Is there a way to fix a bad cluster on a HDD w/o a Low Level format?

[Brian48]

I have an old HDD in my backup system. It developed a few bad clusters that can't be fixed with a standard high level reformat. I would really NOT like to do a low level reformat since I have stuff saved in other partitions. Is there a way or some sort of utility that will allow me to repair this bad cluster WITHOUT having to LLR the entire disk?

[pickel]

I get them all the time, don't know if that's normal or not. I have the Norton System works
When bootin up , if there are any lost clusters, it automatically fixes them or , at least, it's telling me it is. Use your Windows registry checker and restore any corrupted entries offthe Win 98 disc too, I found some of mine missing. Who knows where they went, but I'm sure you have to have them!! good luck
The pickel

[KillerBug]

Is there any general low level formating utility that works with all hard drives, on any motherboard?

[CMonster]

Brian48: even a low-level format may not restore bad clusters in some cases. After the LLF a thorough scandisk may still reveal that there are areas of the disk which cannot be used.

Pickel: "lost clusters" and "bad" clusters are two different things. If your are truely getting those "all the time" then you may have a marginal piece of hardware, too high of some system setting (like the bus speed), or perhaps you have not been properly shutting down the system at times.

Killerbug: NO. There is not a single LLF program that works for all drives. There are some "true" LLF utilities that can be found on in the BIOS of motherboards, but use of these will usually kill most modern drives. Then there are some so-called LLF utilities, like the one from Seagate (you can download it free), that work on almost every drive. But they do little more than the DOS format, marking bad clusters so not to be used in the future. If you have certain brand drives, notably &%$! Samsung!, then there is vital information to the operation of the drive which is on the disk platters, so a LLF wipes this out and makes the drive unusable (personal experience). Some computers also have BIOS extensions on the hard disk, and if you wipe this out -guess what?



[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 10-17-99).]

[Brian48]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. The CD that came with my BH6 has a generic DOS utility for doing LLFs. I'm almost sure that the bad clusters is not the result of actual physical damage to the disk surface. It's only a one or two clusters so if I can't repair it, I can live with it. The system is strictly a back up PC tossed together with left over parts.

[Isos]

I've used Spinrite 4.0 on IDE drives to refresh LLF & to fix/mark bad clusters. It has the ability to reformat the drives without erasing the data. I don't know if there's a newer version or if it will work on drives greater than 8 GB.

[BFlurie]

I've used PQMagic from a boot floppy before to check a few segments that Windows said were bad, and it repaired them without affecting any data.

Ben

[psyklone]

good old MSDOS DEBUG works pretty decently as well. after you run a low level debug you just FDISK and repartition, format (recommend FORMAT C:/U/C) and go from there.

-z

[Underclocked]

Found that SpinRite 4.0, downloaded it, and hope I never have to use it. /forum/smile.gif
Thanks.

[deep_sky]

where did u get the spinrite 4.0?? is it free? I found a webpage for v5.0 but it cost 90 for full version and 40 for upgrade.....