5punk

If I were to keep a drive running that failed a thorough chkdsk (which I have done, and to be fair I find it difficult to throw anything out even when I know better) I make damn sure it's either junk data storage or rigorously backed up.

But concerning hard drives, why not buy a new one? They grow on trees and come free with packets of Kelloggs cornflakes these days. (even in sizes that can cope with Berks porn folder!)

But anyway who gives a shit anyway eh?

I have never, ever, in my experience of hundreds of hard drives, found one that works flawlessly evermore after having once failed. Ditto for recovering bad sectors - they're bad - don't try and use them, it's a sign your disk is failing and they will multiply.

It's possible to get them running long enough to recover data, but they will (in my experience at least) inevitably fail again.

The one exception I would make is when a RAID array has marked a drive bad - they can sometimes be a little pissy. However I'd still never reintroduce that drive to an array in a non-redundant capacity, and certainly never to the same array again.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I liken it to using reconditioned condoms.

cheeseandham wrote:But concerning hard drives, why not buy a new one? They grow on trees and come free with packets of Kelloggs cornflakes these days. (even in sizes that can cope with Berks porn folder!)

while they are cheap it is still money better spent elsewhere if you don't need to buy something to replace a perfectly good HD

cheeseandham wrote:But anyway who gives a shit anyway eh?

cashy does, oh wait he is a shit

FatherJack wrote:<a lot of stuff that's entirely accurate and on point>

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I liken it to using reconditioned condoms.

This, hard.

I get spare hardrives from odd call out jobs I do for charities (I only ever charge for petrol to get there if required and any odd ends that are no longer required that could be useful) So if anyone is after some spares I got anything from 30gb to a couple of 200Gb ones kicking about.

i think i will try a format.

if it still fails after that i'll get a new 500gb, onlyu about £60 on ebuyer adn that puts me over a terrabyte total