Isolate or block 'bad sectors"

Your bad sectors will spread. Run a full backup of anything you hold dear and replace the drive ASAP.

Hey Andrew:

   Thanx for replying. OK, I'm not trying to discount what you stated, but
can you elaborate on this. In researching the issue, I read about the 2
'kinds" of bad sectors. I understand there is nothing to be done for the
'physical" bad sector, now, though, I'm of the understanding there are ways
to 'block" (as one site put it) or "isolate" as another site put it, the
sectors that are bad due to loss of magnetism (no longer can data be
written to them) and in saying this it further said that the HDD would,
once the sectors were blocked or isolated, just pass over those sectors and
move on to the next immediately available sector. I understand there are
those who feel the HDD may lose more sectors, but then, they may not since
they are isolated and cannot affect or infect their surrounding
counterparts. Does this sound logical? So, there it is. Now, after reading
those web pages, I did not see anyone offering "how to" do the 'blocking".
But, perhaps I should/will do some more searching. This said, I'd welcome
your opinion (and anyone else who'd care to). You see, what has me thinking
it's possible to isolate and keep using the HDD is that I know they rebuild
HDD's and I'd think they would have to know what/ how to determine the bad
sectors (in this case, the entire barrel(?) (is that the correct term) to
know which ones to use. OK, now I've got bigger fish to fry in getting that
damn 12.04 back up so I can retrieve my files.
Take Care:
Rick

On Mon, Aug 11, 2014 at 4:57 PM, actionparsnip <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #252944 on gnome-disk-utility in Ubuntu changed:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-disk-utility/+question/252944
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> actionparsnip proposed the following answer:
> Your bad sectors will spread. Run a full backup of anything you hold
> dear and replace the drive ASAP.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-disk-utility/+question/252944/+confirm?answer_id=0
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-disk-utility/+question/252944
>
> You received this question notification because you asked the question.
>

Good Morning Mr. Kruger:

  I appreciate your reply. So, I guess this is a case of don't believe all
you read!? Hey, Ubuntu has driven that scenario home many, many times for
me. Well, since I've not given the HDD a thorough analysis myself, perhaps
that is in order. Then, should there be "bad sectors", well, I guess it'll
retire to the recycling plant. I just thought there was a way to 'block"
those sectors and the 'read" part of the drive would just skip over them.
The drive I'm speaking of came with the laptop when I purchased
it(secondhand), so there's no big loss if it should be beyond recovery.

THANK YOU:
Rick

On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 3:13 AM, Thomas Krüger <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #252944 on gnome-disk-utility in Ubuntu changed:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-disk-utility/+question/252944
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Thomas Krüger proposed the following answer:
> To give an answer that is a little longer than Andrew's:
> There is only one type of bad sectors that can be "repaired" that are
> sectors which have been marked as bad by the OS in error. That happens very
> rarely.
>
> In the case of a real bad block the internal logic of the HDD will
> notice a problem and do it's best to read out the block and copy it to a
> special reserved area of reserve blocks. This is not directly visible to
> the user. The OS sees no bad block.
>
> Now if the reserve area is fully used, or the block is not readable
> anymore, you will start to see bad blocks. In that case the damage is so
> large, that the chance of it spreading to other sectors is very large.
> The drive may fail very soon, it should be replaced ASAP.
>
> just for your understanding: The read/write head flighs over the disks
> just with a distance of tiny fraction of a millimeter controlled by a
> complex system of magnetic forces and air resitance. A change in the
> magnetic field of tiny scratch on the subface which creates a little air
> flow disturbance can make the head vibrate and hit the subface, creating
> an other scratch. This way it will spread over the whole disk.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-disk-utility/+question/252944/+confirm?answer_id=2
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-disk-utility/+question/252944
>
> You received this question notification because you asked the question.
>

Thanks Thomas Krüger, that solved my question.

Hey Thomas:

   Ahmmm....while I've got you on board, perhaps you could advise me on
this problem? I opened my laptop last Sun, morning and got this; "failed to
load session Ubuntu". I've can get to recovery mode>drop to root shell
prompt> mount -o rw,remount / then all goes to hell. It refuses to accept
my password even when I've reset it. (I used "psychocat" reset
instructions) thus, I cannot run the necessary commands to "fix" the
problem. Now, the WiFi won't activate(which is understandable since it
hasn't mounted the O.S) therefore I can't download any updates or other
packages that it might require. And, this morning I go to launchpad and
find all my previous correspondence has vanished? My gawd, the hits just
keep on coming!! Well, anyway, if your so inclined to, I'd appreciate
feedback.
Thank You:
Rick

On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 11:46 AM, Rick Miller <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #252944 on gnome-disk-utility in Ubuntu changed:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-disk-utility/+question/252944
>
> Status: Open => Solved
>
> You confirmed that the question is solved:
> Thanks Thomas Krüger, that solved my question.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you asked the question.
>

addendum to previous post:

   I apologize; forgot to add in a couple of pertinent items---- First
 this is the site I used for 'resetting my password"
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/resetpassword
      Here are the specs you probably need : [HP2000-210 Ubuntu 12.04.5
  80GbHDD 3GbRAM]

On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Rick Miller <email address hidden> wrote:

> Hey Thomas:
>
> Ahmmm....while I've got you on board, perhaps you could advise me on
> this problem? I opened my laptop last Sun, morning and got this; "failed to
> load session Ubuntu". I've can get to recovery mode>drop to root shell
> prompt> mount -o rw,remount / then all goes to hell. It refuses to accept
> my password even when I've reset it. (I used "psychocat" reset
> instructions) thus, I cannot run the necessary commands to "fix" the
> problem. Now, the WiFi won't activate(which is understandable since it
> hasn't mounted the O.S) therefore I can't download any updates or other
> packages that it might require. And, this morning I go to launchpad and
> find all my previous correspondence has vanished? My gawd, the hits just
> keep on coming!! Well, anyway, if your so inclined to, I'd appreciate
> feedback.
> Thank You:
> Rick
>
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 11:46 AM, Rick Miller <
> <email address hidden>> wrote:
>
>> Your question #252944 on gnome-disk-utility in Ubuntu changed:
>>
>> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-disk-utility/+question/252944
>>
>> Status: Open => Solved
>>
>> You confirmed that the question is solved:
>> Thanks Thomas Krüger, that solved my question.
>>
>> --
>> You received this question notification because you asked the question.
>>
>
>