NTFS -bad blocks

Question

NTFS -bad blocks

Anonymous

Hi,

A couple of times a day I am getting this error in the event viewer:

The device, \Device\Harddisk0\D, has a bad block

I'm not sure what this means,

a) I have a couple of new bad blocks each day, or

b) NTFS keeps hitting the SAME bad block a couple of times a day

I'm assuming the second. I would have thought that if the bad block was unallocated, NTFS would mark it as unusable. So its probably in a file.

So, is there any way to work out which file(s) is affected?

Is there a way to find out how many bad blocks NTFS thinks there is?

I am reluctant to let chkdsk fix the drive before I know what is likely to be affected.

Chkdsk in Read-Only mode finds a single error in the index and wont complete.

Is there a way to repair the index, (without doing the security repair) so that chkdsk can complete and tell me about bad blocks?

Thanks,

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Usually it's "Bad Sectors",blocks probably mean a larger area.

The best way for a repair,is to boot to xp installation cd,at cd menu,

press the r key (recovery console),at recovery,select 1 for C:

press enter key for password.Type: CHKDSK C: /R

Once its thru,type: EXIT

Let xp start,remove cd.

Also,bad sectors,bad blocks,only mean a faulty disk,be prepared to

replace it.If you run a IDE hd,use xps. XCOPY

This already installed utility lets you move all hd data to another hd,

Set the new as slave,closest to MB,format it,run,type: diskmgmt.msc

Once thru,go to run,tpe: XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r

Agree to all in the DOS window,once its thru,youre finished.D: being

the new hd,if asigned diffrent letter,then use that instead.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491035.aspx

This link explains XCOPY

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3 additional answers

Answer 1

Anonymous

I have no first-hand experience with Sea Tools. Couldn't hurt to try.

Good Luck,

JW

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Answer 2

Hi JW,

Nothing in the application log. Only the disk error message in system log.

It gives no clue as to which block is bad, just 0x90 bytes of data, which I can't decode.

I've had bad experiences with chkdsk, too.

Chkdsk's rational is to make the file system valid, if data gets in the way ....

I've also seen it take hours/days to complete, especially when a drive is weak.

Interesting tool, pity it doesn't highlight bad clusters.

I'll try and find a non-destructive drive tester and go from there.

(Is sea tools a good choice?)

matt

Answer 3

Keep in mind that the NTFS format is proprietary to Microsoft, so they are the only ones that really know how it works. The only diagnostic that I've found for NTFS is chkdsk. If chkdsk can't fix it, then nothing will and your only alternative is to back up everything and reformat the entire partition. Having said that, I've experienced problems where chkdsk (with the "/R" or Repair option) has completely trashed a hard drive -- so you are right to be conservative about running it.

Have you checked your System or Application log files (Start -> Run -> "eventvwr.msc") to see if this problem was recorded in the logs along with the sector or cluster number? If so, you could use a tool like Sysinternal's "Disk View" program to examine which file, if any, is occupying this sector

DiskView: < http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896650 >

More than likely, though, you should make a complete backup of your hard drive and then run chkdsk with the /R (repair) option. If it works, then great; and if it doesn't you can reformat the drive (which identifies and marks-out bad sectors if you don't use the "quick" option) and then re-install from your backups.

HTH,

JW

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NTFS -bad blocks

3 additional answers