Win98:
ScanDisk encountered a data error while reading cluster 3980. ScanDisk will try to continue past this error. When ScanDisk offers to perform a surface scan on this drive, choose Yes.
Phenix:
Good suggestion, Win98. Kindly continue past this error since you have 40+ Gigaf#@&ingbytes at your disposal. I don't mind if you don't use that cluster. Please continue.
Win98:
{Although I have not yet offered to perform a surface scan on this drive,} ScanDisk encountered a data error while writing to the root directory. This error prevents ScanDisk from fixing this drive.
Phenix:
I thought we were going to work this out. Why are you bringing the root directory into this? He wasn't bothering you.
Win98:
Okay, I'll finish booting then.
Phenix:
It is nice of you to show me the contents of the drive that was giving you trouble. Please show me the contents of this file on this troubled drive.
Win98:
Oops. I was not supposed to show you that. Let me show you this blue screen instead:
Disk Write Error
Unable to write to disk in drive D:
Data or files may be lost.
Press any key to continue.
Phenix:
Presses the space bar.
Win98:
I'll recover and let you do that a few more times, then I'll just lock up while displaying the same blue screen. Then I'll complain that you didn't shut me down properly.
Phenix:
Don't make me have to make the 3G drive be the master.
Win98:
Don't threaten me. You only have 60M free on that drive, and we have ways of filling that up.
Can I instruct the 40G drive to perhaps not use the bad cluster (Interrupt 13H Function 06H), and to go ahead and write to the root drive? I haven't dabbled into Assembly in some years. And I was only a dabbler anyway.

Another thing. This 40G drive never was my friend. It knew I wanted to have multiple partitions and OS's. I had set the BIOS to a "User defined" configuration to get it to recognize the fact that it had 40+ Gigs using:
Cylinders: 5604
Heads: 255
Wp: 65535 What is this "Wp" by the way?
Sectors: 63
Size (MB): 43959

But the "Auto" configuration as well as the inscription on the physical drive says:
Cylinders: 16383
Heads: 16
Sectors:
63
But the "Size" was being reported as 8Gigs.

It allowed me to use it if I promised not to install different OS's on it. I think it found out that I was planning on burning Linux ISO's.

I'm not even sure if a reformat will help (I hope I can at least resort to that instead of trashing the drive), but I would think that I should be able to tell the drive to not use half of its size; let alone 1 cluster. But not being able to write to the root directory sounds like an even worse problem.

Any suggestions?