Hi For a while now I've not been able to run scandisk as it freezes right before the end. I have a 30gig hard drive that isn't partitioned. Last night I tried to run scandisk on 'data only' just to see if that would make a difference because for the last few days everytime I boot up scandisk runs as if windows wasn't shut down properly. I left it running overnight cos it takes hours and it had stopped somewhere near the end and gave me a message saying that it couldn't check that part because drive C. had been removed! Well obviously it hadn't been removed so I am wondering what this problem might be? Generally things are running okay but I am concerned that the HD is failing although no clunky sounds are coming from it. Backed up all work just in case! If there are bad sectors at the end of the drive is there any way I can partion this off so that the good part of the drive is free? I've never done partioning of anything so baby steps would be appreciated. I don't know the manufacturer of my HD as when I go to system properties it just says it's generic something 47 and no manufacturer is listed. Is there anyway I can find out or do I have to open the case (scary stuff!)? I have thought about doing an Fdisk and reformatting but does this problem indicate that I won't be able to reformat? I would appreciate some advice Thanks

I meant partition...typo's!

I'm no tech like many on this forum, but I had a HD go bad and it was running scandisk every time it booted, so that may be your problem. I was fortunate that it was stil under warranty and didn't have to pay for a new one. Switching it takes two minutes, but backing up everything takes a loooong while. It may not be the HD, though; just suggesting the similarity with the scandisk thing. You may be able to get more information on the HD by running Belarc Advisor, a free download that examines your whole system and gives you detailed information on everything. I believe it's at http://www.belarc.com den6n

You should also try running scandisk from a floppy (in real dos) before you try to repartition. Don't know if it will help but it's worth a try. Create a floppy boot disk and reboot with this in a drive then type: scandisk c:

Have you tried running in safe mode? I find doing disk maintanance in safe mode to perform better - nothing else running. If that doesn't work, boot to DOS and run from there - hit your F8 hit after POST or hold Ctrl key and from menu boot to Command Prompt, then type scandisk.

Hi Thanks for your replies den6n - I downloaded it but it didn't give me any more hd info - but thanks anyway because it's a useful little tool. Sonny and Will. I did run scandisk in safe mode, always do. Er...How do I boot to DOS? Do you mean hitting F8 when the comp is booting up - I know I do that when I ned to get to safe mode - hadn't noticed a scandisk option there. I'm not sure what running scandisk from a floppy means - I know what a floppy disk is - lol, but how do I transfer Scandisk onto it? I don't have the usual windows ME disks - they are some stupid disks that PC world gave me as they have their own recovery system built into them which is really annoying and practically insists that you will have to use their rude and expensive helplines. Guarentee has run out anyway so there's no way I'm calling them.

hello you dont need to tranfer scandisk to floppy goto add/remove andclick on make boot disk (or start up disk)and incert new floppy when promted.it will install every thing you need to run scan disk from boot disk. after makeing boot disk put it in drive and reboot ,chose with out cd-rom suport click eneter at the a: type scandisk c: if its c drive you want scaned you can allso get bootdisk at www.bootdisk.com and you can d/l endit all and close off any thing running in m.e. have a nice day d/l spy ware free i-mesh