Issue with bad sectors in new HDD-please help

quicky008

Technomancer
Today i bought a refurbished 320 gb hitachi HDD from a local store-the reason i went for a refurb drive was that i was attempting to resurrect an old pc and so i wanted to keep the costs down as far as possible.However on checking the condition of the hard drive using Crystal disk info and HDD sentinel,i discovered that it has 1 bad sector.While the hdd seems to be working fine,is there any cause for alarm?Is it normal for refurbished drives to ship with some bad sectors?Will it be safe to continue using this drive or should i try to get it replaced?I'm not sure whether the shopkeeper will agree to replace a drive that otherwise seems to be working normally.Please suggest what i should do.Here are some screenshots of crystal disk info:

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OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
crystal disk info reports that the reallocated sector count of the drive is 1-what exactly does it mean?Can it possibly cause more complications in future?
 

topgear

Super Moderator
Staff member
no need to worry. Keep the drive under normal use for 7 days - if the bad sector / reallocated sector count don't increse then you are all good.
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
no need to worry. Keep the drive under normal use for 7 days - if the bad sector / reallocated sector count don't increse then you are all good.

Ok-i'll do what you've suggested,thanks for your advice.I don't think i'll go for a refurb drive again coz it seems like a risky affair.Do you think refurbished drives are likely to contain bad sectors as they aren't adequately tested before being resold?Another weird thing about this hdd is that according to hitachi's official specs this particular model is supposed to be a 7200rpm drive with 8 mb buffer whereas the piece i've received is a 5700 rpm drive with 6 mb buffer-i wonder what could be the reason behind this discrepancy.
 
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amit.tiger12

Guest
My suggestion you can repair bad sector, use different softwares if bad sector appears..
My 120 GB seagate barracuda Drive also had similar problem many times, i check and repair those bad sectors in 4-6 months..
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
My suggestion you can repair bad sector, use different softwares if bad sector appears..
My 120 GB seagate barracuda Drive also had similar problem many times, i check and repair those bad sectors in 4-6 months..

ok,but how old is ur drive?What s/w did u use to repair it?
 
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amit.tiger12

Guest
ok,but how old is ur drive?What s/w did u use to repair it?
10 year old. I use Hirens BootCD to repair everything. Btw it's illegal, but everyone recommends that, just because of mini windows xp (install xp on ram for temporary)..
Download that iso file from net, Use usb or cd to boot and in Dos Program>HDD tools>repair boot sectors..
 

topgear

Super Moderator
Staff member
Boot sector and Bad sector are totally different thing.

Buying refurb drives actually is a good idea IMO. Make sure you have at-least a months coverage for warranty purpose and you got hold of one such drive at a very cheap price. I've never heard of any HDD having 6MB buffer. It might be a software detection issue only.
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
Boot sector and Bad sector are totally different thing.

Buying refurb drives actually is a good idea IMO. Make sure you have at-least a months coverage for warranty purpose and you got hold of one such drive at a very cheap price. I've never heard of any HDD having 6MB buffer. It might be a software detection issue only.

The seller has given 1 yr warranty on the drive and it costed me Rs 1360 approx-if only it didn't contain any bad sectors at all,the deal would have been great.Let's hope the condition of the hdd won't deteriorate any further in future.Do most refurb hdds ship with some bad sectors by default?
 

rohitshakti2

In the zone
Boot sector and Bad sector are totally different thing.

Buying refurb drives actually is a good idea IMO. Make sure you have at-least a months coverage for warranty purpose and you got hold of one such drive at a very cheap price. I've never heard of any HDD having 6MB buffer. It might be a software detection issue only.

Can anyone help me here too as the problem seems to be of bad sectors....

*forum.digit.in/hardware-q/197016-recovery-deleted-partition.html#post2285675

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10 year old. I use Hirens BootCD to repair everything. Btw it's illegal, but everyone recommends that, just because of mini windows xp (install xp on ram for temporary)..
Download that iso file from net, Use usb or cd to boot and in Dos Program>HDD tools>repair boot sectors..

Hiren bootcd has lots of applications, which one is for the repairing of boot sector ?
Hiren's BootCD 15.2 - All in one Bootable CD » www.hiren.inf

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10 year old. I use Hirens BootCD to repair everything. Btw it's illegal, but everyone recommends that, just because of mini windows xp (install xp on ram for temporary)..
Download that iso file from net, Use usb or cd to boot and in Dos Program>HDD tools>repair boot sectors..

