

Windows may have some problems in dealing with bad sectors on a damaged hard disk, so the best solution is to use a Linux OS to copy data to another hard disk. The new disk must be at least exactly the same size (check the number of LBA sectors) or larger when larger, it's usually not a problem because the number of heads per cylinder and sectors per head will be the same if both disks use LBA mode. To recover your data, the best method is to copy/clone the drive's data to another hard disk before attempting to recover it. A bad sector is a sector on the disk which data cannot be written or read (read errors) due to physical damage or inconsistencies of parity checking bits on disk (CRC or Cyclic Redundancy Check error).

They are early signs of a disk crash as it deteriorates over time. If you had important data in that sector, however, it may be lost - possibly corrupting one or more files.English Deutsch Español Français Italiano Русскийīad sectors are the most common form of hard disk physical damage. This will show up as “Reallocated Sectors” in hard drive S.M.A.R.T. The sector will be reallocated, so reads and writes to that sector will go elsewhere. When your computer notices a bad sector, it marks that sector as bad and ignores it in the future. This is another reason why you should always back up your data - multiple copies are the only thing that will prevent bad sectors and other issues from ruining your hard drive’s data.

The reality of bad sectors brings home a chilling fact - even if your hard drive is otherwise working properly, it’s possible for a bad sector to develop and corrupt some of your data. Viruses and other malware that messes with your computer could also cause such system issues and cause soft bad sectors to develop. In some cases, it’s possible for sectors on the hard drive to contain data that doesn’t match their error-correction code - this would be marked as a bad sector. For example, if your computer suddenly shuts off due to a power outage or a pulled power cable, it’s possible that the hard drive may have shut off in the middle of writing to a sector.

Soft bad sectors are caused by software issues.
