Re: Bad sectors... how bad?

djs0302@xxxxxxx wrote in
news:1133851913.546881.207680@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

>
> Pdigmking wrote:
>> OK, so I'm crazy over all this HD stuff, I'm looking at HDs, tryingn
>> to find out if one brand is better than the other, what difference
>> does buffer make etc. All this concern is raised by the fact that I
>> ran a chkdsk and found one bad sector, and maybe my addled brain
>> heard the dreaded "clacking" from the HD. Setting aside my addled
>> brain for the moment, how bad is it really to find a bad sector? I
>> mean, does this really mean my drive is crashing? I just want to
>> catch this before it crashes this time so I don't have to spend hours
>> re-loading all my programs again.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>>
>> Paul
>
> I definitely wouldn't put anything critical on a hard drive that's
> starting to develop bad sectors, although I've been using a dying hard
> drive on one of my computers for the last 3 years. Your drive may
> last another 10 years or more or it may die tomorrow. The important
> thing is to make sure you have all your data backed up on removeable
> media. To make it easier you really don't have to back up the
> operating system or your programs since you should already have the
> setup disks for those things. I personally back up the following:
> 1. Any documents, photos, mp3s, or other files that I've added to the
> hard drive that I have no other copy of,
> 2.Internet favorites or bookmarks,
> 3.e-mail addresses and other contact information,
> 4. saved games and other settings such as high scores.
> Also if you've tweaked the registry you may want to back that up too.
>
>

yeah,

I have an external drive that I back up to, but re-loading my operating
system and all the programs is a real hassle that takes hours. I don't
have the actual XP disk so I have to load 95 and run all the upgrades up
through sevice pack two!!!

I guess HDs are so cheap that it makes sense to consider replacing it. I
guess the observation I have is, I've had drives with bad sectors last a
year and then crash, I've had them last three months and crash. Maybe
I've had drives with bad sectors that I never knew about and never knew
the difference. But I've never had a drive with no bad sectors crash.

My problem is I'm one of those guys who makes a computer work, it's not
always pretty, but I keep it going. I don't really know a lot about some
of the details like what a bad sector really is, what causes it, and what
it means.

Paul.
.

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