One Little Bad Sector

gregrocker · 09 Apr 2013

Resinstalled 7 on Dell Inspiron 1545 which had just passed Dell Diagnostics run from partition, which I saved on HD.

OS runs fine but I wanted to confirm Diagnostics still ran from F12 so booted in to run it while I went out. Upon return I find dell diagnostics error code 8146 MSg Error code 2000-0146 which research shows could be a false positive when choosing AHCI mode instead of SATA (as I did) - some users got same error after replacing drive, but didn't after reinstalling in SATA.

But to be sure I ran HD Diagnostics boot scan. Since it's Samsung HD there's no OEM diagnostics for it so I ran Partition Wizard boot CD Surface scan and it found one lone bad sector in the middle of the HD.

Here's my question: Since I only did a quick format during install on the C partition (having deleted SysReserved, Recovery and C to recreate C and SysReserved) just to be sure the sector is quarantined should I reformat it with Diskpart full Format so I know the bad sector is quarantined? Any other suggestions of precautions?

Thanks in advance.

AddRAM · 09 Apr 2013

I`ve found that with a bad sector ( I have 2 1TB drives each with 1 bad sector ) no more data has been written to those areas and it`s never been a problem and they`ve been running for 2 years. If it`s for a company and they want to pay to get the drives replaced, then they should. I will look into seeing if formatting does anyhting, but I highly doubt it. A bad sector is a bad sector.

gregrocker · 09 Apr 2013

I have a hard time believing the Quick Format done during install is really quarantining all the bad sectors as a full format is supposed to do. I'd rather be safe than sorry unless there's really no reason to bother.

Brink · 09 Apr 2013

Usually chkdsk will mark a bad sector so that it will no longer be used as well.

It's really nothing to worry about unless you start getting bad sectors often, or get a message from S.M.A.R.T..

gregrocker · 09 Apr 2013

Thanks, Shawn. How about these results:

.

I'm a bit wary of HD Sentinel trial because it always seems to report bad sectors so I wonder if it's not a sales ploy. So I cross-check it with this:

Running full Disk Check again

NoN · 09 Apr 2013

Perhaps you could give a try to HDD Regenerator 2011 . The version up there is made for repairing one sector only unless you buy. But at least it does the job for One.

I've used it successfully on a IDE Drive early 2011.

This is what it tells me now and since it had never annoyed me really.

essenbe · 09 Apr 2013

Greg, Samsung was bought out by Seagate so I suspect seatools will run fine on it. I think I would run chkdsk on it. As shawn says, that will usually mark any bad sectors so the drive des not use them. I honestly would not be concerned with 1 bad sector, although I would be sure to do regular backups, as I know you do already. I seriously doubt dell would replace the drive unless it failed their diagnostic test. And, I still have the Samsung diagnostic test, EStool. I could zip it up and send it if you like.

gregrocker · 09 Apr 2013

Thanks. Running Seatools now.

I'm also running HDD Regenerator on my test box from flash.

Will see if Seatools will do the same job first.

Would love to have Samsung utility which I've never come across, Steve!

Can it be made bootable which surely is required to fix sectors?

essenbe · 09 Apr 2013

Greg, the only reason I have it is because I'm a pack rat. I rarely throw anything away. Here is the ESTOOL ISO.
ESTOOL301v - Samsung HD testing.zip

Brink · 09 Apr 2013

Greg,

9% isn't so bad, but I would keep backups of the drive to be safe.

I'd also keep an eye on the drive to make sure it's not getting worse.