Guest Bruce. Posted July 14, 2008 Posted July 14, 2008 XP SP3. I had a hard drive with a few bad sectors. It never got worse so I ignored them. Chksdsk /r /f marked them as bad and that was that. Recently I did a major upgrade of my hardware. New motherboard, new drives, just about everything except the chassis. When I did the upgrade, I used True Image to clone the old PATA IDE hard drive to the new SATA drive. Because I did an exact partition copy from the old drive to new, those same sectors are still marked as bad, but no longer need to be. I've done a lot of googling but can find no way or utility to reset bad sectors on an NTFS volume. I know doing an chkdsk /r /f again does not do it. It will add new bad sectors but not retest old ones. Partition Magic has a bad sector tester, but it only works on FAT16 or FAT32 volumes. Anyone know of a way to reset a NTFS bad sector/cluster? Bruce.
Guest John John (MVP) Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Re: How to reset a bad sector on an NTFS volume? I don't know of any utilities available to do this, as far as I know you have to use a disk editor and edit the $BadClus metadata file to remove bad clusters from the file, not a trivial matter and not an exercise for the faint of hearth! If you feel up to it it's the 8th file record in the MFT. MFT records are 1K (or 2 sectors) in length. Of course, it goes without saying that a disk edit mistake can lead to the loss of all data on the disk. John Bruce. wrote: > XP SP3. > > I had a hard drive with a few bad sectors. It never got worse so I ignored > them. Chksdsk /r /f marked them as bad and that was that. > > Recently I did a major upgrade of my hardware. New motherboard, new drives, > just about everything except the chassis. > > When I did the upgrade, I used True Image to clone the old PATA IDE hard > drive to the new SATA drive. Because I did an exact partition copy from the > old drive to new, those same sectors are still marked as bad, but no longer > need to be. > > I've done a lot of googling but can find no way or utility to reset bad > sectors on an NTFS volume. I know doing an chkdsk /r /f again does not do > it. It will add new bad sectors but not retest old ones. > > Partition Magic has a bad sector tester, but it only works on FAT16 or FAT32 > volumes. > > Anyone know of a way to reset a NTFS bad sector/cluster? > > Bruce. > >
Guest Bruce. Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Re: How to reset a bad sector on an NTFS volume? "John John (MVP)" <audetweld@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message news:OoLNxYh5IHA.4776@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... >I don't know of any utilities available to do this, as far as I know you >have to use a disk editor and edit the $BadClus metadata file to remove bad >clusters from the file, not a trivial matter and not an exercise for the >faint of hearth! If you feel up to it it's the 8th file record in the MFT. >MFT records are 1K (or 2 sectors) in length. Of course, it goes without >saying that a disk edit mistake can lead to the loss of all data on the >disk. Ok, I very appreciate the information even if I don't yet have all the pieces to the puzzle yet. Perhaps your information combined with others will suggest a path. I won't attempt it unless I can gain a lot more of confidence that I know what I'm doing. I've edited the various FAT structures, but have virtually no knowledge about NTFS. Acronis makes what they call a Disk Editor. I'm going to ask them if their program would in some way help. Thanks for the information! Bruce.
Guest Guest Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Re: How to reset a bad sector on an NTFS volume? See /b CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/i] [/C] [/L[:size]] [/b] volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), mount point, or volume name. filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for fragmentation .. /F Fixes errors on the disk. /V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file on the disk. On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any. /R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information (implies /F). /L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified number of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current size. /X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid (implies /F). /I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries. /C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder structure. /B NTFS only: Re-evaluates bad clusters on the volume (implies /R) "Bruce." <noone@example.net> wrote in message news:uFsS3Li5IHA.1592@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... > "John John (MVP)" <audetweld@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message > news:OoLNxYh5IHA.4776@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... >>I don't know of any utilities available to do this, as far as I know you >>have to use a disk editor and edit the $BadClus metadata file to remove >>bad clusters from the file, not a trivial matter and not an exercise for >>the faint of hearth! If you feel up to it it's the 8th file record in the >>MFT. MFT records are 1K (or 2 sectors) in length. Of course, it goes >>without saying that a disk edit mistake can lead to the loss of all data >>on the disk. > > Ok, I very appreciate the information even if I don't yet have all the > pieces to the puzzle yet. Perhaps your information combined with others > will suggest a path. > > I won't attempt it unless I can gain a lot more of confidence that I know > what I'm doing. I've edited the various FAT structures, but have > virtually no knowledge about NTFS. > > Acronis makes what they call a Disk Editor. I'm going to ask them if > their program would in some way help. > > Thanks for the information! > > Bruce. > >
Guest Bruce. Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Re: How to reset a bad sector on an NTFS volume? <.> wrote in message news:ebA0fQi5IHA.2240@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... > See /b > > CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/i] [/C] [/L[:size]] > [/b] > > > volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), > mount point, or volume name. > filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for > fragmentation > . > /F Fixes errors on the disk. > /V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every > file > on the disk. > On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any. > /R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information > (implies /F). > /L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified > number > of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current > size. > /X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. > All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid > (implies /F). > /I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index > entries. > /C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder > structure. > /B NTFS only: Re-evaluates bad clusters on the volume > (implies /R) Uh oh. My chkdsk /? doesn't show the /B option. I'm on XP SP3. Did you get those options from Vista? Bruce.
