Partition Bad Disk for Windows

User Reviews

• Best program to necro dead Hard disks

  obadyiJanuary 5, 2014

  Pros

  Fast easy to use very effective

  Cons

  None......

  Summary

  I've a hard disk 80GB Maxtor that I was going to throw in the garbage bin after I failed to operate it reliably for more than a few minutes! I tried several programs that scan for bad sectors, tried low level format, re-partition all to no avail UNTILL I discovered this software. I'm very happy that I saved this old HD.

  ---

• Identified and isolated 67Gb of "bad area" on 2Tb drive

  craig.knapp1August 17, 2013

  Pros

  17AUG2013. Easy to use, got usable results.

  Cons

  None that I have encountered.

  Summary

  17AUG2013. I recently had a 2TB E-Sata internal WD brand drive start giving me "bad sector" indications (certain sub-directories could not be read by file browsers, CHKDSK was running during boot-up identifying "bad sectors" supposedly marking them for non-use or repairing them, yet still some sub-directories were unreadable). BLUF: BEFORE running PBD, be sure to copy data from the failing drive to a good drive, and attempt data recovery (using software like "Active Partition Recovery" which also has a "File Recovery" utility built in), recovering missing data to a different drive than the one you are attempting to repair. I downloaded, installed, and ran PBD which identified 67GB of the 2TB internal drive as "bad". After registering PBD for $29.95, PBD created new Logical Space for the 67GB of "bad space". Next, using Win7, I ran the Disk Management utility: Control Panel\Administrative Tools\Computer Management\Storage Disk Management and set the identified 67GB "bad space" as the "Z: Drive", then set the 1.87TB Healthy Partition (created by PDD) as the "D: Drive" giving it a Volume Name of "2Tb_IntData". Then, I rebooted the computer and CHKDSK did not run (thankfully!..indicating to me, that it was not detecting bad sectors). I checked my system using 2xExplorer (a dual pane file browser..why use BILL GATES..I mean MY COMPUTER when there are NON-MS alternatives?...but I digress, the D: Drive reported 1.87TB of free space, and the Z: Drive indicated 67GB of free space (of course I will not use the Z: drive as it should be mostly "bad space". I have restored data to the D: Drive from my backup drive and am having no issues. I am hoping that the drive does not continue to fail and create more "bad sectors", that this is a one time incident. If more bad sectors appear on this drive, I may have to replace the drive. However, the $29.95 I paid for PBD is worth it so far, as I have learned of another useful piece of software to add to my arsenal of tools. Details: I am diligent about data protection, which, despite the failing hard drive, prevented me from going into "panic mode" for fear of data loss. I use Carbonite for real-time backup to "The Cloud" and Kaspersky AV software. I also have SyncBack Express set to automatically backup data to an external USB drive nightly (I shoot/edit photos almost daily and create/edit a considerable amount of data daily, so this is important to me). I also use SyncBack Express to manually backup data to another USB drive weekly (which I do not leave plugged in to the system, thus giving me a weekly backup in case there is a problem with the daily backup). When my drive started giving me trouble I only had to "restore" a minimal amount of data from the failing drive using ACTIVE PARTITION RECOVERY's File Recovery Utility, then I used PBD to isolate the "bad sectors" of the failing drive.

  ---

• Show reviewsHide reviews
• Rate it