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**Qqmike** · Feb 28, 2009, 12:15 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

I can't load into it (my machine is busy downloading an iso), but here's one:

Seagate (Knowledge Base -- kb)
What do I do if my drive reports bad sectors? [196351]

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/cr...te=bad+sectors

Here's a friendly hardware forum I hang out at, too:
http://forums.hardwareguys.com/ikonboard.cgi

**KB3NRY** · Feb 28, 2009, 12:26 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Thanks Qpmike. I'll do that and see what it says.

I guess if no one else can tell me I'll contact Dell. I'm just wondering if this is any sign of a failing HDD. If its only under warranty for a few more months and may be able to be replaced I want to get that taken care of. I also want to do it before I spend time reconfiguring everything.
If this is just something that is normal and nothing important than I'll just do what I can and let it go...

**Qqmike** · Feb 28, 2009, 12:31 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

I would read that k-b. Then ask hardwareguys.

I've seen it both ways:
bad sectors => replace the drive, esp if new;
and
bad sectors => ignore them, work around them.

HDDs DO develop bad sectors, that is normal (and I think they are isolated or some may be fixable), but your drive is new, and I don't know.
Only had one personal experience: new Seagate 160 went majorly bad sectors => replaced.

**KB3NRY** · Feb 28, 2009, 12:38 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Alright, I'll see what I can find. My drive isn't too new. Its over 2 1/2 years old, but I have a 3 year warranty on it. I may contact Dell and see what they say, it can't hurt. But I'll do a little more research and see what I can find. Thanks.

**IndyTim** · Feb 28, 2009, 12:53 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

It means that you basically have some sections (sectors) of you hard drive that are physically damaged. You will not be able to write over these sectors. Data may be written "arouond these areas though.

Probably the reason that Vista hasn't crabbed at you yet is because the bad sectors may be within the Windows partition and it is handling it by avoiding these areas. GParted is probably saying hey hold it a minute, I'm not going to let you set up do some disk re-arranging into an area that has known defects in it.

You could continue to live with the situation for quite some time. It may also go from livable to unlivable also. My recommendation is to start thinking of replacement with a backup scheme for full recovery (again just my opinion).

IndyTim

**dibl** · Feb 28, 2009, 03:09 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Originally posted by KB3NRY

Anyone have an idea what the "bad sectors" means for my situation? Thanks.

To me it means "better worry about the hard disk drive" -- I would put some energy into hard drive verification, whether with Windows tools or Linux tools.

Here's a place to start:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

**flarson** · Feb 28, 2009, 03:58 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Most hard disks will have some bad sectors, and they will be marked out. Smart technology does this automatically. If the number of bad sectors is growing, your disk is beginning to fail. At this point you don't really know if it is getting worse or not. You should certainly watch it and see if it gets worse. You can try to convince Dell to cover it under warranty at anytime. I would be curious to hear their response.

**KB3NRY** · Mar 04, 2009, 10:10 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Originally posted by mando_hacker

You can try to convince Dell to cover it under warranty at anytime. I would be curious to hear their response.

Alright, here is the latest. I contacted Dell on Saturday night. The representative was very nice. He understood the problem, but wanted me to run their diagnostics that comes pre-installed on the computer to test my hard drive. Well, I've wiped that out in my reformatting and installing of multiple OS's. BUT he said if I had the utilities CD I could use that. Of course, I couldn't find mine, even though I know I saved it. So I was able to used my fiance's from that came with her Inspiron 1505.

I ran the Dell diagnostics and got the same error on several 10-15 sectors (though its out of millions, maybe billions of sectors total). So I contacted Dell again on Monday to let them know, hoping that would be the proof I needed to convince them I needed a new/refurbished HDD. This representative was a little more of a pain. He tried to tell me that because I had installed Vista and not the original OS, that the could not provide me with software support. I told him I didn't need software support, this is for hardware, a hard drive. Eventually, he decided to tell me that what the error means is that there is a problem with my Windows Vista installation and not a problem with the hard drive. I'm not so sure I believe that, but I was willing to deal with it.

Anyway, he said he could help me reinstall Windows XP Media Center Edition because that is what my OS originally came with. I told him I did not have that because it came pre-installed and they didn't give me an installation CD with it. SO, he said he would send me the installation CD for XP Media Center Edition. I didn't really want to install that, but I figured if he was offering I would take the software. My plan was to just hang on to it in case I ever needed it and then re-install Vista to see if that is really the problem.

Well, I got my package in the mail today. I figured it was my XP installation CD. It was the installation CD, but it was also a refurbished 120 GB HDD to replace my current one. That is great! So I'm not sure why I got it. Its not what we talked about, but I'll take it. I have to return the old one within 15 days. I'm even thinking about keeping XP MCE on it and just installing Kubuntu with that, as opposed to reformatting and installing Vista again. My hope is to run Kubuntu as my primary OS, so I don't care if I have XP or Vista. The only real advantage I see of Vista over XP is the looks. If I'm only using Windows when I need it, then thats not a big deal. I'll have Kubuntu for looks and function.

