Repair USB HDD

Hi everybody, I'm having some problems with an USB unit: it gives me seek errors/bad cluster, so I can't use it with big files or even full format it ( I tried HDLow Level format but it stopped at half the size of the disk).
I wanted to use the Magic boot disk with MHDD, but when it boots and searches for the usb drive it gives me an error...
The hdd is a 2.5" laptop hdd from fujitsu, model MHF2043AT, I'm using a "no brand" enclosure USB 2.0 compatible and the motherboard I have is an Asrock K8Upgrade NF3.
Could you help me to understand why the boot disk doesn't recognize the disk? And are there any alternatives to scan and remap the bad sector?
Thanks a lot.

Uhm, one problem solved: I just tried a couple of time more to boot and the last time it worked

I erased the disk, but when I try to scan it the scan stops at the first block, the pc freezes but the disk doesn't seem to be working or in use :S
I'll try to use hddscan within windows Xp to check if the full erase process resolved the bad blocks problem and I'll let you know...

My suggestion: remove the drive from the USB box and connect it directly to the motherboard PATA/SATA connectors. That will remove the issue of the USB<->ATA bridge chipset locking up on bad sectors. Might allow full scans to finish.

-brendan

Well, thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately it is a notebook hdd, I can't connect to IDE channel (adaptor needed...) and it's not like I'm going to open my new notebook to test an old hdd

I'm currently scanning it with HDDScan and it doesn't hang up (just veeeeery slow when a bad sector is found...), I wonder why the scanning under MHDD freezes the PC (the hdd results not in use at all...)

USB chipsets can't always provide the transparency needed for some ATA function calls and/or react badly or try to "fix" the problem when errors are detected when talking to the drive.

If you're planning to do any work with laptop drives, I suggest a 2.5" to 3.5" ATA adapter, such as this one (they are cheap!):

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-108&cat=HDD

-brendan

I guess I'll build it myself, that would be even cheaper

Anyway HDDScan scan is over, it reported 175 bad blocks (not bad

) on around 32000 blocks in total...

My opinion is that 175 bad blocks on a laptop drive is bad news. I'd only reuse it if I were in a pinch, after running it through the manufacturer's low-level read/write recertification, checking the SMART stats, and running it through a burn in sessions. And I'd only use it in a temperature controlled, vibration-free environment (not a laptop!).

I say this, having lost several 2.5" drives to hardware problems in laptops and mp3 players. Inevitably they'd fail slowly and the times I did not have the recent data backed up were painful.

-brendan

Well, I'm not using it in a laptop, but as an USB drive to move several non critical files from one pc to another, so the only problem would be the temperature (a 2,5" enclosure is not the best way to keep an HDD cool).
The recertification would need an adaptor, second time it comes out: it seems that this is the only answer to my questions

I wish I could find a remapping tool that could work even via usb

HDDScan, I believe, does the same thing that MHDD when scanning the drive, so why the first one works and the second doesn't?
Probably drivers problems? How can I try MHDD under windows Xp to remap the disk?

I finally managed to run the mhdd scan&remap on the usb disk... what is the "unc" error? Is it remappable or not?

Edit: Ok, UNC is an uncorrectable error, I found its meaning...