Bad Sector on my C partition!

[ziloo]

Hello folks,

After my C partition developed bad sectors, the OS eventually
failed, and I proceeded to reformat the C partition to find out
about the bad sectors.  The question is:

1- Should I just give up on the HDD and throw it away?
2- Can I use the C partition again for re-installing the XP?
3- Rather than messing with the partitioning, can I use
the D partition for installing the XP?

Thank you for your help

ziloo

[Broni]

Should I just give up on the HDD and throw it away?

If you ask me, yes.
Bad sectors have a tendency to spread out.

[Ironman]

Most experts recommend that you just save yourself the hassle and just but a new HDD. Here is also a interesting read if though if you want to try and save it:
http://diligent.tripod.com/ninelives.htm

[Allan]

A couple of options. If XP is still installed, boot to the Recovery Console and run chkdsk /r
If you want to reinstall XP, boot to the XP CD and start the installation process by doing a FULL format of the drive (this runs chkdsk /r)

If checkdisk reports that there were unrecoverable errors you can scrap the disk. Otherwise, checkdisk will mark the bad sectors and relocate data to good areas on the drive. A few bad sectors may not mean much, or they may be the beginning of a failing drive. Whether you try to repair the drive or just go ahead and replace it is your call.

[ziloo]

Thank you all for your responses!

Although I have re-formatted my C partition with
bad sectors, the information about the other
partitions and their files is still intact.  Where is
that information on the HDD located while my
C partition has been formatted?

ziloo

[Allan]

In the master boot record, which is on the first sector of your drive and is not part of c: drive.