Hi all

;
@Neil B.;
"3: I either use the Ultimate Boot CD, or the Hiren Boot CD. Both of which have tools for specific hdd's by specific
manufacturers."
-- Have not tried both. I'll check them out thanks.
@abauw;
"4. a. if under warranty and the manufacture...RMA is the number one...but if it comes to 2 brand...throwing it to trash is
much better than RMA it..
5. don't know...my English is more worst than you..."
-- RMA is the thing to do(almost all agree on this. Have also experienced a couple of RMA's that showed the same behavior and also "not used them anymore".)
-- Your English is not bad for an average Indonesian. Have met some and their English is the same. It's okay!
@hamluis;
Nice links given. Covered almost all of my needs! Thanks!
"Bad sectors...come with a hard drive. Formatting a drive doesn't repair bad sectors...nothing really does, everything does
a work-around where the bad sectors are marked and not used by Windows."
-- Yeah, I have come to think of that too after a couple of bad hdd's that were brand new only to be replaced twice via an RMA..bad sectors once identified are not anymore used by Windows. I understand from one of the links that there are many sectors that can replace a bad one. But once they are present it's only a matter of time till it fails.
@ReviverSoft:
"1. No, it is limited to the hard drive's activity.
(However, OS related issues can indirectly affect the hard drive's activity, further leading to bad sectors)"
-- Some examples please...thanks:-)
"3. HDD Regenerator & SpinRite are popular options."
-- Will take a look at them, thanks!
@Platypus:
Very clear explanation together with the quote from Louis' link! Now I understand, thank you very much.
---
Thank you very much for the very generous replies and information. Now it's quite clear to me that even there is a slight possibility that some untoward activity in the OS "might" have cause bad sectors, it is more likely that it is a physical damage on the surface of the hdd itself and will stay there...not repaired. Identified bad sectors are present and as a result bad blocks exists. That particular area will then be remapped/re-allocated and not used by Windows again.
Almost all agree that the best approach is to back-up data and go for RMA or replacement.
While I have used a couple of manufacturer diagnostic tools for the job before, I have also have experienced varying results from them. (with the hdd concerned in this topic as mentioned we ran it and said it had successfully repaired the bad sector but when we checked it was the opposite). I used SeaTools (older version) which gave varied results when I repeat the tests done. It would fail a test then after repeating it says it's "pass". Then afterwards a "fail" again. Same conditions/same hdd. Have performed basic/advance tests on same hdd also had varied results in both the SeaTools for DOS and SeaTools for Windows. Now the new version has a "ticket-type error code" that needs to be included when you do an RMA.
In the case of the hdd concerned here it seems the manufacturer's diagnostic tool passed the hdd so it could not be placed for RMA and maximize it's usage.....
I remember in the Seatools "read me" or in the website that "...a lot of returned hdd's when inspected were perfectly good drives.." paving the way for it's development(diagnostic tool) which was improved to have a "ticket-type error code". RMA comes with a clause telling people that when they inspect an hdd and it is found to be okay they will send it back and bill the owner the cost for shipping and testing! Even the warranty was cut from 5 to 3 years.
So now if you use SeaTools and it says the hdd is okay but get a different result from a 3rd party diagnostic tool, your in an RMA dilemma.
On the service technician that I encountered, he also could not explain it to me when I asked for an explanation. I think he was hoping that I would trust what he said making it easier for him. OS related issues are excluded from the pc warranty here. Only the hardware.
Again, thank you very much to all and indeed a lot of learning here! More power to the forum!