Solved CHKDSK. Where is record of bad sectors held. HHD or OS ?

Mooly

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I had genuine cause to run chkdsk from a command prompt yesterday (on my 8yr old Acer) because Acronis 2015 which I'm beta testing reported a problem imaging the drive (a bad sector).

I wondered... once chkdsk has run then the bad sector must be marked as non usable for future reference. Is that information held somewhere on the HDD (modifying the firmware) or is it somehow stored in within the OS.

If the former then its "permanent", if the latter then the information would be lost if for example you recovered to a disk image made prior to running chkdsk. Anyone any ideas ?
 

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I think it's both ways. Windows takes out, so to speak a bad sector out of table and eventually, if recoverable, data to other place. HDD's SMART also relocates bad sector (as much data as it can find) to a spare area that every one has and doesn't let OS to access that bad part.
Programs like: Hard Disk Sentinel - HDD health and temperature monitoring or Download HDDExpert - MajorGeeks and many others can read SMART data and show you exactly what it found and did to HDD.
 

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Thanks for the links... just gave HDD Sentinel a whirl and that confirms there are a few bad sectors... but not that bad :)


That's great, thanks.
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10 x64 pro and W8.1 x86
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3750/Acer 9301
    CPU
    Intel i5/AMD Turion 64
    Memory
    4Gb/2Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel i5 internal/NVidia GEFORCE GO 6100
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    Realtek
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    250Gb SSD and 120Gb
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Since they are moved by SMART to spare area windows should not detect them any more. Keep an eye on that disk though, those bad sectors could have been caused by bad writes to disk, unexpected shutdowns, loose power and data cable connections or power fluctuations. Really bad ones are caused by head crash, either because of mechanical (jarring, drops etc) or electrical damage. Also, loose, worn out or partially burned heads and motor are just going to keep on making new, in which case replacing drive as soon as possible is in order.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
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    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Thanks, I understand it all a bit better now. Its certainly had a few forced shutdowns in its time, where Windows locks up and you have to hold the power key down. It always sounds a bit brutal as the HDD spins down when you do that... and I don't know if that's a potential cause of damage. Unfortunately its unavoidable on occasions, particularly in the earlier days of Vista !

(and apparently I need to "spread it around" before I can give you another one of these :thumb:)

We'll call this one solved.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10 x64 pro and W8.1 x86
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3750/Acer 9301
    CPU
    Intel i5/AMD Turion 64
    Memory
    4Gb/2Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel i5 internal/NVidia GEFORCE GO 6100
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Hard Drives
    250Gb SSD and 120Gb
    Mouse
    HP Z4000
    Internet Speed
    76 down, 20 up
    Browser
    MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
Thanks, I understand it all a bit better now. Its certainly had a few forced shutdowns in its time, where Windows locks up and you have to hold the power key down. It always sounds a bit brutal as the HDD spins down when you do that... and I don't know if that's a potential cause of damage. Unfortunately its unavoidable on occasions, particularly in the earlier days of Vista !


(and apparently I need to "spread it around" before I can give you another one of these :thumb:)

We'll call this one solved.

Very good, hope it works out well for you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Thanks :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10 x64 pro and W8.1 x86
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3750/Acer 9301
    CPU
    Intel i5/AMD Turion 64
    Memory
    4Gb/2Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel i5 internal/NVidia GEFORCE GO 6100
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Hard Drives
    250Gb SSD and 120Gb
    Mouse
    HP Z4000
    Internet Speed
    76 down, 20 up
    Browser
    MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
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