Locating bad sectors

**Grumpy John** · 9th July 2014, 09:45 AM

I have 3 HDD's in my computer:
Drive B: a 3TB external drive for backing up to
Drive C: a 320 Gig internal drive for application and system files
Drive E: a 2 TB internal drive for all my data files

I'm using TruImage for my backup routine. I do a backup of drive C: once a month, or whenever I install a new program, and I backup drive E: at shutdown. Both backups are automatic and are differential backups.

Just recently the backup for drive E: failed, there was a bad sector message (see image).

I've run chkdsk and there are no bad sectors. I've tried defragging the disk and have no problems doing this. I thought defrag might pickup and flag bad sectors.

I've deleted the E: drive backup files from my backup drive and copied my User Directory to the backup drive, it took a looooooong time as there was just over 1TB of files to copy (most of it photos). I thought the copy operation would fail just like the backup did, but no, it copied every file without a hitch.

I now plan to format drive B: and copy the files back onto it, but before I "push the button" are there any other things I can try to see if there really are bad sectors on the drive?

Untitled-1.jpg

**Cliff Rogers** · 10th July 2014, 09:22 AM

Which one is Hard Disk 1?

That is the one that needs attention.

It has been my experience that once you start getting bad sectors, the drive has cancer, get rid of it before you lose something.

Put your efforts into working out which one it thinks is drive 1 & replace it.

You don't say what operating system you have.

If it is Win 7, click Start, type Manage in the search box at the bottom of the menu, Click Computer Management, Under Storage in the left column click Disk Management.
Look at the lower half of the middle section, it will tell you which drive is Disk 1, that is the one you need to replace.

Hope that helps.

(It is what I would do)

**Grumpy John** · 10th July 2014, 09:45 AM

Thanks for the reply Cliff.
It is my documents drive, E: drive, that is having the problem. As I stated, I was able to copy the user folder from this drive to my backup drive without any problems, so I am wondering if there really is any bad sectors in drive E:. Is there a decent freeware program available for scanning HDD's and showing bad sectors and which files are affected?

**Cliff Rogers** · 10th July 2014, 10:06 AM

What is the brand of the drive?

Most drive manufacturers have a diagnostic on their web site that they want you to download & run before you send a drive back for warranty.

**Grumpy John** · 10th July 2014, 10:10 AM

Western Digital WD20EARS

**Cliff Rogers** · 10th July 2014, 10:14 AM

WD Support / Downloads / My Cloud Apps + Other Products / Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows

**Grumpy John** · 10th July 2014, 10:19 AM

I've downloaded the Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics and am currently running the Extended Test. Will have the results in 4Hrs 30 Mins.

**Glenn.Visca** · 10th July 2014, 11:17 AM

Quite often, there is a hardware diagnostics in the bios menu. Be careful to ensure the diags are not volatile.

**Evanism** · 10th July 2014, 11:41 AM

Open a dos prompt. (windows key and r. Type cmd, then hit enter)

Run CHKDSK /f /x /r e:

It will dismount and check every sector. It will take a while.

The e: part is your drive letter. Be safe, check the others.

**Grumpy John** · 10th July 2014, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by Evanism

Open a dos prompt. (windows key and r. Type cmd, then hit enter)

Run CHKDSK /f /x /r e:

It will dismount and check every sector. It will take a while.

The e: part is your drive letter. Be safe, check the others.

Already done this Evan, thanks for the info

. CHKDSK does not find any faults

.

**Grumpy John** · 10th July 2014, 06:38 PM

Looks like I need a new hard drive

.
I'm also going to run chkdsk again, this time with the switches Evan suggested.

Untitled-1.jpg

**Grumpy John** · 10th July 2014, 06:43 PM

Okay, how do I overcome this message?

Untitled-1.jpg

**justonething** · 10th July 2014, 07:32 PM

1. you need to log in as admin with the right privileges before running that chkdsk command, alternatively, just run it inside windows with all the boxes ticked, depending on the version of windows, they will sometimes say that it will run on the next time you reboot. Just reboot and let it run.
2. What version of TruImage are you running. I notice that TrueImage is getting worse with their newer releases. I'm winding back to 2010 which I think is the most reliable release. It could be the program itself that is causing trouble, Try not to back up sector by sector, which may well be the root of the problem
3. Make sure the physical connections, I mean the SATA connections to the harddisk are snug and are fitting properly.
4. download the following virus checking program to run it (1) Malwarebytes (just the free version - no need to do free trial (2) Eset online Scanner and and (3) Kaspersky virus removal tool and run them all to see if you have any viruses that are causing you grief.
5. If all are fine, then TrueImage itself may be the problem. Try out another backup program and see if this has any problem, for example, Macrium Reflect Free - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com. If you have 2010, I would try running that. Unfortunately, the images created by TrueImage are not backward compatible with earlier versions after 2010. If you have any real-time anti-virus program, disable that while you are backing up.

**Glenn.Visca** · 10th July 2014, 08:29 PM

If you have a command prompt icon in your start menu (and you should), right click, run as administrator. If it doesn't show up, hold shift and right click.

**Cliff Rogers** · 11th July 2014, 01:13 AM

If it fails the manufacturers test, stop now & buy a new drive, you are wasting your time & putting your data at risk.

Thread: Locating bad sectors

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Locating bad sectors

Similar Threads

Help locating personolized inserts

Locating Mahoghany & Rosewood in WA

help locating a clock face.

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions