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Bad Sectors
My 2TB Seagate HDD has bad sectors for the second time in about 6 months. Seatools for Windows fixed it the first time but this time it can't fix the problems.
Rather than tie up my computer and use Seatools for DOS I have put it in an external USB caddy.
Anybody know some good free software for external drives that might fix bad sectors?
Drive only used for temp storage and non important files.
Thanks for any help.
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Re: Bad Sectors
run the seatools DOS. It can do far more than the windows based version and is intended by the manufacturer just for this purpose. The DOS version fixed my ES2 just dandy.
If it doesn't do the business then give up. A 3rd party tool is unlikely to help and the internal vs external use makes no difference. Remember that as HDD die the problems only multiply. If Seatools DOS doesn't do it, sigh and retire the drive, replacing it with a new one. Losing your data just isn't worth it. Nor are months of random BSODs / accidently backing up corrupted files. Or losing your files when it goes bang one day and stops spinning altogether.
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Re: Bad Sectors
which HDD is it btw? Model#?
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Re: Bad Sectors
First up, buy a replacement drive. The bad sector count shouldn't increase.
Having backed up what sounds like a failing drive, go through the warranty process. Last I tried it with Seagate, that gave instructions like ik9000 says to run the DOS seatools program, which does everything it can to claim the drive is fine and doesn't need to be returned. Any files that you were having trouble recovering, that is your best bet at getting something back.
Having been told by Seatools that all is well because it has mapped spare sectors over the bad sector locations, I would do a few surface scans of the drive. That should either come back OK, or it the drive is failing should tip it over the edge before you go putting more data on it.
But overall, I would probably just replace the drive. Toshiba Red seems a decent cheap choice, 2yr warranty and 7200rpm http://www.ebuyer.com/726223-toshiba...e-hdwd120uzsva
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Re: Bad Sectors
It's a Seagate Barracuda 2TB - Model: ST2000DM001
Bought a WD Green 3TB as a replacement the first time it failed and all the data copied over.
Looks like I'll give Seatools for DOS a go.