Deleting files from an external HD with Bad Sectors

OK. First off I am new to the MajorGeeks.com forums but I have used this site for years for mainly downloads and such.

The problem I am having is I recently discovered that my external Western Digital 250GB hard drive had some bad sectors and some corrupt files. I also noticed that this HD had not been defragged in quite a long time. Main reason for that is I have not had the funds to get another external HD that I do need. I need to get a 500GB drive and will probably do so on Thursday. This HD has been at 95% full for quite a while now. Most defrag utilities require at least 10% of free space.

I am running a DELL Dimension 4700. Windows XP SP2.

anyhow, I am trying to delete some of the corrupt files and also trying to free up enough space to remove the bad sectors. Problem is I cannot access the corrupt files directly through Windows Explorer. It keeps giving me the common (Drive needs to be reformatted) error message.

I have used a few freeware apps that have helped a bit. The main one that helped the most was the PC Inspector File Recovery app. I am also using the IOBit Smart Defrag app to try and remove the bad sectors. I am just trying to see if their are any other ways to gain access to these files so I can delete them to free up space.

any advice would be much appreciated.

 

I am also getting alot of CRC (cyclic redundancy) errors as well. But its mainly only in a couple areas of my file tree.

 

Try downloading the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic Software to test your drive. The long test will attempt to repair bad sectors. Depending on how far gone the drive is it may very well help.

 

ok. I will try the WD LGD. I will post the results here.

 

the WD Data Lifeguard Tools Extended Test found too many bad sectors. The test stopped after that message came up and it was only about 17mins into the 2.5 hr test.:mad

It looks like the 500GB HD I buy on Thursday will be the lifeboat for most of my data on the corrupt HD. I already moved most of the important files from the bad drive to my 80GB internal slave drive.

Once I move all the data that I can to the new drive I will then reformat the old one and make sure that the new format is in NTFS and not FAT32....which is what the format is now.

I should then be able to continue to use the 250GB drive. Even tho I will probably lose the use of a portion of it. The question will be....just how much.

I appreciate your input however sach2. If anybody else who reads this post can think of anything else in the meantime....dont hesitate to post it.

thanx again.