Image / Hard Drive Question ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BobJ
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BobJ

I use True Image to create a backup image of my hard drive. True Image
works great for every scenario but the one in which the hard drive has
gotten a bad sector that has caused the OS to become unstable. True Image,
along with some other imaging software, does not format or perform a disk
check before restoring the image.

Not exactly understanding all the details of what is occurring as the hard
drive is trying to write,
is there something built into the drive itself that recognizes there is a
bad sector or that it is unable to write, therefore it adjust by moving to
the next sector to continue writing when restoring the image?

Would formatting ahead make any difference?
 
Modern hard drive controllers will detect a marginal sector and "relocate" the data to a spare sector. This is transparent to the OS so the drive appears to be 100% good. This will allow an image to be restored to a drive even though it may have many sectors that have been relocated. Due to the large size and very high data density of hard drives it is normal for some sectors to be unusable even on a new drive. If all of the spare sectors are used up and bad sectors become apparent to the OS the drive is on its last legs.
I use True Image to create a backup image of my hard drive. True Image
works great for every scenario but the one in which the hard drive has
gotten a bad sector that has caused the OS to become unstable. True Image,
along with some other imaging software, does not format or perform a disk
check before restoring the image.

Not exactly understanding all the details of what is occurring as the hard
drive is trying to write,
is there something built into the drive itself that recognizes there is a
bad sector or that it is unable to write, therefore it adjust by moving to
the next sector to continue writing when restoring the image?

Would formatting ahead make any difference?
Click to expand...

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Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.
 
BobJ said:
I use True Image to create a backup image of my hard drive. True Image
works great for every scenario but the one in which the hard drive has
gotten a bad sector that has caused the OS to become unstable. True Image,
along with some other imaging software, does not format or perform a disk
check before restoring the image.

Not exactly understanding all the details of what is occurring as the hard
drive is trying to write,
is there something built into the drive itself that recognizes there is a
bad sector or that it is unable to write, therefore it adjust by moving to
the next sector to continue writing when restoring the image?

Would formatting ahead make any difference?
Click to expand...


If Windoze is reporting bad sectors then the drive might be on it's way out.
Try deleting and recreating the partition and doing a full (not quick)
format. If after this the HD keeps finding *new* bad sectors...stick a fork
in it...it's done.
 
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