HDD problem( bad sectors)

[Domse65]

I have an integral 120gb ssd(windows), HDD 500gb(files) about 4 years old.I tried to open my computer and it did now read it, I waited and nothing happened so I though it's just something weird so I just restarted my computer, and when started to boot I got an A Disk Read Error Occured press ctrl + alt + enter, so to check for errors I bootted from a cd disk acronis, and checked the drives it said they there healthy but when I went to check files through acronis the e drive was fine but the d drive was just empty, I deleted the d volume reformated, and also I checked the memory with memtest86 and everything was fine but I got the same error so I reinstalled windows, and it boot normally, but the hard drive is really slow, and you have to wait like 5 seconds until a folder opens. And know I checked sectors with HD Tune pro and found 4 bad sectors, and I can see from the program what there is 111 unstable sectors, so is my HDD just broken and I need to get a knew one? Or can I do something to fix it

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Domse65.

Even though 4 bad sectors sound like not a big deal, having in mind the HDD's behaviour and the effect it has on your whole system, I'd say that it could be on its way to die. You could download its manufacturer's diagnostic tool just to re-test the drive so that you are completely sure.
When there are just a few bad sectors you could try performing a low level format hoping that it will reallocate the bad sectors and exclude them from a any partition you're going to make afterwards. Here's how to do that:
1. Open CMD (Command Prompt) as administrator.
2. type diskpart and press "enter"
3. type list disk and press "enter", you'll see all the storage devices connected to your computer and you should be able to recognize the drive you wish to format by its size.
4. type select disk X and press "enter", where X is the number of the drive you wish to format, so make sure that you've selected the correct one - e.g. if the drive you wish to format is disk 1, type "select disk 1"
5. type clean all and press "enter", then wait for the process to finish. You should see a message along the lines of "Diskpart succeeded in cleaning the disk". Note that this could take from a couple, up to several hours depending on the drive's size.

After that you'll need to initialize the drive before you're able to create partition and format it with with a specific File System (e.g. exFAT, NTFS, etc). Here's how to do that: How to initialize or write a signature to a secondary hard drive or Solid State drive in Windows.

After the whole procedure go ahead and test the drive again to see if there are any bad sectors detected. Either way I wouldn't recommend that you keep using it for important information, which you can't afford to lose.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how it goes.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Domse65]

Hey there, Domse65.

Even though 4 bad sectors sound like not a big deal, having in mind the HDD's behaviour and the effect it has on your whole system, I'd say that it could be on its way to die. You could download its manufacturer's diagnostic tool just to re-test the drive so that you are completely sure.
When there are just a few bad sectors you could try performing a low level format hoping that it will reallocate the bad sectors and exclude them from a any partition you're going to make afterwards. Here's how to do that:
1. Open CMD (Command Prompt) as administrator.
2. type diskpart and press "enter"
3. type list disk and press "enter", you'll see all the storage devices connected to your computer and you should be able to recognize the drive you wish to format by its size.
4. type select disk X and press "enter", where X is the number of the drive you wish to format, so make sure that you've selected the correct one - e.g. if the drive you wish to format is disk 1, type "select disk 1"
5. type clean all and press "enter", then wait for the process to finish. You should see a message along the lines of "Diskpart succeeded in cleaning the disk". Note that this could take from a couple, up to several hours depending on the drive's size.

After that you'll need to initialize the drive before you're able to create partition and format it with with a specific File System (e.g. exFAT, NTFS, etc). Here's how to do that: How to initialize or write a signature to a secondary hard drive or Solid State drive in Windows.

After the whole procedure go ahead and test the drive again to see if there are any bad sectors detected. Either way I wouldn't recommend that you keep using it for important information, which you can't afford to lose.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how it goes.
Boogieman_WD

Can I run the cleaning and still use the computer or do I need to close everything?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Yup, you shouldn't have any issues using programs and/or media from the SSD. However since the drive seems to affect the whole system's performance, I'd recommend that you let if finish the process. It shouldn't take too long since the drive is only 500GB.

 

[Domse65]

So I did everything I did not find any bad sectors, but I still shouldn't keep important files on the drive? And another question should I split my hard into two partitions or should I leave it as one?

 

[Domse65]

Yup, you shouldn't have any issues using programs and/or media from the SSD. However since the drive seems to affect the whole system's performance, I'd recommend that you let if finish the process. It shouldn't take too long since the drive is only 500GB.

So I did everything I did not find any bad sectors, but I still shouldn't keep important files on the drive? And another question should I split my hard into two partitions or should I leave it as one?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Well, that's pretty good news. Hopefully those sectors have been reallocated properly and you have no issues. As for keeping important files, I'd be a bit cautious if I were you - check the drive from time to time to see if it has accumulated more bad sectors (this is quite possible) and never ever put anything really important which has not been backed up. Actually the second recommendation goes for healthy drives as well. Your important and irreplaceable data like photos, videos, documents, projects should always be backed up.

As for the partitioning. Having a single partition or splitting the capacity in 2 different ones will neither be beneficial nor harmful so it's basically entirely up to your personal preference.