Manually Mark Bad Sectors

[j7n]

I have a HDD which started to develop bad sectors. I want to attempt continue using it with the damaged parts mapped out. The problem is that Disk Doctor does not mark block which are almost dead. When it reaches these sectors, computer pauses for a moment, but after that sectors are still deemed "good". I want to disable a safe range around the failing block. Is there a DOS or Win98/2k/XP program capable of doing that on FAT32?

Edited March 26, 2008 by j7n

[dandnsmith]

I seem to remember that I used a tool which remapped bad sectors some years back, but not whether it was a manufacturers product geared to the individual disk type. Also in my memory is something which said that newer disks were doing the remapping automatically, up to the limit which the manufacturer provided for.

I think, then, that what you may need to do is alter the FAT chain(s) which currently point(s) to the offending sector(s) and then construct a new chain which includes all those you don't want used and mark them not-to-be-used.

Do I know how to do this? Not at present - I'd have to go on a hunt for suitable tools to do the job of those on the now defunct system.

[DonDamm]

Try SpinRite v6.0 from Gibson Research at grc.com. As far as I know it will remap bad sectors and mark the unusable as you wanted.