Bad Sectors..

[DarkRogue]

Hello,

I'm preparing to push ahead with my new rig as parts have begun to come in.
One thing I'm planning on doing is re-using my Raptor 74GB Drive, probably to store my page file and temporary files and such. One problem I see is that I've been using this drive for about 4 years now and it's developed about 20kb of bad sectors according to checkdisk.

I'd like to get rid of these, but I'm not sure if that's possible. Would a full format take care of it, or is it time to RMA? I checked the WD site and my drive is still under the 5 year warranty so I can send it in, but I'm not sure if that's necessary.. and I'll probably have to pay for shipping.

Suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rubycon]

I'd run SpinRite 6.0 on it to be certain. Of course that costs $80 but is invaluable for looking at disks at any time. Outside of that, I'd say send it back and get a replacement.

 

[DarkRogue]

Hm, I forgot about SpinRite.

I suppose I can try running that, just gotta find some time to as the Raptor is my current System drive.
If they really are there though, there's no way to fix them on my end?

 

[Rubycon]

I would not trust chkdsk when bad sectors are shown. If you have SpinRite definitely use it and note the SMART margins when it begins. When older drives start to show an increased error rate it's time to get important data off the drive and replace it. If it's under warranty all the better.

 

[Cheex]

Thanks for the info Rubycon. I've never heard of that program. I'll check it out.