At 10:36 PM 12/26/2000 Lorraine wrote:
> ... scan disk revealed that there was a possible bad sector...
> Since then I have not been able to get past repeated scandisk
> screens that go nowhere. I tried a boot disk I had.....
> I went to Command Prompt where I did an Fdisk....
> Still getting the scandisk screen.

Lorraine:

Backup the data first, if any.

Download the HDD diagnostic software from the maker of that hard drive from
the Internet. These diagnostics usually have a TEST & REPAIR routine that
will mark the sectors(s) bad in on the drive itself and remove them for
service; it may also replace the bad sectors with spare, unused sectors,
from the end of the track(s) or from a reserve area.

Verify you use the right software for the particular drive.

On older drives, sometimes a low-level format will "rejuvenate" the tracks
and sectors, but this usually indicates an old drive with soft sectors that
is better replaced than fixed. Don't trust that kind of drive with any
important data.

Use Low-Level Format software explicitly designed for the particular hard
drive. Some Hard Drive companies provide this LLF software on their web-sites.

Good luck.

John Chin

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