Spinrite 6 Question

[bjy20716]

I am trying to run a level 2 scan on a 13 GIG OS partition but Spinrite is estimating 500-2000 hours to complete the scan on just 13 gigs! The drive is a 250gig drive and I am trying to run the scan on just the first partition.

How long should spinrite take?

I have already ran it for about 6-7 days but it is only up to 24% complete.

Is my ATA controller messed up or is just my HDD really messed up?

I can still boot to windows and the drive will work but a few megabytes on the drive are unreadable which I guess they are bad sectors.

Thanks

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Just go ahead and let it finish. If something is wrong it will take awhile.

 

[DocDoo]

I haven't had much luck with spinrite on a biz level. As in your case, it could take 24 days?!!?!!

If all you have are bad sectors (and it sounds like it) and you *can* boot into your O/S, then back-up to a new HD and avoid the inevitable. Its simple and basic but I use MHDD for your type of specific situations.

If a HD is failing (not bad sectors), doing a scan with spinrite can kill the HD for good due to the strain of the scan itself. How ironic *rooleyes*

What I would do:
1) Run a S.M.A.R.T utility to compare your current threshold stats.
2) Put drive in spare PC or on different controller (pci card maybe) and (full) scan with OEM drive tool.
3) Buy a new drive if step 2 fails. Buy a new drive if threshold limit has been reached.

You can "fix" bad sectors (not really what it does) but I've seen drive performance drop on a "fixed" drive. So in the end, I prefer to RMA it or buy new.

Sadly, over the last 15 years I've seen a much larger number of new drives fail. Mostly caused by internal flaking or circuit boards.