DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Fixing HDD with bad sectors

9 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/fixing-hdd-with-bad-sectors.176834/

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batman Original post #1
Aug 13, 2013 at 2:17 PM
I have an old laptop hard drive(320gb) with bad sectors.I thought of using it as an external HDD. So bought a SATA enclosure and tried connecting to my laptop.When it is connected I can hear the vibration sound from the hdd ,but the drive is not detected properly i think.When i go to disk manager i can see the drive in uninitialized state. I try to initialize it and I get two options - MBR and GPT . While trying with GPT i get a message saying there is not enough size.While trying with MBR an Cyclic Redundancy Check(CRC) error message pops up.

Is there any way i can fix the issue and be able to use it?. I am OK with losing the data inside the drive. Just want to use it as an external hdd.

Thanks in advance for any help.
root.king
Aug 13, 2013 at 5:06 PM
then go ahead and just clear mbr and regenerate sectors

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hiren boot cd can help you it has all necessary tools
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batman #3
Aug 13, 2013 at 5:19 PM
^^
ok..Lemme check that when i get back home..I dont have hiren's boot cd..Which specific hdd software in that package i need to use..Then i will install it separately and see...
Zangetsu
Aug 13, 2013 at 7:06 PM
which brand HDD?
u can try seagate seatools for bad sectors issue...
also low level formatting helps
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batman #5
Aug 13, 2013 at 10:04 PM
which brand HDD?
u can try seagate seatools for bad sectors issue...
also low level formatting helps

It is a WD HDD...For low level formatting,the drive has to be detected properly right?
Zangetsu
Aug 14, 2013 at 10:23 AM
It is a WD HDD...For low level formatting,the drive has to be detected properly right?

for any level/kind of formatting the drive needs to be detected...:|
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batman #7
Aug 14, 2013 at 11:35 AM
for any level/kind of formatting the drive needs to be detected...:|

Can you please elaborate on the "detecting" part?.Do you mean the hdd need to be accessed by going to "My Computer" ?. In my case this is not happening.But it is shown as an uninitialized drive when i go to disk manager.Also the usb device is being recognized as a "USB 2.0 SATA Drive".
Zangetsu
Aug 14, 2013 at 1:20 PM
Can you please elaborate on the "detecting" part?.Do you mean the hdd need to be accessed by going to "My Computer" ?. In my case this is not happening.But it is shown as an uninitialized drive when i go to disk manager.Also the usb device is being recognized as a "USB 2.0 SATA Drive".

HDD detected...

now format it with partition wizard (3rd party apps also fix bad sectors)
root.king
Aug 14, 2013 at 2:30 PM
I had never done that job while windows running