How to fix bad sectors

[BarskiPatzow]

Hello, I am new on this forum and joined when I saw that some people say that HDD regenerator is a disk killer and things like that. Few days ago I decided to reinstall windows (windows 7 if it matters) because it was working like crap. I formated both of my partitions like I did dozens of times and installed windows on one of them and everithing seemd fine till one day when it failed to boot. The logo screen froze and after numerous restarts it still failed. It didn't even want to boot the safe mode. I reinstalled windows after that and it worked for a few days and it broke again. Did that a few times and always the same story. I called a friend that knows a thing or two about computers and he ran a memory test with some tool on hirens boot CD. and he ran a test with hd regenerator (he did not run the fix, just the scan) and it showed i have some bad sectors on my hard disk. He said that they are not all over the HDD, just at the beggining of the HDD, on system partition. He told me to get HD regenerator to fix it but it kinda sounded fishy that a software might fix hardware problem so I googled it and that got me here. HDD is in a laptop so I don't wanna open it. I have it for 2 years. Do you guys have any advice that is not "buy a new HDD" unless bad sectors are such a bad problem that is the only option. I don't wanna pay for HDD regenerator if it is not gonna help me and I don't know how much the HDD for my laptop would cost, I couldn't find an official price, just some sites that might be or might not be legit, I have no way of knowing. This is my first laptop so I don't know what to do in a case like this, its not like a pc where i always changed the part that was faulty. So, help with any advice you can, I hope you can help me somehow. btw I'm not sure if I posted this in the right place, so sorry if I misplaced it. I hope my english is understandable enough. tnx in advance.

[BlackST]

Buy a new disk. Fast and effective, as low as about 50 eur for a decent disk. Why hassle?

[BarskiPatzow]

I am told that a HDD for my laptop model would be a challenge, at least here where I live. I might be wrong tho.

[BlackST]

What laptop and what disk are we talking about !?

[BarskiPatzow]

Asus K53S is the laptop and WDC WD6400BPVT-80HXZT1 (ATA Device) that is what is in the device manager.

[BlackST]

Nothing extraordinary.

Also you can replace it with everything you want that is at your reach and works with the laptop.

If regular shops are of no help, try ebay or online shopping .

[BarskiPatzow]

Alright, any special specifications i should look for regarding size and stuf, just to make sure it will fit into the laptop? any model that is simillar? I'm sorry for bothering, but I just cant tell what is compatible.

[pcimage]

Any 9mm SATA 2.5" should be OK.

[BarskiPatzow]

Tnx. And is it not a problem that in device manager, next to the model it says ATA Device?

[pcimage]

No, that drive is definitely SATA

[BarskiPatzow]

Tnx alot m8 I found a few already, tnx again

[HaQue]

Hi,
The process is as follows:

1) open your laptop, look at the drive.
2) locate the model numbers of the Hard drive.
3) search online for specifications of the model number. Pay attention to size, form factor (eg 9mm SATA 2.5"), 3.0Gbps or 6.0Gbps etc.
4) after you have a list of what specs your drive is, search for a possible replacement.
5) when you have found one, search online for the model of your laptop + the "new" possible replacement and see if any users had issuesor success.
6) Ask online on a frum such as this if your model of laptop + replacement sounds ok.
7) Double + triple check you have all your data safe before swapping, and know the procedure, read through a tutorial if you are following one and make sure you have everything you need.

BTW, you can find video tutorials on changing a laptop HDD, it is not difficult and I think you would enjoy the process. Just remove an access cover at the back and the Hard Disk should be accessable. An exception is some smaller notebooks such as EeePC's

You can follow these steps for any user-changeable parts such as USB,PCMCIA,Cardbus and PCIe etc cards, RAM, HDD's