HELP! My toshiba hdd is acting weird!

[ilfunx]

I purchased a Toshiba hard disk last December. One day i was transferring data from my friends hard disk (verbatim) to my hard disk when suddenly another friend plugged in his hard disk. I'm not sure what happened but both my Toshiba and my friend's verbatim stopped responding. The verbatim was still online but my Toshiba went off. When i replugged it, it showed me that my hard disk requires scanning and stuff so i did it. But it stops or hangs in the middle of the whole process. I was able to read my hard disk but then i couldn't write to it. Then after a week's usage i couldn't read any of my data though i have a back up of all my data, i wish to use my hard disk. Its a 1TB so i feel bad that this has happened. I tried using spin rite but i don't know how to use it. I can't run it from DOS and when i install it in my pen-drive and boot my lap it won't work. Another software i tried out was HDD regenerator. It did scan for errors but it kept declaring bad sectors after a particular amount of sectors. I tried using the option to recover bad sectors but it just skipped to the next sector. Please advise me what to do. I don't want to purchase another hard disk. I've tried lots of options but all in vain.

[Samo]

Use your warranty?

[fzabkar]

Could we see a SMART report? Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.

[ilfunx]

how do we do the smart report thingy? sry im a newbie to all this... pls advice... i cant use my warranty... im in india and the hdd was bought in dubai...

[fzabkar]

Below are two comprehensive SMART diagnostics. Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.

HD Sentinel (DOS / Windows / Linux):
http://www.hdsentinel.com/

HDDScan for Windows:
http://hddscan.com/

See this article for SMART info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

[BlackST]

@ilfunx,

Beside "checking" , there's nothing else you can do.

If the drive is failing or has surface / relo problems, backup data and then replace the drive (under warranty or not).
If the drive is developing problems, a "cosmetic" solution THAT IS NOT GUARANTEED TO WORK is to fully erase the drive , cross fingers and hope. Maybe the result is good, maybe the result is a lot / bunch of slow sectors (can't explain here what exactly happens) , maybe it will give final shot to the drive. Also, maybe it will work temporarily and the problem will come out again later. I have a solution, but you should send me the drive... so it's not applicable (PLEASE don't contact me asking how to do it by you !)
You can always try to contact a pro in your area.

NOTE : I have the feeling that the drive suffered from some external problem, but it's just a feeling - as Toshiba are usually good and resilient drives.

FINAL WARNING : FULLY ERASE THE DRIVE WILL KILL DATA ON IT so BACKUP FIRST.