{"id":861,"date":"2018-10-31T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=861"},"modified":"2018-10-31T07:16:37","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T11:16:37","slug":"a-reader-asks-how-do-i-remove-a-hard-disk-bad-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/31\/a-reader-asks-how-do-i-remove-a-hard-disk-bad-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks: How do I remove a bad hard disk sector?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: How do I remove a hard disk bad sector?\u00a0<\/strong> (via Quora)<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

A: Try chkdsk<\/a> (Windows) or fsck<\/a> (Linux); both can detect and repair some kinds of damage to a hard drive.<\/strong> But have a care: Although some software can restore some bad sectors to service, it may be best not to!<\/p>\n

Tools like fsck<\/strong> and chkdsk<\/strong> mostly correct \u201csoft\u201d errors \u2014 problems caused by programmatic malfunctions that mess up the disk\u2019s logical (but not physical) structure. Errors of this sort are easy to fix, and usually don\u2019t signify trouble with the actual hard drive itself.<\/p>\n

But \u201chard\u201d errors arise from physical, mechanical problems with the disk. Most hard drives have built-in mechanisms to take irreparably-damaged sectors out of service, and to re-map those locations to spare sectors included for that purpose in the OEM setup. (This usually happens silently and without fanfare; with no user notification or interaction at all.) Most newer drives are designed to allow for a certain number of errors\/recoveries\/relocations. As long as the total error count stays below the design threshold<\/strong><\/em> set by the manufacturer, all is well.<\/p>\n

If the hard drive itself hasn’t detected and removed a bad sector from service, a tool like chkdsk<\/strong> may be able to detect the problem and mark the sector as unusable. That’s all fine and good; the unreliable sector will no longer be used to store data.<\/p>\n

But some disk-repair software may force marginally bad sectors back into use. If the sector was taken out of service due to physical damage, the underlying damage may still be there. That means that sector\u2019s data is at risk, even if fsck<\/strong> or chkdsk<\/strong> is temporarily happy. I don’t<\/em><\/span><\/strong> recommend trying to restore bad sectors to use.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a good rule of thumb:<\/strong> If a drive is experiencing any serious, frequent, or repeated disk errors for any reason<\/strong>, it\u2019s a cry for help! You should immediately take three steps:<\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> Backup your data ASAP to a safe alternative location (not on the same hard drive!).<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> Run a S.M.A.R.T. (“Self-Monitoring Analysis And Reporting Technology\u201d) diagnostic tool to see what\u2019s going on (examples for Linux<\/a>; and for Windows<\/a>). The SMART tool will tell you the frequency and severity of the disk errors you are experiencing, and even predict how much life your drive has left<\/u><\/i><\/b>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Figure 1<\/strong> shows a SMART readout for a healthy hard drive on my main PC. Note the right-hand column: Many newer drives include this “TEC date<\/strong>” prediction (“Threshold Exceeded Condition”) in their SMART output — that’s how long the software thinks the drive has before the errors accumulate to the point of danger to your data. The TEC column for my drive shows N\/A (not available) because — after almost 7,000 hours of operation with 0 read errors, and 0 relocated sectors — there’s no sign of failure at all, and thus no way for the software to extrapolate a TEC date. That’s good!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig.1<\/strong> : In this example, a healthy drive is showing 0 read errors and 0 relocated sectors even after almost 7000 hours of operation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3)<\/strong> If your SMART monitor shows an impending TEC date, or if the drive is generating a significant number of errors (especially hard errors that signify physical damage and\/or require relocation of the sector’s data), then that drive is near the end of its useful life and should no longer be trusted.<\/p>\n

It’s time to buy a new hard drive!<\/p>\n

Permalink: https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-dT<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

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Reply to this item via the Comment box below.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: How do I remove a hard disk bad sector?\u00a0 (via Quora) A: Try chkdsk (Windows) or fsck (Linux); both can detect and repair some kinds of damage to a hard drive. But have a care: Although some software can restore some bad sectors to service, it may be best not to! Tools like fsck…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,10,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-science-and-tech","category-windows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-dT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1898,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/04\/a-reader-asks-can-i-let-chkdsk-f-r-run-all-night-on-a-conventional-hdd\/","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: “Can I let ‘Chkdsk \/f \/r’ run all night on a conventional HDD?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-04","format":false,"excerpt":"Sure, if you're trying to repair a damaged hard drive. Chkdsk --- check disk --- is the Windows tools that examines your drives for logical and physical errors. Adding the \"\/f\" tells Chkdsk to fix logical errors on the disk, if any --- things like file fragments that the operating\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Misc"","block_context":{"text":"Misc","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/misc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":628,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/05\/a-reader-asks-why-does-disk-defrag-fail-despite-plenty-of-room\/","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: Why does Disk Defrag fail, despite plenty of room?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-10-05","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Oystein Ravner asks (via the CONTACT link): Hi Fred! I am glad you are back! Problem: W7 Disk Defragmenter. System Disk is successfully analyzed, but with result 41% fragmented. Clicking \u2018Defragment Disk\u2019 leads to nothing. System Disk has capacity 100MB, free 70%, status Healthy. Why is there no defrag\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/win7-clean-up-system-files2.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2602,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/16\/a-reader-asks-why-am-i-not-able-to-reset-my-pc-or-reinstall-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":2},"title":"A reader asks: “Why am I not able to reset my PC or reinstall Windows?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-04-16","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by\u00a0Reese Lynn.) The most common problems include obsolete drivers (check your PC vendor site for updates); too-aggressive third-party software (e.g. anti-rootkits\/anti-malware); and disk errors (run chkdsk ). For some general how-to fixes, see this text; it mentions Win7, but the general fixes discussed there work on any Windows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2268,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/07\/a-reader-asks-my-500-gb-hard-drive-has-one-bad-sector-what-does-that-really-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “My 500 GB hard drive has one bad sector; what does that really mean?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-03-07","format":false,"excerpt":"A bad sector is a small area on the hard drive\u2019s surface that's unreliable or unreadable; and that the drive\u2019s own software, or the PC\u2019s operating system, has marked as off limits so no new data will be written there. By itself, it's nothing to worry about. For example, one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/627px-Laptop-hard-drive-exposed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/627px-Laptop-hard-drive-exposed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/627px-Laptop-hard-drive-exposed.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1716,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/24\/a-reader-asks-my-hard-drive-is-too-slow-but-i-cant-afford-to-upgrade-to-ssd-of-equivalent-size-what-can-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “My hard drive is too slow, but I can’t afford to upgrade to an equivalent SSD. What can I do?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-24","format":false,"excerpt":"First, be sure your hard drive is the true bottleneck: If you're using Windows, open Task Manager\/More Details and select the Performance tab. If your hard drive is a truly the bottleneck, you'll see something like this: Near-100 percent drive utilization, while the rest of the system is loafing, might\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/HighDiskActivity.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1133,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/21\/a-reader-asks-why-does-tech-support-think-that-formatting-your-hard-drive-is-the-only-solution-for-all-your-pc-problems\/","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: “Why does tech support think that formatting your hard drive is the only solution for all your PC problems?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-11-21","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: \"Why does tech support think that formatting your hard drive is the only solution for all your PC problems?\" (via Quora) A. Holy smokes! Who told you that? If that\u2019s your experience with tech support, you really should change techs, brands, stores --- or wherever it is you\u2019re getting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":955,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions\/955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}