the bad area and mark those sectors as bad, or is this whole exercise a

> waste of time?

>

> --

> Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert@iphouse.com

 

[Bert Hyman]

In news:exxg4rABLHA.3608@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl "Chuck"

wrote:



> Given the current low cost of drives, I'd likely just replace it.



That's the conclusion I reached too; the new one's already on order from

NewEgg.



I have a spare drive that's just big enough to hold one full backup and

a few days of incremental backups that should hold me 'til the new one

arrives.



--

Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert@iphouse.com

 

[Alias]

Bert Hyman wrote:

> The external (USB connected) hard drive I use for backups apparently has

> developed some bad spots. Formatting the drive starts producing System

> Event Log entries at about 12% into the format, with the decription being

> "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk3\D."

>

> If I allow the format to continue, will it eventually plow its way through

> the bad area and mark those sectors as bad, or is this whole exercise a

> waste of time?

>



If you download the tools from the hard drive manufacturer's web site

and do a long format, it may very well clear up the bad sectors and may

not. If you decide to do that, be prepared for it to take HOURS.



--

Alias

 

[none]

"Chuck" wrote in message

news:exxg4rABLHA.3608@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> Today's price for a 1.5Tb drive are far less that the price I paid for my

> first 40Meg drive.



Had to chuckle when I first read this. It's SOOO true! I remember in the

early 90's when SCSI became 'somewhat' affordable, buying a Micropolis 2217

1.7GB HDD for around $700 (yes, SEVEN HUNDRED dollars). It's still here,

being used as a bookend on shelves in the den !!! (LOL)

 

[SC Tom]

"none" wrote in message

news:hubf1e$mu2$1@news.eternal-september.org...

> "Chuck" wrote in message

> news:exxg4rABLHA.3608@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>> Today's price for a 1.5Tb drive are far less that the price I paid for my

>> first 40Meg drive.

>

> Had to chuckle when I first read this. It's SOOO true! I remember in the

> early 90's when SCSI became 'somewhat' affordable, buying a Micropolis

> 2217

> 1.7GB HDD for around $700 (yes, SEVEN HUNDRED dollars). It's still here,

> being used as a bookend on shelves in the den !!! (LOL)

>

>

I remember running out of space on my 80MB HDD and got a deal(!) on a 600MB

HDD for ~$550. I can remember thinking that it would be the last hard drive

I'd EVER have to buy!! ROTFLMAO!! That was probably 1990 or 1991, running

DOS4.0, then a little later, Windows3.0. I think that drive lasted until I

upgraded to Windows 95 and started buying 95 compatible programs. That 600MB

filled up pretty rapidly after that!

--

SC Tom