Win98se Scandisk blunder..Need Advice

[oldgrandpainmi]

Hello all,

Did something STUPID and need advice.

I ran scandisk to check out a possibible problem on a 60gb harddisk, not knowing that the origonal scandisk available on win98se would not handle drives over 40gb (i think). Anyway, when it got to 51% of completeion, it started marking every cluster as bad. I later went to the Microsoft website, only to find out that this would happen with this version of Scandisk. Now the question: Is there anyway of going in the harddrive and erasing the bad cluster table and restart from new? At last count, there were dozen's of bad clusters generated by Scandisk, which I believe to be false. I'd like to use the drive in my TP, but need to see if it is damaged and/or if all of the false errors can be fixed first.

I appreciate any and all comments.

OGPIM

[jdhurst]

If you have a ThinkPad with a 60Gb drive in it, may I respectfully suggest using a reasonable OS (Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro or Linux if that strikes your fancy). Windows 98 was dead several years ago, and keeping it alive is asking for trouble as you have noted. At the least, you probably need to re-format, make a small partition for Windows 98 and then install it fresh there. ... JD Hurst

[ibmuser]

Try this:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/down ... efault.asp

[oldgrandpainmi]

JD and ibmuser:

I am currently using WinXP on this TP, so 98se is history! Sorry that I didn't mention it in my first post. As far as that link ibmuser, it appears to be a 98se update, which is no good to me now. It is the exact page at Microsoft that lead me to my blunder.

My concern is this:
Now that 98se has done it's thing to the hd, will it effect the way that XP looks at it? All of the bad clusters that it detected aren't bad, based on the link above. Will XP re-check the drive and undo what 98se did? I have been under the impression that if a bad cluster is regestered, the drive will never write to that part of the disk, thus reducing the capacity total of the HD. IF this is true, how can I erase the bad cluster list, regester, index, or what ever, and start from scratch?

OGPIM

[Kyocera]

What happens when you run chkdisk in XP?

[GomJabbar]

There are some tools to examine and low-level format hard drives. I believe you have to get the tool from the actual manufacturer of the hard drive. Some of these tools will attempt repair of bad clusters. There are also some diagnostic tools available.

Here is one such tool from Hitachi. You can search for simular tools on other drive manufacturer's websites. http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

[oldgrandpainmi]

Gom,
Will try that link in a bit- Thanks!

Kyocera,
Here is what I did and what has happened:

First, I tried to repartition and set c:\ at 100%. Then I reformated in NTFS. The first time I chose a full Format and it locked up at 53%. I waited for 1/2 hour and finally rebooted and tried format in 'quick mode'. This passed with no problems.
After putting XP on, I right clicked on the C:\ drive in My Computer and selected Tools and the check disk option. (selecting both options) I rebooted the system and let Chkdsk run and in step 5, it locked up at 48%.

I pulled out my Fdisk and repartitioned into 4 equal drives, formated each in Fat32, and although there were some bad sectors in each partition, it didn't lock up durring format. I went back in and deleted everything once again and made 1 partition, and once again formatted in Fat32, and once again had no problems with lock-up.

I then re-installed XP and ran the Chkdsk tool, and once again it locked up at 47%.

I once again have the drive benched, although it seems fine, until I figure out why it locks up durring chkdsk.

XP, Chkdsk, Fdisk, & Format all see 58gb's on the 60gb harddrive.

Opinions????

OGPIM

[davidspalding]

These tools are probably reporting 58 GB on the "60 GB" disc properly due to the well-known and much-discussed issue of how drive space is measured. If you run DISKMGMT.MSC on it and it reports 58 GB capacity, you're probably quite good to go.

Why chkdsk is having problems, I can't imagine. If in doubt, open a CMD window and execute "chkdsk c: /f" without the quotes, and reboot. This will find/identify/fix any errors on the volume. Do so for others, if you're still running multiple partitions. If it locks up yet again, maybe you DO have bad sectors. Might be worth plunking down hard $ for Partition Magic and having it do a diagnostic scan from the bootup CD.

HTH....