-2

Approx 600gb of the 1TB drive is currently used and accessible(Dell 8500). All data has successfully been copied to an external drive after receiving the "Bad Sectors, Corrupt MFT" when an image backup was attempted. From brief review, much of the data appears to be duplicate folders/files that are already stored on another machine running Windows 10(HP Envy). The Dell 8500 also serves as a printer server for 2 printers.

The original plan after completing the HP build was to convert the Dell 8500 to Win 10 and install a 3 TB WD My Cloud both as a Cloud storage device and to support scheduled image backups. A 1TB Seagate external would be used to support image backups of the Cloud Data Storage as a redundancy. I know this is not the ideal configuration as an ultimate cloud/backup solution but budget mandates dictated the config as the most feasible affordable solution. So my few questions are:

  1. What is the best method to address the bad sectors; chkdsk /r, chkdsk /b or a third party solution?
  2. If I run Win 7 recovery will that address the bad sectors AND the corrupt MFT files?
  3. If both #1 & #2 have to be run, which should be run first? I'm assuming chkdsk?
  4. Will deleting the duplicates folders/files, estimated in excess of 200GB, improve the success ratio of "repairing" the bad sectors given that more "free" sectors will be available?
  5. Is it reasonable to put forth the effort in converting the drive to Win 10, if repaired, or am I simply patching up holes in an already sinking ship? (the existing 1TB HDD with bad sectors).

Perhaps the wisest solution would be to install a 250gb SSD which should be affordable at

3
  • "What are best method" questions make bad questions. What Windows 7 recovers entirely depends on what you backed up, it will not, fix bad sectors (a physical problem). Removing files won't increase the lifespan of the HDD. A failing HDD in my opinion is not worth putting any time in.
    – Ramhound
    Jan 7, 2016 at 2:20
  • You say "All data has successfully been copied". If that's the case, I wouldn't waste any more time and effort on the faulty drive. Throw it away (secure erase or destroy it first if need be).
    – misha256
    Jan 7, 2016 at 2:20
  • Paragraphs please.
    – Moab
    Jan 7, 2016 at 3:37

1 Answer 1

3

What is the best method to address the bad sectors; chkdsk /r, chkdsk /b or a third party solution?

If you value your data throw out the drive. There is no addressing bad sectors. You can adjust them and hide the bodies, but they eventually turn up. Except Jimmy Hoffa I suppose.

If I run Win 7 recovery will that address the bad sectors AND the corrupt MFT files?

If you have recovery disks? Awesome. Use it to reinstall windows on a fresh. drive. In theory a fresh install would deal with the corrupt MFT but you're slapping a fresh coat of paint over a nice wide structural crack.

If both #1 & #2 have to be run, which should be run first? I'm assuming chkdsk?

Well, neither. The disk is dead. It is a soon to be ex-disk (but not ex-fat). Its pining for the digital fjords. Its only in its drive bay cause its screwed on....

You get the idea.

Will deleting the duplicates folders/files, estimated in excess of 200GB, improve the success ratio of "repairing" the bad sectors given that more "free" sectors will be available?

In most cases, no. Maybe, just maybe, one of those "snake oil" drive regeneration software would work as a last resort but if you have a car with a bad tire, you don't want to rotate tyres while driving somewhere to 'save on tire wear'. If you have a known bad drive and want a good chance of recovery you want to read and write to it as little as possible (and preferably write to it not at all)

Is it reasonable to put forth the effort in converting the drive to Win 10, if repaired, or am I simply patching up holes in an already sinking ship? (the existing 1TB HDD with bad sectors).

If there's still data you absolutely need there, there's some tools that would work well. And seriously at this point, your data is the important part. You've copied everything else? Good. Get on with life. If there's things you suspect you absolutely need, and must recover on pain of lethal death, boot up linux, make an image with gnuddrescue, mount that image, recover data. Since you at the very least backed up at an early sign of failure, meh, don't bother. Its time consuming, and not really worth it without a good reason.

And drives are relatively cheap these days. Buy a new drive, get windows 7 on it, uppgrade, get everything set up.

1
  • Thank you all for your professional experience and advice. JG, thank you especially for taking the time to provide such a detailed response and covering all the options. Agreed; the drive is history. Sathya, thank you for editing the post back to the format I originally posted, with paragraphs. Thank you all again for saving me from wasting time I don't have to waste. MasterBlast Jan 8, 2016 at 1:37

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .