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Mac Os Check For Bad Sectors

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When bad sectors appear on the disk especially on WD My Passport hard drives, it will result in hard drive crashes or failures, poor performance, data loss disaster, system boot problems, etc., problems. Follow provided solutions on this page to protect your disk data and repair bad sectors on your WD HDD or other devices with ease:

Modern OSes, like Mac OS X, will see the message about the bad sector and manage it for you by marking it as a bad sector in the HFS+ (Mac OS X file system) for you. Barring physical abuse of the hard drive, the first scenario is more likely to happen. Three beeps from your Mac at startup: Before the boot chimes sound at startup, your Mac will run a rudimentary check to ensure RAM is available and accessible. If not, then you will hear a series. There are some nice and useful utilities for testing disks for bad blocks like MHDD, Victoria, HITACHI Drive Feature Tool etc. But these utilities have some limitations. For example, MHDD is the best utility I've ever seen for both surface diagnostic and repair: it can sometimes fix sectors which were mistakingly marked as bad (soft 'bad's).

Part 1. Check WD HDD Bad Sectors (2 Ways)
Part 2. Replace WD HDD with Bad Sectors to A Good One (No Data Loss)
Part 3. WD HDD Bad Sector Repair Tools & Solutions (4 Methods)

Western Digital hard drives are one of the popular hard drives in the world. It can become quite difficult and annoying if your WD HDD contains bad sectors. Don't worry! Follow the reliable methods below to repair bad sectors on your Western Digital HDD immediately.

Part 1. Check the WD HDD Bad Sectors

When you are faced with bad sectors on WD HDD, the first thing to do is to know the situation. You need to check the bad sectors.

To check the bad sectors on your hard disk, you need a free tool to help you. EaseUS free partition software - Partition Master and Western Digital Data Lifeguard can both help. Try any one to test and check how many bad sectors are existing on your drive.

# 1. Check WD HDD Bad Sectors with EaseUS Partition Master Free

Trusted and recommended by millions of users, EaseUS Partition Master Free with its Surface Test feature is able to check bad sectors on hard disk, USB flash drive, pen drive, SD memory card and other storage devices without formatting. The Surface Test feature will identify bad sectors by reviewing the hard drive.

Step 1. Connect your device to PC, launch EaseUS free partition manager, right-click the WD HDD partition and click 'Surface test'.

Step 2. Wait for the operation to finish. All found bad sectors will be marked as red.

Repeat the process if your drive contains several partitions.

Once it finds bad sectors, it will make bad sectors with red color and let the operating system not to use them so to protect the saved data. You will know how many bad sectors are existing on your WD hard drive from the test result.

Notice:
If there are too many bad sectors, the scanning process will be stuck. Wait patiently.
If the error is serious, with an abnormal noise coming out, during the operation, method in Part 2 may not clone your disk with data to a good drive.
What can be cloned is still a case where the error is not serious.

# 2. Test Bad Sectors Using Western Digital Data Lifeguard

Many users mistakenly take Western Digital Data Lifeguard as a bad sector repair tool as it can test the existing bad sectors on WD HDD and other types of storage devices.

It's Extended Test feature actually can only be applied to detect bad sectors. The test may take several hours (which is not as efficient as EaseUS Partition Master) depending one the size of the drive.

Step 1. Download Data LifeGuard Diagnostic (WinDlg_124.zip) and extract WinDlg.exe from the ZIP file.

Step 2. Right-click WinDlg.exe and select 'Run as Administrator'.

Step 3. Put a checkmark on 'I accept this License Agreement' and click 'Next' to continue.

This will let the program detect the installed hard drives on your PC.

Check mac os version

Step 4. Select and highlight the hard disk you want to test and click the 'Run test' button.

Step 5. In DLGDIAG, select 'Option', choose 'EXTENDED Test'.

Step 6. Click 'Start', and then wait for the test to finish.

Step 7. Close the test window, and click 'View Test Result' on the new pop up window.

Check the test result and if you see Toll many bad sectors detected marked in red, you should follow part 2 to repair the bad sectors immediately.

You should know that there is no all-in-one bad sector repair tool or solution. To fully protect your data and repair existing bad sectors on your disk, follow guide tips one by one in the next two parts.

Part 2. Replace Western Digital Hard Drive with Bad Sector to A Good One

If the disk is badly damaged, it is impossible to repair the bad sectors. In case of this, your wise choice is to replace the disk and restore lost data as much as possible before bad sectors take over your WD HDD. Here we'd like to advise you to try powerful disk cloning software - EaseUS Disk Copy which is fully compatible with all OS.

Video Tutorial for Disk Cloning

For disk cloning, the video has listed the details you need to mention. If you plan to replace the western digital hard drive with bad sector to a good one, you can check the tutorial.

Do remember to connect your good new hard drive to the computer as a storage device before cloning the Western Digital hard drive with bad sectors to the good one. EaseUS Disk Copy will skip the existing bad sectors, only taking your data to the new disk.

Step 1: Download, install and run EaseUS Disk Copy on your PC.

Click 'Disk Mode' and select the hard drive that you want to copy or clone. Click 'Next' to continue.

Step 2: Select the destination disk.

Note: The destination disk should be at least the same big or even larger than the source disk if you want to copy or clone the source hard disk.

Step 3: Click 'OK' to confirm if the program asks to erase data on the destination disk.

Step 4: Check and edit the disk layout.

If your destination disk is an SSD drive, do remember to Check the option if the target is SSD.

Step 5: Click 'Proceed' to start the hard drive cloning process.

All you need to do is to wait for the process to complete. You can apply and activate this software to help you upgrade and clone the hard drive with bad sectors and restore data as much as possible.

And then shut down your computer, insert the newly upgrade hard drive to your computer and replace the old Western Digital hard drive, set the computer to boot from a new hard drive instead of the old one in BIOS. Then you can see the precious data you have restored.

Tip
If your hard drive still can work with the existing bad sectors and you have no plan to replace the disk, back up your important data to another device.
Then follow bad sector repair tools for help. Some of them may cause data loss more or less.

Part 3. Fix Bad Sectors - WD HDD Bad Sector Repair Tools & Solutions

There are many Windows built-in tools that can help to fix bad sectors on your WD HDD. Follow to see how to repair bad sectors on your disk now:

# 1. Run Disk Check in File Explorer

Open This PC in File Explorer > Right-click the WD hard drive partition and select 'Properties' > On the Tools tab, click 'Check' button under the top Error checking > Scan drive if wanted or Repair drive if errors were found.

# 2. Run CHKDSK Command and Format Hard Drive

Step 1. Run CHKDSK command to fix soft bad sectors.

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1. Press the Windows key and type cmd.

2. Right-click 'Command Prompt' and choose 'Run as administrator'.

3. Type chkdsk E: /f /r /x and hit Enter. (Replace E with the drive letter of your hard drive.)

Step 2. Format hard drive to usable again

1. Open Windows File Explorer, locate and right-click on your hard drive.

2. Select 'Format', reset the file system as NTFS, tick 'Quick Format' and click 'Start'.

# 3. Use CHKDSK Alternative - EaseUS Partition Master Free

The Check File System feature in EaseUS Partition Master is an alternative tool to CHKDSK command. You may also apply this feature to repair logical bad sectors on your WD HDD:

Mac Os Check Disk For Bad Sectors

Step 1: Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then locate the disk, right-click the partition you want to check, and choose 'Check File System'.

Step 2: In the Check File System window, keep the 'Try to fix errors if found' option selected and click 'Start'.

Step 3: The software will begin checking your partition file system on your disk. When it has completed, click 'Finish'.

# 4. Perform Low-level Format

The traditional way to remove or repair bad sectors is to perform a low-level format. It will regenerate the disk layout and structure. Serious data loss is unavoidable. Also, it cannot be executed by ordinary users.

Check

Step 4. Select and highlight the hard disk you want to test and click the 'Run test' button.

Step 5. In DLGDIAG, select 'Option', choose 'EXTENDED Test'.

Step 6. Click 'Start', and then wait for the test to finish.

Step 7. Close the test window, and click 'View Test Result' on the new pop up window.

Check the test result and if you see Toll many bad sectors detected marked in red, you should follow part 2 to repair the bad sectors immediately.

You should know that there is no all-in-one bad sector repair tool or solution. To fully protect your data and repair existing bad sectors on your disk, follow guide tips one by one in the next two parts.

Part 2. Replace Western Digital Hard Drive with Bad Sector to A Good One

If the disk is badly damaged, it is impossible to repair the bad sectors. In case of this, your wise choice is to replace the disk and restore lost data as much as possible before bad sectors take over your WD HDD. Here we'd like to advise you to try powerful disk cloning software - EaseUS Disk Copy which is fully compatible with all OS.

Video Tutorial for Disk Cloning

For disk cloning, the video has listed the details you need to mention. If you plan to replace the western digital hard drive with bad sector to a good one, you can check the tutorial.

Do remember to connect your good new hard drive to the computer as a storage device before cloning the Western Digital hard drive with bad sectors to the good one. EaseUS Disk Copy will skip the existing bad sectors, only taking your data to the new disk.

Step 1: Download, install and run EaseUS Disk Copy on your PC.

Click 'Disk Mode' and select the hard drive that you want to copy or clone. Click 'Next' to continue.

Step 2: Select the destination disk.

Note: The destination disk should be at least the same big or even larger than the source disk if you want to copy or clone the source hard disk.

Step 3: Click 'OK' to confirm if the program asks to erase data on the destination disk.

Step 4: Check and edit the disk layout.

If your destination disk is an SSD drive, do remember to Check the option if the target is SSD.

Step 5: Click 'Proceed' to start the hard drive cloning process.

All you need to do is to wait for the process to complete. You can apply and activate this software to help you upgrade and clone the hard drive with bad sectors and restore data as much as possible.

And then shut down your computer, insert the newly upgrade hard drive to your computer and replace the old Western Digital hard drive, set the computer to boot from a new hard drive instead of the old one in BIOS. Then you can see the precious data you have restored.

Tip
If your hard drive still can work with the existing bad sectors and you have no plan to replace the disk, back up your important data to another device.
Then follow bad sector repair tools for help. Some of them may cause data loss more or less.

Part 3. Fix Bad Sectors - WD HDD Bad Sector Repair Tools & Solutions

There are many Windows built-in tools that can help to fix bad sectors on your WD HDD. Follow to see how to repair bad sectors on your disk now:

# 1. Run Disk Check in File Explorer

Open This PC in File Explorer > Right-click the WD hard drive partition and select 'Properties' > On the Tools tab, click 'Check' button under the top Error checking > Scan drive if wanted or Repair drive if errors were found.

# 2. Run CHKDSK Command and Format Hard Drive

Step 1. Run CHKDSK command to fix soft bad sectors.

1. Press the Windows key and type cmd.

2. Right-click 'Command Prompt' and choose 'Run as administrator'.

3. Type chkdsk E: /f /r /x and hit Enter. (Replace E with the drive letter of your hard drive.)

Step 2. Format hard drive to usable again

1. Open Windows File Explorer, locate and right-click on your hard drive.

2. Select 'Format', reset the file system as NTFS, tick 'Quick Format' and click 'Start'.

# 3. Use CHKDSK Alternative - EaseUS Partition Master Free

The Check File System feature in EaseUS Partition Master is an alternative tool to CHKDSK command. You may also apply this feature to repair logical bad sectors on your WD HDD:

Mac Os Check Disk For Bad Sectors

Step 1: Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then locate the disk, right-click the partition you want to check, and choose 'Check File System'.

Step 2: In the Check File System window, keep the 'Try to fix errors if found' option selected and click 'Start'.

Step 3: The software will begin checking your partition file system on your disk. When it has completed, click 'Finish'.

# 4. Perform Low-level Format

The traditional way to remove or repair bad sectors is to perform a low-level format. It will regenerate the disk layout and structure. Serious data loss is unavoidable. Also, it cannot be executed by ordinary users.

