Bad HD blocks!

[lukeskywalker1]

Well.. just like it says. My hard drive has some bad blocks. The drive is... about 2 years old, but due to my lack of RAM, most of the stuff that should be in the memory, is stored on the page file, so.. i think that makes the HD do like double work, which probably contributed to this. Anyways. I would really appreciate someone explaining a way to fix this 'problem' and maybe an estimated ammount of time before the HD just dies.

 

Its just my luck, the bad block wasnt some worthless data, or a program i dont use, it was part of my system files.. in fact, i think the block holds part of the system32 directory (i think thats the main directory in windows... or one of em).

 

I cant format my HD, because:

 

• I dont have a windows CD (XP came on my pc)
  
• I dont have the drivers because HP did not include a system restore CD, or a drivers disk, or anything like that.
  

 

Basically... im in a little trouble. I dont have the money to buy a new PC. Im thinking about buy a new HD, and just copying everything on to the new one. But, then i got to thinking, if some of my system files are corrupted (im amazed my PC is running now!) then, when i copy them, i might just have the same problem, even on a new hard drive. For now, I ran system restore, according to the event viewer the 1st bad block was found on Jan. 28, so i restored it to the 20th (if you know about system restore you know what im talking about) So, I hope that solved my problem, but just in case, I want a little advice from some people who have gone through this before.

 

Thanks......

 

-luke§kywalker1

[MennoniteHobbit]

Umm... you can try using the ScanDisk repair utility, unless XP doesn't come with it (I am still using Windows 98... go me!). Or, just defrag you HD for fun if you know it being damaged is inevitable... sorry if I'm of no help at all... I usually treat my computers good, and they thank me by not crashing, except for the internet. That's a whole other story.

[lukeskywalker1]

All PCs get bad blocks in time. The average HD life is 2-4 years. Any more than that, and your using barrowed time.

 

Umm... you can try using the ScanDisk repair utility, unless XP doesn't come with it (I am still using Windows 98... go me!).

 

Yeah, i dont think it does. If it does, someone please tell me where it is! Thanks.

[BCanr2d2]

XP does have scan disk, there are two different ones, the same with Win98.

 

There is CHKDSK, which can be forced to run before XP loads fully, and the Windows version. To run chkdsk, not totally sure of how to do that one. As for the Windows one, right click on the Hard Drive in Explorer (or My Computer), click on Properties, and go to Tools.

 

Only problem with a System Restore is that if Scandisk hasn't been run, and "Bad sectors" marked, then it will write the data to parts of the disk that will continue to corrupt.

[DarkLord60]

Screw scandisk its crap and does not work at work we call in the harddrive and get it replaced cause chances are if you get it to work it will run slow. But you don't have a warrenty do you. So I would advise just going out and buying a cheap one.

 

-edit-

 

When you get your new harddrive hook your old one up and transfer everthing over that you can you may have to reinstalll the OS but that doesnt take long

[lukeskywalker1]

yeah, i have done that scan disk thing.... not recently. I guess I should, but last time I did, it took a while.

 

And yes, your right, ive got my HD working, but its slower than before.... at least, you know when you first start XP the XP logo, with the little green bar thingy moving accross the screen? Thats like super slow.... used to go by like 5 times, and then move to the next screen, while now its taking like 20 times.