Last night the desktop started having issues. After a couple hours of troubleshooting, I've come to the conclusion that I've got a bad sector on the hard drive -- a Western Digital 1.5TB disk. Windows 7 can still boot, most things appear to be running fine, it's one (large) app in particular that seems to be sitting on the bad spot.
However, it's a *really* bad spot. CHKDSK hangs when it reaches it, as does the Western Digital official drive-testing software that I obtained from their website. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to replace the disk and reinstall, because any imaging software I use is going to puke as soon as it hits that sector as well, and I can't find a utility able to mark it as such without falling into the tarpit. Very frustrating.
So... has anyone had any experience with getting a WD hard drive replaced under warranty? This was bought new (OEM packaging) back in February of this year. It's still under the 1-year manufacturer warranty period. But I've never had to deal with replacing a WD drive. Maxtor, Seagate, Quantum, yes. But never WD.
Am I going to have an uphill fight in front of me?
(Also, if you can recommend any drive utilities that stand a chance of marking that bad sector so I can maneuver around it, that'd be appreciated too)
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
However, it's a *really* bad spot. CHKDSK hangs when it reaches it, as does the Western Digital official drive-testing software that I obtained from their website. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to replace the disk and reinstall, because any imaging software I use is going to puke as soon as it hits that sector as well, and I can't find a utility able to mark it as such without falling into the tarpit. Very frustrating.
So... has anyone had any experience with getting a WD hard drive replaced under warranty? This was bought new (OEM packaging) back in February of this year. It's still under the 1-year manufacturer warranty period. But I've never had to deal with replacing a WD drive. Maxtor, Seagate, Quantum, yes. But never WD.
Am I going to have an uphill fight in front of me?
(Also, if you can recommend any drive utilities that stand a chance of marking that bad sector so I can maneuver around it, that'd be appreciated too)
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs