Re: [smartmontools-support] Howto Bad Block in Windows

[Christian F. <Chr...@t-...>]

BitBucket wrote:
> OK, got my first bad block/unreadable sector error on a hard disk
> drive.  The Bad block HOWTO for smartmontools" at
> http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/badblockhowto.html has very
> detailed instructions for what to do next -- under Linux.  I've
> searched in vain for an reference to doing the same thing under
> Windows (Server 2003), though it is on 80?% of the machines today.
>  
> Any pointers to help would be appreciated.  
>  

The old MS tool nfi.exe can be used to determine the file affected by a
bad block. This useful tool is (carefully hidden :-) in the OEM Support
Tools for W2K:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253066/en-us
It still works on XP and 2003.

Example: Find volume and file for physical sector (=LBA) 87000000 on
first disk:

[X:\] nfi \device\harddisk0\dr0 87000000

***Physical sector 87000000 (0x52f83c0) is in file number 181799 on
drive C.
\WINDOWS\Installer\1259885.msp
    $STANDARD_INFORMATION (resident)
    $FILE_NAME (resident)
    $DATA (nonresident)
        physical sectors 86995532-87000499 (0x52f724c-0x52f85b3)

A NG article with further info:
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win2000.file_system/browse_thread/thread/7cd6bbd5fade6590/


> (Great tool)
>  

Thanks :-)

Cheers,
Christian