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How to *really* test if your HD has bad sectors or not...

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f0dder:
Yes, writing to a bad section will trigger errors. You'll see messages like "delayed-write failure" and such... but just having your harddrive "fill up" doesn't mean each sector is actually written to, and it doesn't catch errors that could have appeared on areas that are used by "read-only" files.

But you really need a proper testing tool to do detailed and accurate diagnostics :)

MerleOne:
I recommend either HDTune http://www.hdtune.com/ or DeRevitalize http://www.drevitalize.xwp.pl/

Mark0:
Using the tools/diagnostics by the maker of the specific HD should also be a good idea. For example:

Seagate Technology - SeaTools
Western Digital support- downloads

SKesselman:
Here you can download some serious harddisk checking software. Seriously, I recommend MHDD. It comes on CD or floppy, boot from it, choose the drive you want to check and let it run. The possibilities of this program are very interesting, but possibly very destructive as well.
-Shades (March 12, 2009, 09:13 PM)
--- End quote ---

Shades, I followed the link and looked in the usual places, but can't find anything in English.
Is there anything written in English on that site? If so, can you post a link to it? Something is really wrong with my computer. Thanks  :)

Shades:
That is the problem, the site (and software) is written by Russians and only the software is in English. My 'Russian' will be just as bad as yours, but I found out about this software from a blog.

I added two attachments, which are log files of my download software. In there should be the direct link to the files. Hopefully those files are still available. When that is not the case I can mail whichever one you prefer, as I don't think that a site like DC is allowed to host them. The first attachment is for the .ISO the second for an .EXE to be stored on a bootable DOS floppy.

MHDD is able to do a lot of things, check your hard-disk is just one of them. It is also possible to adjust the size, create bad sectors (?), hide/enable data, .BAT scripting and a lot of things more. But be warned, make an error and you are in serious trouble. By default the software is setup to check harddisks, only when you have manually changed something the software will do as you have ordered.

Personally, I have used the software only to check several harddisks here and no complaints about that functionality.  When I have a harddisk with a serious problem, I like to play with the other features of this software though  ;)

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