Should I do a full reformat?

[Ultimate_Destructo]

A week ago Windows broke all of a sudden where it wouldn't boot. I took my laptop to the university tech store to get the hard drive wiped and Windows reinstalled, but they said that the hard drive had errors and was slowly failing and they refused to reinstall Windows. I didn't trust them because Windows was working great before and I had been using Ubuntu fine after Windows broke. So I installed Windows 7 last night but it didn't give me the option to do a full reformat. Right after Windows rebooted I did a scan for errors, with the box checked to automatically repair them. I stayed up late enough to see that there weren't any errors in the used part of the drive. Unfortunately the next morning Windows would not report if it had found any errors in the free part of the drive. Should I leave my Windows installation as is or should I do a full reformat with some program and reinstall Windows?

 

[Hawkeye22]

Check the event viewer to see the results of the chkdsk. There is no need to do a full format. Also, if you do a "custom install", there is an area where you can create/delete partitions and do a full format.

Get a copy of HDTune or Smartfan and check the SMART values. This can tell you if the drive is failing.

 

[Ultimate_Destructo]

Chkdsk found 1070 KB of bad sectors. According to HD Tune's health tab, there are warnings under (C4) Reallocated Event Count (Description: Number of sector replacement operations: 6, Status: ok) and (C5) Current Pending Sector (Description: Number of unstable sectors: 31, Status: The drive has unstable sectors.) What should I do?

 

[Hawkeye22]

It sounds like the drive is on it's way out. I'd make backups of your data soon! If the drive is still under warranty, file a claim and they'll give you a new drive.

 

[Daave12]

Yes the driove does sound to be a bit out of order, replacement is thhe only solution I think.

 

[geekapproved]

A week ago Windows broke all of a sudden where it wouldn't boot. I took my laptop to the university tech store to get the hard drive wiped and Windows reinstalled, but they said that the hard drive had errors and was slowly failing and they refused to reinstall Windows. I didn't trust them because Windows was working great before and I had been using Ubuntu fine after Windows broke. So I installed Windows 7 last night but it didn't give me the option to do a full reformat. Right after Windows rebooted I did a scan for errors, with the box checked to automatically repair them. I stayed up late enough to see that there weren't any errors in the used part of the drive. Unfortunately the next morning Windows would not report if it had found any errors in the free part of the drive. Should I leave my Windows installation as is or should I do a full reformat with some program and reinstall Windows?

The option to format was there. You just must have missed it. You have to click on the options it gives you.

I always do a a format when installing windows, otherwise it's kinda like putting on a band aid.

You can go to the hard drive makers website and use one of their programs to check the disk for errors.

 

[Ultimate_Destructo]

Well I've done a number of things with my computer: restoring backed up files, installing windows updates, defragmenting the hard drive, installing programs, etc. and so far the amount of bad sectors has stayed at 1070 KB.

 

[Ultimate_Destructo]

Best answer selected by Ultimate_Destructo.