Guest Michel S. Posted July 12, 2007 Posted July 12, 2007 Hello, While trying to make an image of an NTFS partition, the imaging softwares (I tried with both "True Image" and "Ghost") reported that errors on partition prevented the image to be completed. For example, Acronis stated that it "Failed to read from the sector 234,439,534 of the hard disk 1", which seems high to me since there's only 29,304,934 clusters on the disk. Back into XP, I performed a chkdsk (without /F) from a cmd window, and it reported it found "minor" errors. I reentered the same command, this time with the /F switch, and a scan was planned on next boot. In this scan. chkdsk performed steps 1 to 3 and USN log without reporting any error, but failed right after with a message "Unable to write the second NTFS boot sector" (translation of the french message) before going on with normal windows boot. I then permormed "chkdsk c: /P /R" from the recovery console. This time, chkdsk progress raised up to 75% then, felt to 50% before raising again (slowly) to 75% - without any additional message. This seems to happens a couple of times. At some point, it stopped with the message "The volume seems to contain one or many unrecoverable problems". Under normal windows operation, nothing seems to indicate a problem with the file system. All programs seem to run normally. Even a complete virus scan (accessing the over 300,000 files on the disk) doesn't show any sign of failing disk. I know it doesn't mean all my files are in safe state, but at least they are not causing system crashes or error messages. While I already have a backup of all my data files, I'd like to see if there's a way to repair that partition to a point where I'll be able to image it. BTW, the disk is a WD-1200JB, S.M.A.R.T doesn't report any error. Any suggestions ? Thanks PS: I retried the console's chkdsk again this morning, and noted that the 50% ... -> 75% -> 50% ...75% seems to occur more often than the first time I made it. Does this means it is getting any nearer to complete recovery ?
Guest Rich Barry Posted July 12, 2007 Posted July 12, 2007 Re: Chkdsk problem Michel, I would go to WD's website and get a Hard Drive Diagnostic Utility. SMART could say everything is Ok and your drive still may have major problems. "Michel S." <NoSpam@msn.com> wrote in message news:mn.63e67d779d1359b9.33676@msn.com... > Hello, > > While trying to make an image of an NTFS partition, the imaging softwares > (I tried with both "True Image" and "Ghost") reported that errors on > partition prevented the image to be completed. > > For example, Acronis stated that it "Failed to read from the sector > 234,439,534 of the hard disk 1", which seems high to me since there's only > 29,304,934 clusters on the disk. > > Back into XP, I performed a chkdsk (without /F) from a cmd window, and it > reported it found "minor" errors. > > I reentered the same command, this time with the /F switch, and a scan was > planned on next boot. > > In this scan. chkdsk performed steps 1 to 3 and USN log without reporting > any error, but failed right after with a message "Unable to write the > second NTFS boot sector" (translation of the french message) before going > on with normal windows boot. > > I then permormed "chkdsk c: /P /R" from the recovery console. > > This time, chkdsk progress raised up to 75% then, felt to 50% before > raising again (slowly) to 75% - without any additional message. This > seems to happens a couple of times. > > At some point, it stopped with the message "The volume seems to contain > one or many unrecoverable problems". > > Under normal windows operation, nothing seems to indicate a problem with > the file system. All programs seem to run normally. Even a complete > virus scan (accessing the over 300,000 files on the disk) doesn't show any > sign of failing disk. I know it doesn't mean all my files are in safe > state, but at least they are not causing system crashes or error messages. > > While I already have a backup of all my data files, I'd like to see if > there's a way to repair that partition to a point where I'll be able to > image it. > > BTW, the disk is a WD-1200JB, S.M.A.R.T doesn't report any error. > > Any suggestions ? > Thanks > > PS: I retried the console's chkdsk again this morning, and noted that the > 50% ... -> 75% -> 50% ...75% seems to occur more often than the first > time I made it. Does this means it is getting any nearer to complete > recovery ? > >
Guest Michel S. Posted July 12, 2007 Posted July 12, 2007 Re: Chkdsk problem Thanks.. I just performed the DLGDIAG 5.04f quick test and there's no error to report.. Extended test is currently running.. Stay tuned ;-) Dans son message précédent, Rich Barry a écrit : > Michel, I would go to WD's website and get a Hard Drive Diagnostic Utility. > SMART could say everything is Ok and your > drive still may have major problems.
Guest Michel S. Posted July 12, 2007 Posted July 12, 2007 Re: Chkdsk problem (additional info) Re: Chkdsk problem (additional info) Just downloaded Data Lifeguard Diagnostics 5.04f from WD site, performed both quick and extended tests and they both ended with "status code 0000: no errors found". Anything else ? Rich Barry avait prétendu : > Michel, I would go to WD's website and get a Hard Drive Diagnostic Utility. > SMART could say everything is Ok and your > drive still may have major problems.