So that is where I'm at. I believe I have everything off of this HDD that I need and transferred to my external HDD so I should be ready to go soon. Then I believe I can resize XP and be ready to install Kubuntu and my shared partition. I believe this HDD will have the Dell diagnostics on it as they normally come with, but I think I'll delete that again because I have the utilities CD and it just takes up another primary partition.

So that is my story and where I'm at. I'll keep you updated and I hope to get Kubuntu up and running soon. I was loving it and have some changes I want to make to make it suit my needs, but I want to wait until I have my final installation to make those changes.

Thanks for all the help and advice. Comments are always welcome. I'll keep you all posted.

**Qqmike** · Mar 04, 2009, 10:46 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Looks?

Windows XP: How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years (if you don’t want Vista upgrade):
http://www.computerworld.com/action/...icleId=9026940
(July 18, 2007)

**KB3NRY** · Mar 04, 2009, 10:58 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Originally posted by Qqmike

Looks?

Windows XP: How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years (if you don’t want Vista upgrade):
http://www.computerworld.com/action/...icleId=9026940
(July 18, 2007)

Thanks, Qpmike. I've seen some themes installed before to make XP look like Vista. I may look into that. At the same time, I may not worry about it and I may just put my time into Kubuntu and making that look awesome.

Either way, right now, I hope to just stick to XP MCE. I hope I can get it to shrink down well (As in small enough. Vista seemed to not want to let me make it smaller).
Does anyone know about how much space I should have for XP? Should I install all my windows software and then try to shrink the OS, or should I shrink it leaving space and then install my programs? (I'm assuming it just takes up the whole HDD, except maybe 2 other partitions, one for backup and one for utilities, both of which will be deleted.)

Does XP have a program to shrink itself like Vista or should I use GParted to do that?

Let me know what you all think.

**IndyTim** · Mar 05, 2009, 03:00 AM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Something to think about before returning the drive to Dell..... consider a low level format to really wipe the drive clean. Could be a good precautionary step especially if you stored personal or financial data on the hard drive (no sending the files to the waste basket doesn't do the trick).

IndyTim

**dibl** · Mar 05, 2009, 05:48 AM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Originally posted by KB3NRY

Does XP have a program to shrink itself like Vista or should I use GParted to do that?

No -- use GParted or Parted Magic.

FYI, there is a free program that will allow you to make a Win XP installation that is "minimal", meaning you simply de-select the services and features that you don't need while making a new installation CD from your original. The program is "nLite":

http://www.i64x.com/eeexp.php

Don't worry about the reference to "Eee PC" -- the process is not contingent on what kind of computer the OS is going on. Just follow the instructions starting with the paragraph entitled "Creating the nLite Windows Install CD".

Fair warning -- your earlier posts indicated a lot of interest in themes and appearances. Stripping out the fancy desktop and such don't really put you on the road to a lot of visual glitz ...

**Qqmike** · Mar 05, 2009, 07:23 AM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Nothing new to add. Agree with both the above.
I've used GParted to shrink XP, no problems. Best to defragment, too, before shrinking.
To zero-out a HD, my how-to on that would be:

dd Command
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3090824.0
Reply#2:
EXPERIMENT #1 Zero-out the hard drive. Clears it to like-new state.
Allow some time (hours), maybe 3-5 MB/second ( ? ). I just did 4 GB in 26 minutes, but I was also using the PC for other work while it ran. It usually runs 5 MB/second. Your PC hardware may differ. (3GHz Intel 530J CPU; Intel 915GAVL board).

**flarson** · Mar 05, 2009, 03:38 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Originally posted by KB3NRY

Well, I got my package in the mail today. I figured it was my XP installation CD. It was the installation CD, but it was also a refurbished 120 GB HDD to replace my current one. That is great! So I'm not sure why I got it. Its not what we talked about, but I'll take it.

Chalk one up for Dell. That actually went quite well.

**KB3NRY** · Mar 05, 2009, 07:42 PM

Re: Partition Sizes and How to Set Them Up

Originally posted by IndyTim

Something to think about before returning the drive to Dell..... consider a low level format to really wipe the drive clean. Could be a good precautionary step especially if you stored personal or financial data on the hard drive (no sending the files to the waste basket doesn't do the trick).

IndyTim

How would I do that? I didn't really think about that. I didn't want to change anything because I wanted them to see it how I did and get the same errors. But I did have credit card and password info stored on it. How do I do that kind of format, if I would decide to do that?