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[Terbs]

Hi all,
Recently, every time I start Windows 7, I get a message on one of my monitors that 'Windows needs to check my E drive for consistency'
CHKDSK starts running through the sequence checking sectors. Always after the third part, and checking 34,500 files it always responds with 'Cannot read sectors'
Only way to start Windows is to manually switch off, then start again, but when the message comes up, you can have a choice (not recommended) to cancel check by pressing a key., then Windows starts normally.

Reason why I say E drive is that I have other slave drives running on here, (my DVD  drive is now 'G' drive)

What does this message mean. Ironically, when windows starts, E drive (my flight sim drive) works (as I see it) normally.
Is this disk about to pop its clogs Due to the amount of stuff in my flight sim, would it be best to clone the disk. The Disk size is 160gb, I have a spare one of 120gb....would cloning work on disks of different sizes.

If all else fails, I will have to bite the bullet and start from scratch.

[Martian]

What does this message mean.

If CHKDSK can't read certain sectors then that is an indication the drive that the drive could be on it's way out.

would cloning work on disks of different sizes

Ghost certainly allows disks of different sizes to be cloned, dunno about other cloning proggys.

[aaronjb]

would cloning work on disks of different sizes

Ghost certainly allows disks of different sizes to be cloned, dunno about other cloning proggys.

CloneZilla will too I believe

[zirk]

Most do these days, first thing I would is try and clone it, then run the damaged drive as storage via usb or something and do a chkdsk from another win7 machine.

[Terbs]

Thanks for the replies, folks....I have a cloning programme stored here somewhere

[TheBoy]

Most non-sector clone tools will cope with different sizes, although being a non system drive, I'd be inclined to cut and paste.


If its always the same sector, try Ranish Partition Manager (and old DOS based tool) and do a full format with that.  Had some successes with that, but it takes days to run on a big disk.

[Terbs]

Right...I cloned the drive with a programme called Acronis Migrate Easy....absolute doddle.

However....when I switched on..I had the same inconsistancy message but this time when I cancelled it, when Windows started, another box came up...checked 'the clusters'...and bingo, all well, and all programmes working........

Thanks for the help

[Entwood]

Right...I cloned the drive with a programme called Acronis Migrate Easy....absolute doddle.

However....when I switched on..I had the same inconsistancy message but this time when I cancelled it, when Windows started, another box came up...checked 'the clusters'...and bingo, all well, and all programmes working........

Thanks for the help

Makes sense if you think on it ...  when you "cloned" you copied every sector "as is" - rather than reading the data then writing it which is what a "copy" is - so you copied the errors in the unreadable parts as well....  hence the inconsistency message first time.

The BIG difference is that on the new drive, once the clusters were checked (chkdsk would have done the same) the errors were "fixed" which could not be done on the old drive.

Some folks might tell you that you can now fix the old drive by a "deep format" using proprietary software, I would not bother as the any "fix" is likely to be short lived ... the storage media is effectively damaged... just throw the old drive away. If you have any data on it, or are worried about data theft , severely bend all the pins on the case, and thwack it a few times with a hammer....  the data is still recoverable using forensic methods in a clean room .. but your average low-life won't have the time, money or inclination to go that far !!!

[Terbs]

Thanks for the advice Entwood.............
There is nothing on the disk that is of any use to anyone....but when I destroy a disk...nothing and no-one will be accessing it

You were of course right with your diagnosis about cloning. Both you and Jamie mentioned cut/copy and paste. What is the difference. Had I gone that route with a disk with windows installed, would the new disk have worked when connected to the computer using the old disk connectors. Or does this work only with a slave drive       

[zirk]

Thanks for the advice Entwood.............
There is nothing on the disk that is of any use to anyone....but when I destroy a disk...nothing and no-one will be accessing it

You were of course right with your diagnosis about cloning. Both you and Jamie mentioned cut/copy and paste. What is the difference. Had I gone that route with a disk with windows installed, would the new disk have worked when connected to the computer using the old disk connectors. Or does this work only with a slave drive       

I personally wouldn't use Cut and Paste with Hard Drives always Copy and Paste and then verify the files contents / Size before if any deleting was required from the source drive. Lost a load of data on win2000 using cut and paste, due to windows deciding there was not enough disk space on the source drive half way through the task.

[TheBoy]

Some folks might tell you that you can now fix the old drive by a "deep format" using proprietary software, I would not bother as the any "fix" is likely to be short lived ... the storage media is effectively damaged... just throw the old drive away.

The reason it^* works is sometimes, for whatever reason, a sector becomes unreadable *BUT* not faulty (or detectably faulty (by controller)). Thus the sector doesn't get mapped out.

A format writing various patterns can correct stuck bits, and if it is an actual media error, map the sector out to a spare.


* Deep formats/Low level formats don't happen any more, haven't for 25 years.  Recovery formats are not military style pattern writing to fully exercise controller over the media.


All hard disks have media faults. If the OS reports 'bad sectors' after an OS format, the disk needs to be backed up and binned immediately, although hopefully the SMART checks would have highlighted this much earlier.

Modern disks have hidden areas that it uses to 'map out' bad sectors to a good area. If OS format shows bad sectors, the drive has run out of spare sectors, usually a sign the media has started to disintegrate.