Bad or dirty sectors that have been detected on the hard drive can no longer be used due to permanent physical damage to the hard disk. When a sector goes bad on a hard disk, this means that the data in that sector is lost and can most likely only be recovered by professional data recovery services. In many instances, bad sectors can also indicate the surface of the hard drive is failing and that the drive will soon cease to be usable.

Verify Bad Sectors with WipeDrive

1. Run WipeDrive (Wipe - single 1-pass wipe)
2. Reboot computer
3. Run WipeDrive (Do a FULL Verify - option 2)

If the results from the Full Verify indicate bad sectors, you can dispose of your computer or hard drive because the data on the hard drive has either been overwritten or would cost thousands of dollars to recover. If you are still concerned about potentially recoverable data, a drill can be used to destroy the drive first.