Windows XP NTFS CHKDSK problem

[bcrew1375]

I've been wanting to defragment my system partition, so I got Diskeeper. It was recommended that I run CHKDSK first, so I did. It finished and I began defragmenting. I didn't have too much free space at that time so it didn't make it too far. Afterwards, I tried running Diskeeper's boot time defragmenter, but this time CHKDSK ran into a problem. In the third phase, the one that checks the security descriptors, it said it was repairing an "unreadable security descriptor" After this runs for a bit, it tells me that it can't read "attribute 128 of file 9" The computer then starts up as usual, but Diskeeper won't let me defragment until CHKDSK has fixed all problems. Any ideas?

[Blacklord]

Sounds like one of those problems u just can't fix. I suggest reinstalling windows or uninstalling diskeeper.

[bcrew1375]

I don't think re-installing Windows would do anything, as it's a disk problem. Unless I reformatted the drive, which I really don't want to do . Uninstalling Diskeeper would stop CHKDSK from running everytime the computer starts, but I would still be left with the error on the drive . If I knew what CHKDSK meant by "File 9" and "Attribute 128", I might be able to fix the problem manually. Like how am I supposed to know which file is file 9.

[General Plot]

Go through either My Computer or Windows explorer, right click the drive and select properties. Open the tools tab and choose "Check Now" under error checking. Check mark both "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors". Then reboot, and Windows will run chkdsk to autofix everything. Just give it some time, as the last two phases of it can take a bit of time. See attached screenshots for help.

[bcrew1375]

Just wanted to let you guys know that my hard drive sort of failed. I used a BartPE CD with GetDataBack. It recovered virtually all the contents of the disk. I'm now in the process of restoring the computer, but something is bothering me. I formatted the disk and checked the integrity of the disk with CHKDSK /R and it reported no errors. There doesn't seem to be any loss of space on the disk. It seems to be fine. However, not long before the fail, CHKDSK told me there was an unrecoverable error on the disk. GetDataBack also had a few unknown errors when reading some sectors. So, I want to know if this was just a file system failure, or if the drive might be physically failing. Does CHKDSK throughly check the drive, if not, could someone suggest a program that tests the disk's integrity?

Edit: Some other things I noticed. Windows XP would still boot to the logo, and then immediately restart after an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error. These errors started showing up after trying to defragment with Diskeeper. They gradually became worse, until Windows XP refused to boot. Is it possible that Diskeeper corrupted the drive in some way, and the file system was corrupted more as programs wrote to it, or does it seem more likely the disk is failing?

[Blacklord]

Your ass must have been itchy when u got that piece of shit diskeeper. The sollution: Fuck diskeeper and go to google search on hdd restoration or maintainace follow them instructions format the disk install windows and once again FUCK DISKEEPER.(period)

[smcd]

Software cannot check a disk for hardware flaws. It is possible that a device can pass all diagnostic tests (i.e. chkdsk) and report no errors yet the disk still be/go bad. If it does this repeatedly, which it seems to be doing, then I'd suggest taking all the important stuff off it, formatting it, and sending it in for repair if under warranty.

[bcrew1375]

Your ass must have been itchy when u got that piece of shit diskeeper. The sollution: Fuck diskeeper and go to google search on hdd restoration or maintainace follow them instructions format the disk install windows and once again FUCK DISKEEPER.(period)

In that case, can you suggest another defragmentation program for NTFS? I'm certainly not using that piece of junk that comes with Windows XP(Which, if I remember correctly, is a stripped-down version of Diskeeper.

sethmcdoogle: Even so, shouldn't CHKDSK tell you if there were sectors on the disk that couldn't be read?

[Ruthless_Edge]

Hi there bcrew1375. I'm kinda new to these boards, so give me peace of mind lol. Anyways, hate to say it but im with sethmcdoogle and blacklord on this one. Especially sethmcdoogle. Trying to backup and save anything important to you on your drive is a MUST, and if its still under warranty, return it to the manufacturer.

I'm not too familiar with diskeeper, all I know of it is that I've seen it one time on a friends computer, and basically from what I seen its EXACTLY the same thing as windows defragmenter, but with the diskeeper logo. but then again, its through his business so its probably some lowlevel cheap version of diskeeper. Anyways, personally I don't think anything beats most of microsofts tools that come with xp. Anything else and basically your just getting the same thing but with a fancier name or labeling. Some may beg to differ on other utilitie programs, though.

Anyways I have come across basically your same problem but on my laptop hard drive. Toshiba and it wasnt even 6 months old at the time it messed up on me. I did the same research as you, my friend and found nothing short of an empty hand. Basically I figured mine was failing as well, but figured hopefully it was just certain sectors going bad on the disk, and I was looking for something ala windows 95 scandisk to do a surface scan and move bad sectors to a diff location on the drive. However, apparently there isn't any program for NTFS drives that does such a thing and if there is, then apparently it's a pain in the ass to find because I've tried numerous google searches lol.

As for disk defragmenter in general, if anyone can correct me wrong on this, then please do because I would love the vital information, but basically all your doing is moving files onto a different sector in the hard drive, allowing windows to sort of organize them better so it can find the files its looking for on your drive easier. I don't think disk defragmenter will do anything to better improve your sickly drive's health other than organize your drive.

In short, I had a laptop that basically failed on me as well. It took 4 days just for it to reformat, thats how bad it got. Imagine trying to fix the damn thing and having to reformat 5-6 times lol.

Your best bet would be to check if your still under warranty. I hope you can find an answer to your problem, as currently I'm trying to find my drive lol. Toshiba states they never recieved it so i think it got lost in the mail lmao.

Sorry for the long post. I do that. Hope this helps.

[bcrew1375]

Well, welcome to the boards Ruthless_Edge. I didn't intend to fix the drive's problems with Diskeeper, they started appearing AFTER I used it. Luckily, I was able to extract virtually everything from the drive. I've got the computer running again and in the process of putting everything back. I don't know if the drive is going bad or not yet.