chkdsk /r or Hard drive Utilities: which is right?

chkdsk /r or hard drive Utilities: which is right?: On my Western Digital Hard disk, 200 gigs, the utilities provided by the manufacturer shows 2 out of 5 times that there are bad sectors (could this be that I am using the older
for "Windows" utility? (The bad sectors are no longer reported by the disk utility since de-fragmenting!).

With Windows XP using chkdsk it showed 5 out of 5 times that there are bad sectors (prior to de-fragmenting, even though it recommended NOT TO DE-FRAGMENT!

The question is WHO to believe. Running these utilities (10 times total) took approximately about 2.5 hours or longer (it probably was much longer but I was not on top of the machine waiting for results). Did de-fragmenting really correct the problem?

The 8 XP partitions work from great (the fully formatted ones w/ fresh installs) to Very Good (using a TI10 Image), to passable (using DD10 using the "Copy Partition" utility), so in regards to functioning they all are functional for every day use, with internet, gaming and copying capabilities.
(Business use is a different matter for me as I use professionals, which is tax deductible and they are always on call).

The question remains does one go with Functionality or with the UTILITIES' assessment (which imply impending problems?).

Using TI10 makes restoring the XP's very easy and fast, even if there are some issues with quickness at boot up time and the rare 'triple' and 'quadruple' clicking of 'shortcut' icons that a "full formatted" install does not exhibit on my machine.

Since these XP's have been working well for over a month perhaps this indicates that the utilities are incorrect(?).

Again using TI10 to restore, if necessary, makes it almost moot ( compared to the time pondering this question) even to bother with this "bad sectors" report from WHATEVER utility.

Since ALL my data and OS's are Imaged and/or backed up with TI10 (or Nero) I can restore faster than repair. This problem of 'correct assessment' by many utilities (both from Windows or from 3rd party applications has been occurring since Windows 3.1 {starting with the "PC TOOLS" utility in my experience}).

Could it be that utilities are inherently incapable of correct number-jibing/correct letter assignments, or correct diagnosis as long as Windows (and 3rd party software) remain primarily only money-makers rather than CUSTOMER CENTERED products? It sure seems that way many times. (Then again many freeware utilities fail in the same way often).

Perhaps age jades the judgment.

 

I would say not if there were really bad sectors. If the area of the disk is actually bad, then there is no way a defrag would fix it.

If the hard drive utility reports no errors on the drive and chkdsk does, then there is something going on. Something is casuing errors. It may be the difference in how the two programs access the disk that causes the difference or it may be something else.

I have never experience the 'triple' and 'quadruple' clicking problem you describe. Do you mean you have to triple-click or quadruple-click in order to make a shortcut launch? Does it stay that way or is it only just after a restore?

I would test this out thouroughly before reaching that conclusion. I recently worked on a computer that started to act weird. The problem first showed up when trying to install a new program. The problem ended up being that a part of the disk that hadn't been used before was being used (the drive was filling up). That part had bad sectors and was causing crashes and lockups when accessed (no error messages from Windows). A chkdsk /r fixed the problem and a new drive was installed. I used the old drive for testing later and it died in short order so I would assume that in normal use in the computer, it would have only lasted several days or perhaps a week.

Another thing to check are the cables and the connectors/connections. I have worked on computer that had a bad power cable connection (the actual plug had a badly connected wire) that caused problems. Same problem on another computer, this one SATA. It would give bad sector errors, but in different places, not the same sectors. This was fixed by using a different power connector. A wipe and reformat of the drive and there were no bad sectors. It's been working fine since.

 

MudCrab:

The multi-clicking "need" occurs only after a image is restored to a different partition and occurs infrequently thereafter (if restored to the same partition there are no problems {this is a DVD image}).

I ran the disk utility again and it fails the "short" test but passes the "Long" fuller test-- very confusing.

I think you are right and there is something wrong with this hard disk even if it is minor for the moment. Hope not.

I will check out the cables and wipe the drive and reinstall my set-up before returning it on an extended warranty.

Thanks for your experienced insights--cortez