Should I reformat and re-use a hard drive after a logical failure?

I think I'm going to give reformatting a shot. If it turns out to be a mechanical problem, the reformatting probably won't work and I'll have lost nothing.

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

I've successfully restored fairly thoroughly borked hard drives with this.

Be aware that on a terabyte drive it's going to take a while for the low level format, let it run overnight or something.

As long as you don't put data you can't afford to lose on it I see no problem.

ETA: You'll need to partition the drive after the LLF, this will do the partition and do the high level format too and a lot faster than the OS will.

Both of the utilities are free.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/SwissKnife.shtml

I already have EASUS Partition Master and Paragon Partition Manager that I picked up on giveawayoftheday.com a while back. It looks like I finally have a use for them!

FWIW, I don't trust any hard drive. Or flash drives for that matter. If it formats (which amounts to a test of sorts) and passes any further tests I throw at it, I would go ahead and use it. But always back up your data.

I've used old drives that I consider unreliable for an OS for years afterward as data drives. They seem to be fine.

A couple of thoughts are that I am not sure Easeus will do a low level format. I know Partition Wizard only does quick format. So if Easeus finishes up formatting too quickly you may want to use a different utility as others have mentioned.

The other thought is that it might be wise to create say 4 ~250gb partitions rather than one large 1tb partition. It may be less likely that four partitions will all come up RAW if there are problems later.

So one low level format to erase the whole HD. Then create four primary partitions. Then format those to NTFS using full format option. At least you would know that you are starting as fresh as possible.

I downloaded the low-level format tool that Fumesucker linked to. I like the multiple partition idea. If all goes well, I'll give it a go in the morning.

I've had external drives that the computer would not recognize. when I took them out of the case and connected them with my one size fits all adapter, not only was it recognized immediately but my drive utility would say there are no problems with the drive itself.

If this low-level reformat doesn't work I'll get an adapter off tigerdirect and see how that goes.

...checking all of the cables then check the enclosure to ensure the cooling fan operates if it has one. Heat is one of the things that will kill a drive.

I actually changed the cable and it seemed to be fixed before the same symptoms showed up again. Pisses me off because I probably trashed a perfectly good cable because of that.

My dead drive just crashed the application. I opened up the case and found a Seagate Barracuda inside. These drives have a bad reputation for bricking, so I think I just might be thankful for the data I recovered and stick to WD drives from now on.