As I am running Win10, will I be able to repair the boot sector in the DOS else how to install windows xp on a pen drive along with Hiren boot cd too on it ?
 
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amit.tiger12

Guest
Can anyone help me here too as the problem seems to be of bad sectors....

*forum.digit.in/hardware-q/197016-recovery-deleted-partition.html#post2285675

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Hiren bootcd has lots of applications, which one is for the repairing of boot sector ?
Hiren's BootCD 15.2 - All in one Bootable CD » www.hiren.inf
Boot up hirens boot cd, goto dos programs or mini program, then hard disk tools. Check for repair hard disk. I can't remember name.

There are two types of bad sector. Software and hardware damaged sectors.

In software damage case, incorrect shut down, power failure, worst psu, damages it. These bad sectors can or can't be repair, but can be repaired most of the time. Often corrected by windows disk check utility, not powerful but gets your work done. But some sectors which can't be repaired. The disk check utility flag it as not usable space, possibly recovers data and copies to another sector. But by this you may lose your precious storage space very little.

In hardware damage case, it's impossible to repair bad sectors but data can be recovered. By taking image of damaged hard disk including bad sectors and using various softwares to recover data from image.

That's what I know.

As I am running Win10, will I be able to repair the boot sector in the DOS else how to install windows xp on a pen drive along with Hiren boot cd too on it ?

Ok. Boot sector damaged. Try windows disk check utility..
Right click C drive>properties>check disk

Okay you don't know anything about hiren's boot cd, that's why so much question.
Answers you will find out yourself, (Google - hiren' boot cd)

download hiren's boot cd iso file. Insert empty pen drive. Use rufus software, select hirens iso file and it will make pen drive bootable. (Google - how to use Rufus for installing windows)

Ok.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

rohitshakti2

In the zone
Boot up hirens boot cd, goto dos programs or mini program, then hard disk tools. Check for repair hard disk. I can't remember name.

There are two types of bad sector. Software and hardware damaged sectors.

In software damage case, incorrect shut down, power failure, worst psu, damages it. These bad sectors can or can't be repair, but can be repaired most of the time. Often corrected by windows disk check utility, not powerful but gets your work done. But some sectors which can't be repaired. The disk check utility flag it as not usable space, possibly recovers data and copies to another sector. But by this you may lose your precious storage space very little.

In hardware damage case, it's impossible to repair bad sectors but data can be recovered. By taking image of damaged hard disk including bad sectors and using various softwares to recover data from image.

That's what I know.


Ok. Boot sector damaged. Try windows disk check utility..
Right click C drive>properties>check disk

Okay you don't know anything about hiren's boot cd, that's why so much question.
Answers you will find out yourself, (Google - hiren' boot cd)

download hiren's boot cd iso file. Insert empty pen drive. Use rufus software, select hirens iso file and it will make pen drive bootable. (Google - how to use Rufus for installing windows)

Ok.

Yes, I did not know much about Hiren's boot cd. Earlier I had used HDD Rejuvinator to correct my hdd errors but this time I want to try Hiren's boot cd.

Do I need to install winXP to run Heren's boot cd software ?

I had tried HD Tune Pro software to check my bad sectors but it did not showed any error but seatools had shown me errors in scanning, details given in below link. Till now I am not able to find the exact problem in HDD. Please go through the link and help....

*forum.digit.in/hardware-q/197016-recovery-deleted-partition.html
 
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amit.tiger12

Guest
Yes, I did not know much about Hiren's boot cd. Earlier I had used HDD Rejuvinator to correct my hdd errors but this time I want to try Hiren's boot cd.

Do I need to install winXP to run Heren's boot cd software ?

I had tried HD Tune Pro software to check my bad sectors but it did not showed any error but seatools had shown me errors in scanning, details given in below link. Till now I am not able to find the exact problem in HDD. Please go through the link and help....

*forum.digit.in/hardware-q/197016-recovery-deleted-partition.html
You need either pen drive or cd and a computer (with ram) to run hirens boot cd. (Google it how hiren boot cd works)
 
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