My hard drive has started developing a few bad sectors which have prevented Macrium Reflect from completing backups, so I'll run Checkdisk and that fixes it. I'm thinking about doing a full format to see if that'll repair the bad sectors but there are a couple of things I'm unsure of. I made a backup today with Macrium set to "Intelligent sector copy." If I format, should I still be able to restore that image, or should I make another one and use "exact copy?" Or something else? Thanks.
Hi Brian, a full format of the C partition where the bad sectors are. By "full" I mean as opposed to "quick." Those are the two main methods as I understand it.
allizomeniz, Thanks. I don't think the "formatting" of the partition is helpful but the checking for bad sectors could be. I do the following as it leaves the data accessible. From an Admin Command Prompt... chkdsk C: /r Also, you can check the disk with the manufacturer's diagnostic software. eg WD Data Lifeguard, SeaTools, etc. If Macrium can't complete backups it is unlikely chkdsk will repair the disk.
I normally run Check Disk from My Computer>Local Disk C>Properties>Tools; and I enable "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors." Does that do the same thing as chkdsk C: /r? Whatever it does, Macrium works again after I run it. But I don't know if it's actually repairing the bad sectors or just flagging them so they're ignored. I read that in some cases formatting can restore bad sectors so they can be used again. It's not foolproof but I thought it might be worth a shot. I just don't know if I'll have a problem restoring my backup image; I'm definitely not formatting till I'm confident on that front.
@allizomeniz -- It is possible to tell Reflect to ignore bad sectors (see this KB item) but it's best to run chkdsk /r first as Brian K suggests. Also, you may need to assign a "drive letter" to some "unlettered" partitions on that physical drive in order to run chkdsk on all of them that are included in the backup operation. __ P.S.: Running chkdsk /r checks and attempts to recover bad sectors. Without that /r option, it only attempts to correct logical errors.
Does MR restore to different hardware? Because sometimes testing, formatting etc. kills a failing HD.
If your drive "has started developing a few bad sectors", I'm not sure that it would be wise to "leave well enough alone" for any amount of time. At the very least, if you're not in a position to replace it immediately, you'd certainly want to ensure that you have the best backup image that you can get from it, even if chkdsk /r can't correct the problem and you have to tell Reflect to ignore those bad sectors.
I've used MR to upgrade laptops for the past 5 years. I upgrade every year or two approx. No problems so far.