Disk error in scandisk

[TruckStuff]

Just got a call from my beloved mother-in-law with a computer problem. She has a fairly new Dell, but I think a few sectors on the disk have become corrupted. There are a few particular files that she uses pretty frequently (MS Money files). When she tries to write to those files she gets some error saying that it can't be written (sorry I don't know the exact error). When she ran scandisk, it ran to that file than said that it couldn't be accessed then stopped. So my questions are:

1) How can I make scandisk "quarantine" those sectors of the disk (its been so long since I used scandisk)
2) Can I make scandisk run past those sectors?
3) Would a DOS scandisk be more effective than a windows scandisk?

Its the end of the day for me so my brain isn't exactly in any sort of condition to think about such matters. Tips and advice are appreicated.

[FlyingPenguin]

Older HDDs (like more than 6 years ago) were designed to run with bad sectors on them, and when you run a Thorough Scandisk it would mark them as bad and bypass them.

HOWEVER you don't EVER want to see a bad sector on a modern HDD. Modern HDD drives are very different in design and should never have any bad sectors. If they do, it's a sign of impending total failure.

I would do the following:

Unplug and then reconnect all the IDE ribbon cables. Often errors like this are caused by a bit of corrosion on the ribbon connector. Unplugging them and reconnecting will scrape the contacts clean. It's also possible a connector is poorly seated. Run a Thorough Scandisk again.

If you still get bad sectors, it's time to replace the drive. Dell has a 1 year AT HOME warranty. If the system is under a year old they'll come to her house and replace the drive free. HOWEVER they will NOT copy the data from the old drive - they will only restore the hard drive to what was installed on the drive from the factory.

However, if you request it they will just leave you both drives and you can ship the bad one back to them after you copy everything over (they usually want a credit card number to guarantee you return the drive). They usually pay shipping too. I've had several clients do this so I know it's no problem.

If the computer is over a year old you can't get free at home service UNLESS you paid for the additional 2 years. However, I believe the components are still under warranty for a total of 3 years, so they'll ship you a replacement drive (again, with a credit card guarantee they'll send you the drive and you can copy the data from the old one then ship the old one back in the same box).

If it's out of warranty then you'd better go and buy her a new drive before the old one fails.

Hope this helps...