Are bad sectors repairable? To find out, try running a disk error checking tool to determine how many bad sectors are detected. A surface test run by the disk error checking tool can also help identify whether the bad sectors are hard or soft bad sectors. You can use a Disk Copy utility to replace a physically damaged hard drive by skipping over bad sectors, and if there aren't too many bad sectors, you can use other alternative methods, such as #MHDD#, to fix them.

Bad sectors

How to Choose the Best Bad Sector Repair Software

With so many bad sector repair tools out there, how do you choose the right disk cloning utility? Here's what we looked for when picking the best ones to recommend:

User Interface The best sector repair software should have a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and understand, even for non-technical users.
Repair Methods The software should offer both automatic and manual repair options, allowing you to choose the most suitable method based on the specific situation.
Speed and Efficiency The software should quickly and efficiently scan and repair bad sectors, minimizing downtime and reducing the risk of further damage.
Customer Support Choose software that provides reliable customer support through multiple channels such as email, live chat, or telephone, ensuring help is available when needed.

How to Check for Bad Sectors on an HDD or SSD

Bad sectors refer to the sectors on a computer or external hard drive, SD storage card, USB flash drive, or pen drive that are inaccessible or unwriteable. A large number of bad sectors may lead to severe consequences, including system freeze, strange noise, [inability to complete formatting](/partition-master/fix-windows-was-unable-to-complete-the-format.html), or blue screen issues. Besides, files on bad sectors will be unreadable or even corrupted. If you need more information about the two types of bad sectors (hard/physical bad sectors and soft/logical bad sectors), click the article [Repair Bad Sectors](/disk-copy/clone-resource/repair-a-bad-sector-in-windows-10-8-7.html) to learn some basics.

To check for bad sectors on your hard drive, you'll need a free tool to assist you. The trusted and recommended Free Partition Manager software by millions of users is at your service. With its comprehensive surface test, the software will list the number of bad sectors found and help you locate physically damaged sectors.

Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard, right click the hard drive you want to check, and then choose “Surface Test”.

Step 2: The operation will start immediately, and all bad sectors will be marked in red.

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How to Protect Data on Bad Sectors

请注意,坏道是很容易扩散的。也就是说,一旦你发现有坏道,有两种正确处理它的方式。

  • Option 1: Replace the failed hard drive promptly and recover data

If the number of bad sectors is more than you expected and Partition Master reports an emergency, don't bother looking for solutions to fix bad sectors. If the bad sectors are due to physical damage, the only solution is to back up your hard drive and replace it. This is the safest way to prevent further damage to your hard drive data before it's too late.

Here, we recommend you try a powerful disk cloning software - Disk Copy tool that is fully compatible with all operating systems. You can use this software in the WinPE environment to help you upgrade and clone a bad sector hard drive to a new one. In this way, you won't need to reinstall applications and the OS. Most importantly, you can rescue as much data as possible on the new hard drive.

Step 1: On a healthy Windows computer, download, install, and run a disk cloning tool. Connect an external storage device, such as a USB flash drive or an external hard drive, to the computer. Click “Create a bootable disk.”

Create a bootable disk to clone or copy a disk

Step 2. Select your USB device and click “Create.”

Select the device to create a bootable disk

Once that's done, you'll have a bootable disk.

Create a bootable disk to copy or clone a disk

Step 3: Connect the bootable USB drive and your new SSD/HDD to the computer you want to clone the disk to, and change the boot order in the BIOS to start from the bootable drive.

4. In Disk Utility, click on “Disk Copy,” then select the source disk that you want to copy or clone. Click “Next” to proceed.

Select the source disk to clone

Step 5: Select the target disk to which you want to clone/copy the old one, then click “Next” to proceed. If prompted, click “OK” to erase the data on the target disk.

Clone or copy a disk to the destination disk.

Step 6: Review and edit the disk layout, selecting either “Auto adjust to disk,” “Match source,” or “Edit disk layout.” “Auto adjust to disk” is recommended.

    • Choosing the "Copy Source" option will copy/clone the partition layout of the source disk to the target disk. • Select "Edit Disk Layout" if you want to manually adjust the partition size or location on the target disk. • If your target disk is an SSD, make sure to check the "Target is SSD" option.

Click Continue to start the disk clone or disk copy immediately.

Select the target disk - the new HDD/SSD to clone or copy to

  • Option 2. Use a reliable bad sector repair tool to remove bad sectors in one go

The most effective way to remove or fix bad sectors is to overwrite the hard drive with zeros and perform a low-level format. This, however, will result in permanent data loss that cannot be recovered. Hence, you should be prepared with viable solutions to eliminate bad sectors on your hard drive before they compromise its health and your data. Always use disk cloning to transfer the data from bad sectors to another drive.

Bad Sector Repair Tool: How to Remove Bad Sectors

If you haven't yet reached the day when you need to clone a drive with bad sectors, breathe a sigh of relief. Bad sectors caused by software corruption that affects the MBR (Master Boot Record) can be easily fixed with powerful bad sector repair tools like MHDD. MHDD is one of the most popular free HDD low-level diagnostic utilities that allow for an accurate diagnosis of the mechanical parts of a hard disk, viewing SMART attributes, performing low-level formatting, bad sector repair, various tests, and dozens of other features.

Refer to the "MHDD User Manual>" for instructions on how to use MHDD to fix bad sectors.

Are there any other bad sector deletion solutions available?

In addition to the automated approach of using a third-party bad sector repair tool, there are also manual methods you can try.

For Windows 10/8 users:

    1. Open "This PC" > Right-click on the system drive and select "Properties." 2. Go to the "Tools" tab > Click on "Check." 3. Under "Error Checking," click "Check." 4. Review the scan results > Click "Scan and repair drive." 5. Choose a suitable time for repairing the file system. 6. Wait for Windows 10/8 to scan and repair bad sectors on the hard drive.

How to Fix Bad Sectors on Windows 7:

    1. Open "My Computer" > Right-click on the hard drive you wish to check for bad sectors, and select "Properties." 2. In the "Properties" window, click the "Tools" tab > Under the "Error Checking" section, click "Check." 3. Click "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" > Then click "Start." 4. Review the disk check report once it completes.