cloning a "bad sector" drive

snglnluvnit · 11-04-2009, 07:28 AM

I have a samsung 200gb hdd with XP MCE, that is reporting bad sectors in the chkdsk utility. I am going to purchace a new hdd, and am curious that if I clone the old one to the new one, if windows will "fix" the issues of there being sectors/clusters that are unusable when "hopefully" they will no longer exist. If someone has a better idea and one that doesn't involve a reinstall of the OS I am listening. Thanks!!!!

**raptor_pa** · 11-04-2009, 08:18 AM

It's possible the clone will fail when it can't read the bad sectors. And if it does ignore them and there are files in use in the sectors, then those files will be corrupt in the clone since the necessary data was probablyt skipped. The question is what is the exact cause of the bad - ecc errors, timeouts, index errors, amnf errors - it's basically a shot in the dark with cloning software. here is hardware, and some software that can get past the bads. The cheapest is Media tools pro - about $300 - $400 dollars - hardware solutions start at about $2000

11-04-2009, 07:28 AM	#1 (permalink)
snglnluvnit Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 38 OS: XP Pro sp3/Vista HP sp3/Windows7 Ultimate RC	cloning a "bad sector" drive I have a samsung 200gb hdd with XP MCE, that is reporting bad sectors in the chkdsk utility. I am going to purchace a new hdd, and am curious that if I clone the old one to the new one, if windows will "fix" the issues of there being sectors/clusters that are unusable when "hopefully" they will no longer exist. If someone has a better idea and one that doesn't involve a reinstall of the OS I am listening. Thanks!!!!

11-04-2009, 08:18 AM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,821 OS: XP	Re: cloning a "bad sector" drive It's possible the clone will fail when it can't read the bad sectors. And if it does ignore them and there are files in use in the sectors, then those files will be corrupt in the clone since the necessary data was probablyt skipped. The question is what is the exact cause of the bad - ecc errors, timeouts, index errors, amnf errors - it's basically a shot in the dark with cloning software. here is hardware, and some software that can get past the bads. The cheapest is Media tools pro - about $300 - $400 dollars - hardware solutions start at about $2000 __________________