A better resolution for this case is to replace hard drive with data to a good one as recommended in Part 2. If you insist, back up data to another disk first and then take your drive to the local repair center or your manufature for low-level format.

Conclusion

This page mainly answers the questions about 'How to test if bad sectors existing on your disk' and 'How do repair bad sectors on WD HDD'.

To test bad sectors, you may try Surface Test in EaseUS Partition Master or run Extended Test on Western Digital Data Lifeguard.

To protect your disk from being damaged by bad sectors and your previous data, you should immediately clone and replace the WD HDD with bad sector to a good drive.

Then follow the four bad sector repair tools to fix bad sectors on your WD HDD disk.

FAQs about Bad Sectors

Some of you may have even more concerns and doubts about bad sectors. Check the FAQs below, you may find a satsifying answer.

1. How to fix bad sectors on WD external hard drive?

The ways to fix bad sectors on WD external hard drive are similar to the recommended tools on this page. You may check the disk first.

If the WD external hard drive contains many bad sectors, clone it with EaseUS Disk Copy with data to a good external hard drive immediately.

If there is very a few bad sectors, run CHDKSK, Disk Check, or EaseUS Partiiton Master with its Check File System feature in Part 3 to get rid of bad sectors immediately.

2. What does recover bad sectors tool do?

Basically, there are two types of bad sector repair tools available on market.

1). Test bad sector, no repair; 2). Test bad sector, repair.

The situation mainly depends on how many bad sectors are found on the target device. For very few or soft bad sectors, Disk Check, CHKDSK, EaseUS Partition Master with Check File System feature, can all work to recover the bad sectors.

For too many bad sectors, the disk is seriously damanged, there is no way to repair them all. The best resolution towards this issue is to follow Part 2, replacing old disk with data to a new one, skiping all bad sectors.

3. Can a hard drive with bad sectors be repaired?

The answer towards this question is Yes and No.

The reason is that bad sectors can be devided into soft bad sectors and hard bad sectors. And the answer to repair soft bad sectors on a hard drive is yes. The answer to repair hard bad sectors is no.

As for soft bad sectors repair, you can refer to Part 3 on this page for ditailed guidance. If you need more information about bad sectors, follow How to Repair A Bad Sector in Windows 10/8/7 as a guide.


Computer is slower ? Computer freezes ? File corruption ? Program errors ? Files are disappeared ? No response ? If you experience the similar symptoms, or if your computer is more than 3 years old, and never replaced your hard drive, then you should consider to check your hard disk for errors or bad sectors. What are the bad sectors ? It is a damage section of your hard drive. There are two different types of bad sectors. A logical bad sectors and a physical bad sector. Logical bad sectors are often repairable, but physical bad sectors are hard to repair. Fortunately, there is a way to fix when you have any errors or some logical bad sectors. You can try to fix it on your own. This instruction will work for people who use Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. Let's get started ! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

1. Open 'Computer' or 'My Computer' and click once your system hard drive. (System hard drive is a drive which running Microsoft Windows)


2. Once you clicked your system drive, do a 'Right-Click' on it, then click 'Properties'.


3. Now, Click 'Tools' tab, and then click 'Check' button under error checking section.



4. Click 'Scan drive'. In older Windows (Windows 7, vista, or XP), you will see some checkbox options too. Then check 'scan and attempt to fix disk errors' and click scan button.


5. The hard drive error scan will start. If it says that you need to restart your computer to run disk scanning, then restart your computer after this. The disk scanning program will run before the Windows starts, and it will scan and fix all the errors on your hard drive.


This scanning process will take a long time. (it's depends on your hard drive size and performance) Just wait until the scanning is done. It will fix most of errors and logical bad sectors. If it does not work, bring your hard drive or your computer to a computer professional.
We are hoping this article is helpful for you. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you!

Need to recover deleted files ? Here is how to recover removed files !

Mac Os X Check Disk For Bad Sectors

How to recover deleted files in Windows >



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