[Tried and True] Ignore Bad Sectors During Copying

What Is a Bad Sector

A bad sector is a sector on a computer's disk drive or flash memory that is either inaccessible or unwriteable due to permanent damage, such as physical damage to the disk surface or failed flash memory transistors.

Bad sectors are usually detected by disk utility software such as CHKDSK or SCANDISK on Microsoft systems or bad blocks on Unix-like systems. There are two types of bad sectors: a physical bad sector and a logical bad sector.

• A physical bad sector is a cluster of storage on the hard drive that's physically damaged. For example, too much dust settled on the hard disk, or the memory cell has worn out. This type of sector cannot be repaired.
• A logical bad sector is a cluster of storage on the hard drive that appears not to be working properly. The operating system may have tried to read data on the hard drive from this sector and found that the error-correcting code (ECC) didn't match the contents of the sector, which suggests that something is wrong. This bad sector can be repaired by overwriting the drive with zeros.

Can Bad Sectors Be Copied

No, the bad sectors can't be copied! Bad sectors are not accessible, which means they can't be read and written. Cloning a hard drive is the process of reading source sectors and writing to target sectors when source sectors are bad and inaccessible, they can't be copied.

Although the bad sectors cannot be copied, you can still copy or clone the disk to get undamaged data from other sectors and ignore bad sectors at the same time.

How Do You Ignore Bad Sectors During Copying

According to the contents mentioned above, the bad sectors can't be cloned or copied. What if you still want to get the data off the disk? What if you still want to copy the hard disk or other storage devices even with bad sectors?

You still have a chance! You can still copy the disk using EaseUS Disk Copy. This reliable and professional disk copy software helps you ignore bad sectors during disk copying.

Free Download

Windows 11/10/8/7

EaseUS Disk Copy supports sector-by-sector clones, which means the software is able to clone a hard drive with bad sectors. That is to say, this tool can help you ignore bad sectors and copy all the left or undamaged data on your hard disks or other storage devices.

In addition, it can help you upgrade HDD to SSD without reinstalling Windows and losing data. It can help you resize your partitions during the cloning process and create a local backup of your hard drives. In addition, it lets you clone hard drives of different sizes and replace a laptop hard disk without data loss.

Now, follow the details below and copy data without bad sectors.

Notice

Remember to select sector-by-sector copy.

Before cloning:

• If your computer has only one disk slot, connect the target disk to your machine via a USB-to-SATA/NVMe adapter.
• If your computer has an extra slot, install the target drive into the empty slot properly, and make sure it is compatible.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Disk Copy and choose Disk Mode.

Install EaseUS Disk Copy SSD cloning software on your Windows computer, launch it, and choose Disk Mode.

Step 2. Select the source and target drives.

• Source - the old/smaller disk you want to make a copy.
• Destination - the new/larger disk that you want to clone data to.

*Note that the used space of the source disk should be less than the target disk capacity.

Step 3. Select 'Sector-by-sector' copy.

When specifying the target disk layout, choose 'Copy as the source' and check the 'Sector-by-sector copy' option.

Step 4. Start cloning.

Click Proceed, a message will appear, warning you that data will be lost. Confirm the message by clicking Continue.

Now, it will start sector-by-sector disk cloning.

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Video Tutorial to Copy Data and Skip Bad Sectors

Follow to see how to copy everything on your old disk to a new disk by skipping the existing bad sectors:

To Wrap Things Up

How to ignore bad sectors during copying? Have you gotten your answer now? In short, using professional disk cloning software can help easily clone a hard drive while skipping bad sectors. EaseUS Disk Copy can suit you well in this regard. It can help you repair bad sectors on a hard drive and ignore bad sectors when cloning. More features are here for you to fathom. Just download and try it.

Free Download

Windows 11/10/8/7

FAQs on Ignore Bad Sectors During Copying

1. Is it OK to clone a hard drive with bad sectors?

If the disk is damaged and the computer cannot read it, it cannot be cloned. If the computer can still access the data on the damaged hard drive, it can still be cloned.

2. Will formatting hard drive remove bad sectors?

Bad sectors are areas of the disk that are broken or corrupted, making it impossible to store or read data correctly. They may result in mistakes, slowdowns, crashes, and data loss. A bad sector on a drive can be marked as unusable and protected from further harm by formatting the disk, but this does not address the underlying physical issue.

3. Why do hard drives get bad sectors?

Due to manufacturing faults, a brand-new drive could come with a few bad sectors. Larger patches develop over time due to head collisions, wear, and tear, physical trauma, or dust infiltration.