Guest M.I.5? Posted July 13, 2007 Posted July 13, 2007 Re: Chkdsk problem (additional info) Re: Chkdsk problem (additional info) "Michel S." <NoSpam@msn.com> wrote in message news:mn.64987d77e9ff7098.33676@msn.com... > Just downloaded Data Lifeguard Diagnostics 5.04f from WD site, performed > both quick and extended tests and they both ended with "status code 0000: > no errors found". > > Anything else ? > If I were you, I would buy a replacement disk without delay, temporarily connect it to your system and copy the entire file structure just in case. You may wish to make it bootable and replace the existing disk just to be safe. The alternative is risking loss of your data if the disk really does have a problem. Disk drives are cheap enough that it isn't worth the risk. > Rich Barry avait prétendu : >> Michel, I would go to WD's website and get a Hard Drive Diagnostic >> Utility. SMART could say everything is Ok and your >> drive still may have major problems. > >
Guest Mark F. Posted August 1, 2007 Posted August 1, 2007 Re: Chkdsk problem (additional info) Re: Chkdsk problem (additional info) "M.I.5?" <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote in message news:46975534$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net... > > "Michel S." <NoSpam@msn.com> wrote in message > news:mn.64987d77e9ff7098.33676@msn.com... >> Just downloaded Data Lifeguard Diagnostics 5.04f from WD site, performed >> both quick and extended tests and they both ended with "status code 0000: >> no errors found". >> >> Anything else ? >> > > If I were you, I would buy a replacement disk without delay, temporarily > connect it to your system and copy the entire file structure just in case. > You may wish to make it bootable and replace the existing disk just to be > safe. > > The alternative is risking loss of your data if the disk really does have > a problem. Disk drives are cheap enough that it isn't worth the risk. > > So are you saying to copy the old problems on to the new disk? The smarter route is to partition, format, and load a fresh install of the OS and the applications. Then copy (or import) the data and other files to the new drive. Replacing the drive is a waste of money unless the drive is very old and is displaying repeated problems. The diagnostic from the disk manufacturer suggests otherwise. Mark
Guest Mark F. Posted August 1, 2007 Posted August 1, 2007 Re: Chkdsk problem "Michel S." <NoSpam@msn.com> wrote in message news:mn.63e67d779d1359b9.33676@msn.com... > Hello, > > While trying to make an image of an NTFS partition, the imaging softwares > (I tried with both "True Image" and "Ghost") reported that errors on > partition prevented the image to be completed. > > For example, Acronis stated that it "Failed to read from the sector > 234,439,534 of the hard disk 1", which seems high to me since there's only > 29,304,934 clusters on the disk. > > Back into XP, I performed a chkdsk (without /F) from a cmd window, and it > reported it found "minor" errors. > > I reentered the same command, this time with the /F switch, and a scan was > planned on next boot. > > In this scan. chkdsk performed steps 1 to 3 and USN log without reporting > any error, but failed right after with a message "Unable to write the > second NTFS boot sector" (translation of the french message) before going > on with normal windows boot. > > I then permormed "chkdsk c: /P /R" from the recovery console. > > This time, chkdsk progress raised up to 75% then, felt to 50% before > raising again (slowly) to 75% - without any additional message. This > seems to happens a couple of times. > > At some point, it stopped with the message "The volume seems to contain > one or many unrecoverable problems". > > Under normal windows operation, nothing seems to indicate a problem with > the file system. All programs seem to run normally. Even a complete > virus scan (accessing the over 300,000 files on the disk) doesn't show any > sign of failing disk. I know it doesn't mean all my files are in safe > state, but at least they are not causing system crashes or error messages. > > While I already have a backup of all my data files, I'd like to see if > there's a way to repair that partition to a point where I'll be able to > image it. > > BTW, the disk is a WD-1200JB, S.M.A.R.T doesn't report any error. > > Any suggestions ? > Thanks > > PS: I retried the console's chkdsk again this morning, and noted that the > 50% ... -> 75% -> 50% ...75% seems to occur more often than the first > time I made it. Does this means it is getting any nearer to complete > recovery ? > > Chkdisk does a very poor job of diagnosing and repairing a fixed disk. It generally is used to fix minor problems with the file structure and has difficulty restoring damaged sectors. The best application I have found for this is Spinrite from Gibson Research http://www.grc.com/. This program is written in Assembly Language and runs when you boot in FreeDOS from the disk (not in Windows). It will check and attempt to repair damaged sectors repeatedly until fixed. Mark
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