Crashed HDD - Bad sector 64 - Please help!

[Andy©]

I have a crashed 19GB HDD that I need to fix and reactivate. Anyone who can, please help me!


These are some specifics:

A. IBM 19GB HDD - Labeled C: drive while running under Windows XP

B. FAT32 on the crashed HDD (originally installed under Windows ME)

C. 2 other HDDs on the computer are running ok under Windows XP

D. The bootup HDD is a 2.5GB disk with NTFS formatting and is named D: by Windows XP




The character of the problem:

1. Explorer sees the drive as "local disc", while running under Windows XP, but is unable to read any info on the disk.

2. Upon bootup and intermittently at all times the computer is trying to access the c: drive making the computer extremely slow while also creating a repetitive clicking noise.

3. Running some HDD recovery programs, e.g. R-Studio, will eliminate problem #2 above as long a it itself is not trying to access the C-drive, thus providing a working environment for other programs.

4. Using WinHex software I get an error message indicating that sector 64 is not working, and anytime sector 64 access is attempted the same clicking noise occurs for a few seconds. WinHex shows all "00 00 00 00" for sector 64.

5. The partition sector is sector 63 and I notice that the HDD name in sector 63 is "NO NAME" rather than the name it had prior to the crash.

6. The first eight bytes in the FATs are given as "F8 FF FF FF FF FF FF 7F". Could the "F7" byte possibly be an error causing the crash?

7. If sector 64 is a bad sector, could I mark it as a bad sector while allowing the HDD to function normally? If so how do I do that?

8. Using a Startup diskette the crashed HDD fails to show at all.

9. FDISK fails to show the crashed HDD at all.

10. Scandisk is unable to run on the crashed HDD from either floppy or under Windows XP.

11. Attempting to reinstall Windows XP from the CD gives an error message and fails as a consequence.



Thanks for any help on this as I really would like to fix this HDD with all my data intact on it!


Andy©

[david_eliasson]

Why don´t you just boot from a Knoppix CD, mount the partittions within Linux and copy as much data as possible to your healthy harddrives.. Check warranty status on the drive and RMA it.. Else do a low level formatting on the defective drive to see if it can fix the bad sector, otherwise I think your drive is toast. Don´t put any critical data on a drive with bad sectors, sooner or later it´s going to fail on you..

Good Luck

/David

[Andy©]

Thanks David! I am not familiar with much if anything of what you're talking about. Thus I will need more info. Where can I get such?

For instance:

Where do I get a Knoppix CD?

How do I "mount the partitions within Linux"?

What does RMA mean?

Oh, I forgot to mention it in my first post, but the crash seemed to be initiated by a local power failure. At first the HDD did still run but within an hour or two the system crashed two or three times until eventually the HDD crashed altogether.

As to copying my stuff over to another one of my HDDs: Well, one is only 2.5 GB and the other is a mere 350 MB, so there really isn't any room unless I buy a brand new HDD.

Thanks again for your quick response which I hope will be something I can effectively use once I learn how to.

Sincerely,

Andy©

[Stephen]

Thanks David! I am not familiar with much if anything of what you're talking about. Thus I will need more info. Where can I get such?

For instance:

Where do I get a Knoppix CD?

Knoppix english web page look at the download section where you can get an ISO image to burn a copy or you can purchase a copy.

How do I "mount the partitions within Linux"?

With the cd booted it is fairly simple you would right click on the icon select properties and unselect the read-only check box from the permissions tab and you would be able to access the drive read-write from the desktop.

What does RMA mean?

Return merchandise allowance or something like that usually a number given to you after contacting your supplier for refund or replacement of defective merchandise.

Oh, I forgot to mention it in my first post, but the crash seemed to be initiated by a local power failure. At first the HDD did still run but within an hour or two the system crashed two or three times until eventually the HDD crashed altogether.

Sounds like a power surge during the power failure damaging the the drive in question.

As to copying my stuff over to another one of my HDDs: Well, one is only 2.5 GB and the other is a mere 350 MB, so there really isn't any room unless I buy a brand new HDD.

Hopefully you have a friend with a both a CD and a separate burner in the same computer that way you can put the damaged drive in the computer and copy your data from the damaged drive to CDR(R/W) discs.

If your computer was getting its power through a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) you should have insurance against this type of thing and may be able to get re-imbursed for your drive, some powerbars also offer this type of protection.

[Andy©]

Thanks Stephen! Thanks all!

I'll have to find someone with broad band who can download it for me since such service is not locally available out here in the boonies where I live. It's hardly doable to download the 699MB Knoppix ISO files over a 56 modem, is it?

Anyways, this is exciting!

[plugwash]

yeah it is
56kbit=7kbyte

700000000/7000=100000seconds
which is just over a day

i would srtingly reccomend getting a download manager which can reume downloads then just doenload it over a cuople of nights

[Dave_Bechtel]

--Actually it may take a bit longer than that. Even with the best 56k modems you have to take into account line conditions and such. You're lucky to get anywhere from 4 to 6 KB/sec with already-compressed data. I calculated it out once and it came out to more than a day and a half. And that's if you have a continuous connection. If you attempt to download 700MB over a 56k dialup you better have that modem set to auto-redial.

yeah it is
56kbit=7kbyte

700000000/7000=100000seconds
which is just over a day

i would srtingly reccomend getting a download manager which can reume downloads then just doenload it over a cuople of nights

[garyng]

why not just get one of those bootable linux rescue floppy distro ?

Of course, a new hardisk is needed for copying data. KNOPPIX is suitable too but download 700M just for this purpose is an overkill, IMO.

[Dave_Bechtel]

--You're right about that, but then at least he has Knoppix for GP* usage after the rescue!

*General Purpose

why not just get one of those bootable linux rescue floppy distro ?

Of course, a new hardisk is needed for copying data. KNOPPIX is suitable too but download 700M just for this purpose is an overkill, IMO.