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Hard Disk Bad Clusters

A

aesis

Experienced Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2009
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Location
Jesi,Italy
Hi guys, thanks for the opportunity to ask for help in this forum!
I have a pretty serious problem, I have a PC XT ... 1989, 8088 MHz, 640 RAM, CGA video, MS-DOS 3.3
Unfortunately, it often happened that after power is blocked until the last period that started only with the floppy system,
after putting the dos I walked into C: \ and the hard working normally, I discovered that the problem was the IO.SYS files and managed to replace it ...
I understood that the disk has bad clusters and I used CHKDSK but unfortunately changed my files and folders of replacing disk
with called FILE0001 FILE0002 FILE0003..to file FILE0106, also replaced me the SYSTEM folder with all the files within it,
I deleted these files thinking they can re-install MS-DOS 3.30, but this too hangs after installing autoexec.bat..
I decided to format the floppy by Formac C: But immediately after the command hangs at 3% and tells me:
Can not format the drive, disk unusable
I thought about using FDISK, but I'm afraid that after deleting the partition I no longer use the hard!!
Now I do not know what to do and I ask you why you most likely have more experience in the field and before making an irremediable mistake ask advice.
The record is a MINISCRIBE 8425
Thanks for your time!!!

P.S:Sorry for my English. :(
 
It sounds like your hard drive has developed some bad/weak sectors. Depending on where they are and why they are bad you might be out of luck. But to find out for sure what you need to do is perform a fresh "low level" format.

First, back up any data you want to keep. (it sounds like you already did that) then:

1: Perform a low-level format using the DEBUG, G=C800:5 method, or the easier SpeedStor method.
2: Run FDISK -> create new primary partition and make sure it is "active".
3: Format C: and re-install DOS
4: Follow up with Spinrite (use version II or III on an XT)

Hopefully that will help.
 
Hi SomeGuy, I'm very happy for this help VERY ACCURATE AND PRECISE !!
Saturday afternoon or Sunday will execute these steps you list and let you know how the whole thing will be gone!!
Thank you!!
 
ibmapc said:
I would add just one thing...

Instead, do FORMAT C:/S Then re-install DOS
Click to expand...
Format C:/S can be flaky at times, i.e., it doesn't always work as expected. That's why I always use the following syntax:

1) Format C:

2) Sys C:

That method seems to work every time.
 
Format with the /s option should be superior to running format and sys separately, and I've never had a problem with it. What kind of flakiness have you observed?
 
Many times the system failed to transfer. I don't remember specifically the DOS version(s) since I didn't keep records specific to this issue but it's happened to me numerous times over the years.
 
Stone said:
Many times the system failed to transfer. I don't remember specifically the DOS version(s) since I didn't keep records specific to this issue but it's happened to me numerous times over the years.
Click to expand...

The only time format /s has "failed" is when I boot up with SHELL set to something that isn't command.com, like 4dos or ndos. For example, here's some reproducible behavior on IBM PC DOS 2000: Set the following in CONFIG.SYS:

shell=c:\ndos.com /e:768 /u

Then, do:

FORMAT A: /S

The end result is that IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS are transferred correctly, but the file on the floppy called COMMAND.COM is really ndos.com. This floppy won't boot, since ndos.com also requires ndos.ovl to work.

Otherwise, format /s has always worked for me, for decades.
 
I'm not sure/don't remember, if it's works the same on DOS hard drives, but on CPM systems, the boot track/s must be flawless because they cannot be relocated (track 0, sector 0). If a hard drive develops a flaw on the boot tracks, since it/they that cannot be relocated (hard drives normally have spare tracks/sectors and bad spots are redirected/relocated to a spare) a drive with a defective boot track cannot be used as a boot drive.

A hard drive with a defective boot track can still be used as a secondary hard drive, with another hard drive drive used as the Boot Drive.
 
Only the partition (C0H0S1) sector on a DOS drive is an absolute necessity for being good (well, several consecutive sectors on C0H0 if you're using a boot manager). Beyond that, the sectors pertaining to the partition (C0H1S1---) holding the boot, FAT and root directory need be good. You can always create a second partition that avoids any earlier partition bad sectors and call it your primary. After that, it's all a matter of files.

It used to be that IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS had to occur early in a drive, as only the first FAT/Directory sector was read, but that hasn't been the case since about DOS 3.0.
 
Update ..

I run the command: DEBUG, G = C800: 5
he replied with "file not found"
I am now using SpeedStor and is working very slowly .., just finished will give the news!
Thanks for all!
 
Maybe you're right I was wrong syntax but is formatting from yesterday with SpeedStore from 3:30 PM and even now has not finished and I'm worried!!
On the video it appears to be when I started writing:
This will take around 0 minutes_
It 'possible that after 20 hours of low-level format has not yet finished?
 
However you will hear the classic sound of the formatting, it looks the same noise when you format a floppy disk with a slightly louder sound.
You say that you are always stuck at the same point?
 
I used Speedstor to format a drive the other day, and it may take a while. But it will display the status on the screen counting down the tracks that it has formatted. Depending on the controller it may perform a reset and very slow seek to each track (It did that for me). You will also hear the drive making seeking noises and if you have a hard drive activity light, you will see activity.

If it is sitting there doing absolutely nothing, then something has gone wrong. In which case you may need to try the debug method instead.

Also, did you use the earlier version? You will note that there are two versions posted here: http://minuszerodegrees.net/software/speedstor.htm and the earlier one reportedly works somewhat better on XT class machines.
 
Last edited:
SomeGuy said:
Also, did you use the earlier version? You will note that there are two versions posted here: http://minuszerodegrees.net/software/speedstor.htm and the later one reportedly works somewhat better on XT class machines.
Click to expand...
I strongly disagree.

6.03 is better for XTs.

Besides, how could you justify a 1.2M floppy disk usage when XTs come with 360K floppies? The one you say works better requires a 1.2M floppy. :) Modem7 even recommends 6.03 for XTs.
 
I stopped the process, I tried to make the DEBUG but remains blocked.
I'm using again SpeedStor 6.0.3 but this time before the operation I chose to "type" and chose the model MiniScribe 8425 whereas previously it was automatically but instead of 4 head I marked 16, plus I performed the operation bypassing the disk error checking.
Now it seems to work differently, saying that in four minutes would have done this, and at this time is performing "SCANNING MEDIA, PLEASE WAIT" arrived at 390 Cylinder of 615 and two hours have passed since he began this process.
 
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