i have 32mb of bad clusters on Maxtor 6Y080L0 80GB
does a format fix bad clusters?
or is my hard disk destroyed for good?

When you formatting a disk, I use the /U and /C options.

The /C option tests bad blocks and resets them as good if they are ok.

However, while this is ok when you have a few bad blocks, when there are many, and they appear to be breeding, this is generally a sign the disc is failing and it should be replaced soonest to avoid loss of data.

Good Luck - Keep us posted.

Actually the problem came up when i filled up my hard disk while I was recording a tv film. It was so filled up I started removing some files while I was recording, and windows just stopped responding. I guess it was a mistake I hit the reset button after that.

Well, I managed to recover most of my data from one of the partitions, whereas the other one was completely lost (both ntfs). I also had linux partitions I managed to save with Norton Ghost.

Anyway, I'll have one more check with windows xp's chkdsk, then format the whole hard disk with /u /c as you said. I'll finally check for bad clusters again after the format and post you the results.

If you can afford to lose the other partitions it'd probably be a good idea to run a zero fill utility on the drive. Then repartition and format.

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

AS Dave says"it'd probably be a good idea to run a zero fill utility on the drive."

The above link KillDisk is a good program.

street1, thanks for the program, i added it in my bootdisc and performed two passes :)

I'm formatting the disk now with ntfs default.
Is it ok if I set it to be primary?

here's the current view in disk manager: http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/603/diskman4wa.jpg

Seems fine to me.

I think you had 32mb of lost clusters, not bad clusters. You can get lost clusters when you do things such as shutting off the computer without shutting down Windows, or from a power failure, or doing things like you did "...It was so filled up I started removing some files while I was recording, and windows just stopped responding. " especially while recording video that can be intensely using your cpu. And your drive being almost full just aggravates the situation. The more intensive the cpu and programs were being used at the time, the more likely you'll have more lost clusters.
Lost clusters are usually harmless, unless the data in them was part of a file you were accessing that can't be restored, but the data in them is usually useless and those clusters and the space they take up can't be used for anything until they are "found" again. CHKDSK can find the lost clusters, and either save them as file fragments (hidden files called Found... in your root directory), or mark the space they take up as usuable again for any new data - Norton Disk Doctor can do the same thing.

You don't need to reformat, or wipe your drive, or re-load Windows to fix that.

Sorry, i meant bad sectors :\ I'm not used to the hardware lingo yet, you'll have to excuse me hehe.

Here's the chkdsk after i formatted the drive:

The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is 2ndHand.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
Security descriptor verification completed.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.

80041720 KB total disk space.
0 KB in 3 files.
8 KB in 11 indexes.
92 KB in bad sectors.
68444 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
79973176 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
20010430 total allocation units on disk.
19993294 allocation units available on disk.

If you used the programs street1 and DAVEINCAPS mentioned, and you deleted the existing partitions and made them again before re-formatting, there should be no bad sectors visible. You could try using Maxtor's utilities to low-level format the drive to make them go away. 92kb of bad sectors in 80 gb is a very tiny precentage, but you should run chkdsk frequently for a while to see if the number of bad sectors grows rapidly - if it does, your drive is starting to fail.
More info here:
http://www.lanyoncomputers.com.au/corner/threadview.jsp?post=7356&thread=4093

Tried everything, including Powermax and SpinRite. Unfortunately the bad clusters reproduce, and the hard disk won't boot with s.m.a.r.t. enabled. I guess it's time to get a new one :) Thanks for all the help, I appreciate your time. I'll take in next week.

If your hard drive is still under warranty (3 years) you can get a replacement Maxtor for the cost of shipping one way - the slower you send it, the cheaper - the replacement is shipped to you at their expense, quite quickly.
If you're not sure when you bought it, that can be determined on their site - when the warranty began/ends - by the model and serial number, but your usually get the maximum time if you can prove when you bought it.
You must get an RMA (Return of Mechandise Authourization) - see the web site.
The replacement is probably refurbished, but usually that doesn't matter. You get the remainder of your warranty period, not a new three warranty.
If you wonder whether Maxtor is more or less dependable than other brands there isn't much difference anymore - the replacement will probably be fine for at least 3 years.