Guest Bruce. Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Re: How to reset a bad sector on an NTFS volume? <.> wrote in message news:ebA0fQi5IHA.2240@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... > See /b > > CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/i] [/C] [/L[:size]] > [/b] > > > volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), > mount point, or volume name. > filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for > fragmentation > . > /F Fixes errors on the disk. > /V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every > file > on the disk. > On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any. > /R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information > (implies /F). > /L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified > number > of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current > size. > /X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. > All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid > (implies /F). > /I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index > entries. > /C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder > structure. > /B NTFS only: Re-evaluates bad clusters on the volume > (implies /R) Confirmed. /B is not a valid option for XP SP3. Drat. That's exactly what I need. Bruce.
Guest Guest Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Re: How to reset a bad sector on an NTFS volume? Ah well. Scandisk is where Win95 did it (after setting a secret registry key). "Bruce." <noone@example.net> wrote in message news:OJRByoi5IHA.1428@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > <.> wrote in message news:ebA0fQi5IHA.2240@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... >> See /b >> >> CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/i] [/C] >> [/L[:size]] [/b] >> >> >> volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), >> mount point, or volume name. >> filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for >> fragmentation >> . >> /F Fixes errors on the disk. >> /V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every >> file >> on the disk. >> On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any. >> /R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information >> (implies /F). >> /L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified >> number >> of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays >> current >> size. >> /X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. >> All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid >> (implies /F). >> /I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index >> entries. >> /C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder >> structure. >> /B NTFS only: Re-evaluates bad clusters on the volume >> (implies /R) > > Confirmed. /B is not a valid option for XP SP3. > > Drat. That's exactly what I need. > > Bruce. >
Guest John John (MVP) Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Re: How to reset a bad sector on an NTFS volume? Bruce. wrote: > Confirmed. /B is not a valid option for XP SP3. > > Drat. That's exactly what I need. http://www.fsys.nl/dfsee/index.php I know/think that there is a way to do this with a Unix/Linux tool but I can't find the information just right now. John
Guest Bruce. Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Re: How to reset a bad sector on an NTFS volume? "John John (MVP)" <audetweld@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message news:%23WDfVam5IHA.4356@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... > http://www.fsys.nl/dfsee/index.php > > I know/think that there is a way to do this with a Unix/Linux tool but I > can't find the information just right now. Yes, I've seen the procedure and it seems way beyond my skill set. I know nothing about Linux so the steps make little sense to me. The good news is that due to a suggestion in the Acronis newsgroup, I was able to use True Image to get the bad sectors reset. The trick is to restore a True Image backup to a partition that is of *different size* that the original. Because it has to resize the partition during the restore, it figures the bad sector list is no longer valid so it resets it! Here's what I did: 1) Use TI to make a image backup of C: 2) Use Partition Magic to make the C: drive smaller by 100GB (but still big enough) 3) Use TI to restore the backup to the now smaller C: 4) Use Partition Magic to resize the C: back to the original size. 5) Do one last pass of chkdsk /r c: to look for *new* bad sectors. And it worked perfectly! It took all night to do all those steps but I'm down to zero bad sectors, exactly as I should be. Thanks for the help! Bruce.
Guest John John (MVP) Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Re: How to reset a bad sector on an NTFS volume? Bruce. wrote: > The good news is that due to a suggestion in the Acronis newsgroup, I was > able to use True Image to get the bad sectors reset. The trick is to > restore a True Image backup to a partition that is of *different size* that > the original. Because it has to resize the partition during the restore, it > figures the bad sector list is no longer valid so it resets it! Here's what > I did: > > 1) Use TI to make a image backup of C: > 2) Use Partition Magic to make the C: drive smaller by 100GB (but still big > enough) > 3) Use TI to restore the backup to the now smaller C: > 4) Use Partition Magic to resize the C: back to the original size. > 5) Do one last pass of chkdsk /r c: to look for *new* bad sectors. > > And it worked perfectly! It took all night to do all those steps but I'm > down to zero bad sectors, exactly as I should be. > > Thanks for the help! You're welcome, thanks for telling us how you overcame the problem. John
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