If I know that a hard disk has bad sectors, how can I "mark" them so that Windows 7 doesn't write to them when I copy files and stuff?
Answer
According to Microsoft, running a regular (or full) format (as opposed to a "quick" format) on a partition will mark all bad sectors within the partition (emphasis mine):
When you choose to run a regular format on a volume, files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume. source
In Vista and later, this is accomplished by writing zeros to the entire partition.
Running a full format on a disk is as simple as right-clicking on the disk, selecting Format, and unchecking the quick format box:
Note that a full format takes a lot more time than a quick format. The time scales with the size of the disk (i.e. big disks will take more time to format than small ones).
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