Fellow Techies -- I need help NOW

[neverborn]

I think it was Windows' fault -- something bad happened. Pop up "Hard Error" 3x, then it CRASHES....
I use my boot disk (a.k.a. WinXP setup disk),and I go to install windows xp, thinking it's the MBR, and lo and behold...
C: Partition1 (Unknown) 156328 MB
Nnot FAT32, not NTFS... Unknown.

Problem is I don't know if it's the HDD or the OS that did it.
Here's the sequence of events:
DVD Burn Fails -- "Cyclical Redundancy Error"
Strange clicking sounds begin.
"Hard Error" dialog box 3x
Click OK 3x
System reboots
and now there's nothing bootable. Sad.

[MichaelHarris]

1. the

angels may be singing for that hard drive. If a windows XP start-up disk doesn't see it maybe there is a demo of Partition magic online you could try. If that don't see it then, A) dig hole B) remove hard drive C) place drive in hole and cover D) pray to Ganumba, God of Hard Drives

[neverborn]

2. Well...

Do you think it's the HDD?

Should I assume the HDD failed, or that somewhere between Windows 2000 and DVD Shrink, something HORRIBLE happened to my hard drive?

Should I use it again... or will this happen AGAIN?

It's 160GB... not all taht cheap :(

[MichaelHarris]

3. I would do

everything possible to see if something like partition magic can see it. I know that I've used a floppy made from XP to set up another computer and that boot floppy didn't see the drive. I don't like partition magic but in cases like this its a very good tool to see if it can see the drive

[neverborn]

4. Problems w/ That...

Well, I don't have a floppy drive. Or any other HDDs in the machine. No way to get PM there.

I'm using WinXP Recovery CHKDSK, and it seems to be hanging at 25%. It's not sure what the hell is going on.

WAIT WAIT -- 25% kicked me out and said:
"The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems."

I just remembered that due to my novelty case, I have to take the motherboard out to install another drive.

Something tells me I'm formatting and hoping for the bst.

[MichaelHarris]

5. we're you

able to fdisk the master boot record? fdisk /mbr

[neverborn]

6. Didn't help. Already tried.

I'm trying to format over the partition now -- if this doesn't work, it's obviously the HDD. :/

[ET Awful]

7. If it IS the hard drive. . .

I highly recommend checking out newegg.com, you can get extremely good prices from them and they are highly reliable (pretty much all the parts I used to build my machine came from them).

You can also get amazing deals at Comp USA occasionally (I found 160gb Maxtor drives there for $99 a while back).

Before you do that though, I recommend a copy of Norton Utilities or the like that can block bad sectors on a hard drive. The drive may be usable if you can block any bad sectors from being used.

[neverborn]

8. It's the Hard Drive. Can't even format it.

error: "The disk may be damaged."

I'm unfortunately not waiting around for a newegg delivery to be able to use my computer.

Should I bite the bullet and go SATA 72GB 10000RPM for a hefty price or just get another 7200RPM ATA/133?

[ET Awful]

12. Personally . . .

I don't think the 10,000RPM drives are worth the money unless they're a shared drive in a networked environment or you are using them for massive amounts of video editing, etc.

I say go for the 7200. Basically, I have 2 160GB 7200RPM ATA/133 drives and 1 160GB 7200 RPM SATA drive, all work flawlessly.

[RC]

14. I should have phrased it as an increasing number of bad

sectors is an indication the HD is dying.

[RC]

11. Bad sectors are a clue the drive is dying

[ET Awful]

13. Not always.

I've had drives with bad sectors last 5 years or longer after the bad sectors were blocked.

[Kellanved]

9. have you tried "fixboot" as well?

:shrug:


Edit: OK, as the HD is dead it won't help.

[RC]

10. Track down a copy of GW Scan

I use it quite often in my work. It has Gateway's name on it, but it is a Western digital program.

Use the Short test first, then the long test.

And if you wish, this program will also overwrite the entire HD with zero's, wiping out partitions, proprietary boot sector crap etc. The computer then treats it as a brand new HD.

http://www.pacomputing.org/Hard%20Drive%20Process.aspx