Do i perform L.L.F. ?

[hulkbuster]

Hello, i have some problem with my PC's H.D.D, i had 3/4 sector errors because one of my friend used some Defrag tool to Defragment the Disc, so on the process he did something wrong, which showed some sector error.
       I am using Drevitalize 2.4.2 to remove the sector errors , which it did, and over time, the sector kept popping, to 6/8/12 sector errors.
      So, i am in a loop, my P.c is only a year old, and it used to perform nicely, but this H.D.D problem is being noticebly dominant. Like slow access to any partition, and it takes a little time to respond, if i click to any partition.
      So i plan to perform a Low Level Format, i heard cases where everything failed regarding removing the sector error, L.L.F. excel , since it is only writing 0's and 1's, i don't know if i.m. right.
      Cam someone suggest any thing better or avoid L.L.F. I am in a limbo, no way out.
     
Any suggestion is welcomed

[40hz]

There are many arguments both pro & con. But I'll spare you   and just give you my own personal take on it:

IF you're convinced the problem is strictly a format/sector issue - as opposed to a hardware or media problem - you could do a scrub using a heavy-duty erase tool, and then reformat it for your OS. I've had situations where that 'cured' oddball/intermittent problems I was having with certain HDs when they couldn't be fixed any other way.

If you decide to go that route, Darik's Boot & Nuke (or DBan) is an excellent tool. I'd strongly suggest using the "quick" option when you run it.

DBan can be downloaded here.

Note: a complete DBan wipe will take significant time, so plan on waiting several hours before it's finished.

Luck!

[x16wda]

What 40hz said.  But given costs of hard drives these days, consider getting a replacement instead.  If the drive continues adding bad sectors then there could well be a physical defect, and perhaps whatever your friend did with the defrag tool just ran afoul of that.  I'd be uncomfortable trusting a "repaired" drive especially if a drive failure later could put me out of commission; I'd rather take proactive steps than be forced to react at some random - probably inconvenient - moment when it suddenly gives up the ghost.

[Stoic Joker]

What 40hz said.  But given costs of hard drives these days, consider getting a replacement instead.  If the drive continues adding bad sectors then there could well be a physical defect, and perhaps whatever your friend did with the defrag tool just ran afoul of that.  I'd be uncomfortable trusting a "repaired" drive especially if a drive failure later could put me out of commission; I'd rather take proactive steps than be forced to react at some random - probably inconvenient - moment when it suddenly gives up the ghost.

-x16wda (January 11, 2014, 08:41 AM)

+10 - I've never seen anybody break a HDD with defrag (unless they were doing it with an icepick), but I have seen it expose existing issues with a drive many times when it wandered across an area that was on-the-edge.

Replace and relax ... Unless you really like surprises...

[mouser]

Another vote for replace and don't trust your current erroring drive.

If the existing drive is a big one, you might buy yourself a cheap USB dock and you can use your current disc as an external backup.

[Shades]

Replacement is indeed the best way to go. And as a bonus you can experiment with the old disk (after you make very sure all your data has been copied to the new one, of course).

If you are feeling real adventurous you could try software like MHDD. With that software you can detect where the bad sectors are. If these are grouped together, you can actually reduce the size of the disk in such a way that the problematic sectors can never be reached by whatever operating system that is on it anymore. This method is way more powerful than anything you can do within any operating system.

This software is not for those faint of heart! Actually, you can completely destroy your hard drive with MHDD, if you are not careful. But hey, you have a drive to experiment with and if you do things right, you have a hard disk that can still be used for whatever you need or want to do with it. And even if you don't need one, the ego boost from being able to say that you fixed your (friends) drive will be great.

One important thing though, you will lose all data on the drive after reducing the storage capacity.

In my point of view it is better to use whatever storage capacity that is left than to use the hard disk as a doorstop. Being relegated to be doorstop...sounds so final.  

[40hz]

Just for the record: I completely agree with all the above comments.

Whenever in doubt about a drive - no matter how slightly - replace if at all possible.  

Also +1 w/Shades on using an iffy HD as a 'lab rat.'

You'll learn more about your hard drive in an afternoon screwing around with it (and probably borking it several times before you finally brick it once and for all) than you would in a semester of cłasses.

Good experience to have under your belt if you ever do need to recover something important off a disk that went south on you.

Prior 'hands on' experience counts for everything if you ever find yourself in that situation!

[hulkbuster]

Thank you all for replying to this post , i learnt few critical things about HDD with sector error. Most suggested with a replacement, i guess i'll nuke the disk and then see how it goes. If doing that makes the HDD unobtrusive in functionality, then its all good, if not then i would revert to replacement with another Disk. Its not too easy in the pocket from where i come from.
Thank you all for your suggestion, i needed that. Please do so, it saved hundred of hours loathing over this problem.