BAD BLOCKS please help

[Robbo]

On Sun, 2005-07-10 at 20:56 +0500, Mustafa Abbasi wrote:
> i am downloading an .iso image from seagate.
> but i was wondering does this fix the bad blocks or just ignore them.

Nothing will fix the bad blocks as these are defects to the hard drive
surface.  Even new hard drives have defects, a low-level format tells
the hard drive where these defects are so it doesn't use them.  If you
format (technically called a high level format) the drive using any OS
(linux/windows) it won't show any bad blocks.

For info...
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatDefect-c.html

Although on reading that if you have many bad blocks and it's a fairly
newish drive (like only years old), then I would get rid, esp. on a PC I
used regularly.

> i don't have extreamly valable data on the hdd. mainly downloads and
> stuff but i'd still rather they be safe.
> if i do a low-level format will the data stored be safe or should i
> just leave the are with the bad blocks alone. 

The low-level format will just do what you have done and avoid the bad
blocks (just at the hard level).

If the drive supports SMART use it to monitor/check the drive.  The
seagate utils will also have a util to check the health of the drive.