Will low level formatting rescue a clunking hard disk?

  • Thread starter Thread starter OM
  • Start date Start date
O

OM

Will low level formatting rescue a clunking hard disk?

In replies to previous posts I've been told that when clunking comes,
this normally means your hard drive's gone, time to give up and buy a
new one!

Well... having wasted several days of my life trying to fix my PC...
and finally reaslising the hard disks were causing the problems... I've
ordered a new one (Seagate - with 5 year warranty, no more damn
Maxtors!).

I've got three hard drives.
I can still access them and read and write files.
(The only thing I can't do for some bizaare reason is install and run
XP - ALL of them just clunk and freeze or reeboot. Whereas other hard
drives work fine with the system!)

I'm just planning to put the hard drives in external boxes and use them
as extra storage space.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks.


OM
 
Will low level formatting rescue a clunking hard disk?

In replies to previous posts I've been told that when clunking comes,
this normally means your hard drive's gone, time to give up and buy a
new one!

Well... having wasted several days of my life trying to fix my PC...
and finally reaslising the hard disks were causing the problems... I've
ordered a new one (Seagate - with 5 year warranty, no more damn
Maxtors!).

I've got three hard drives.
I can still access them and read and write files.
(The only thing I can't do for some bizaare reason is install and run
XP - ALL of them just clunk and freeze or reeboot. Whereas other hard
drives work fine with the system!)

I'm just planning to put the hard drives in external boxes and use them
as extra storage space.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks.


OM
Click to expand...

Did you try the Maxtor utilities to see if they are OK?
 
OM said:
Will low level formatting rescue a clunking hard disk?

In replies to previous posts I've been told that when clunking comes,
this normally means your hard drive's gone, time to give up and buy a
new one!

Well... having wasted several days of my life trying to fix my PC...
and finally reaslising the hard disks were causing the problems... I've
ordered a new one (Seagate - with 5 year warranty, no more damn
Maxtors!).

I've got three hard drives.
I can still access them and read and write files.
(The only thing I can't do for some bizaare reason is install and run
XP - ALL of them just clunk and freeze or reeboot. Whereas other hard
drives work fine with the system!)

I'm just planning to put the hard drives in external boxes and use them
as extra storage space.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks.


OM
Click to expand...

I had a feeling my old school maxtor 80gb ATA drive was packing in a few
months back

someone here told me of a util called PowerMax its a maxtor util like JS
says

try the utils they reveal all
 
OM said:
Will low level formatting rescue a clunking hard disk?

In replies to previous posts I've been told that when clunking comes,
this normally means your hard drive's gone, time to give up and buy a
new one!

Well... having wasted several days of my life trying to fix my PC...
and finally reaslising the hard disks were causing the problems... I've
ordered a new one (Seagate - with 5 year warranty, no more damn
Maxtors!).

I've got three hard drives.
I can still access them and read and write files.
(The only thing I can't do for some bizaare reason is install and run
XP - ALL of them just clunk and freeze or reeboot. Whereas other hard
drives work fine with the system!)

I'm just planning to put the hard drives in external boxes and use them
as extra storage space.

Any feedback would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I do a lot of experimenting and *no* lo level formatting will not fix a
clunking
drive...it's time to replace it.

FWIW: I've lo-level formatted a number of old drives with a lot of bad
sectors...and though lo-level formatting will often "fix" the drives...
fairly often they just go bad again within a few weeks...

I've only had a few drives that lo-level formatting really made the drive
useful again.
 
Will low level formatting rescue a clunking hard disk?

In replies to previous posts I've been told that when clunking comes,
this normally means your hard drive's gone, time to give up and buy a
new one!
yes


Well... having wasted several days of my life trying to fix my PC...
and finally reaslising the hard disks were causing the problems... I've
ordered a new one (Seagate - with 5 year warranty, no more damn
Maxtors!).
Click to expand...

no brand is immune to failure, make backups from now on.

I've got three hard drives.
I can still access them and read and write files.
(The only thing I can't do for some bizaare reason is install and run
XP - ALL of them just clunk and freeze or reeboot. Whereas other hard
drives work fine with the system!)
Click to expand...

That's odd, run the Maxtor diagnostics.
 
thanks for all the replies.
erm... i have downloaded the maxstor util...
and it didn't find anything...
a clean bill of health given.
(everything else on my pc: memory, hard disk etc work fine without the
faulty hard drives.)
 
Will low level formatting rescue a clunking hard disk?
Click to expand...

No, it wouldn't fix a failing HD.
Low level formatting will just do zero-fill to your HD and it wouldn't
fix a physical damage HD.
Download a diagnosis program from the HD maker site.
 
OM said:
Will low level formatting rescue a clunking hard disk?
Click to expand...
I'm just planning to put the hard drives in external
boxes and use them as extra storage space.
Click to expand...

Clunking is often caused by the driver chip(s) for the head positioner
magnet failing, and the only true solution is replacement of the
chip(s). Most Maxtors use 3 tiny chips for this that run very hot if
not ventilated well, so be careful about installing drives into
external boxes, and provide some air movement over these chips, either
through gravity convection (mount drive vertically) or with a fan.
 
Back
Top