Did the cleanup, started defrag and left overnight. Awoke to the WinXP light
blue screen that normally accompanies a chkdsk, but no activity or actual
displayed writing.

Hit reset, computer appears to boot, but hangs after the WinXP logo
disappears. Directory services restore doesn't appear to find disks C: and
E:, even though I only defragged E:.

Tried repair install, hangs on examining the RAID Array. Tried recovery
console, hangs on examining the RAID Array.

RAID 0 array, with 3 partitions, split into C: (Windows), D: (Pagefile), and
E: (Programs). Running on the VIA 8237 Integrated SATA Controller.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

No wonder nobody has touched this, there doesn't appear to be any fix for it.

Apart from sucking it up, and rebuilding the system.

No wonder there are MVPs recommending you *never* defrag your drive, look at
what happens. And with no warning, disclaimer, or forced safe mode/reboot
like other utilities. MS screwup?

"MS screwup?"

Another case of the man who can't dance complaining that the band doesn't
know how to play.

Ted Zieglar

"Col. Firefly" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:C6702785-853F-41D5-8AE2-(E-Mail Removed)...
> No wonder nobody has touched this, there doesn't appear to be any fix for
> it.
>
> Apart from sucking it up, and rebuilding the system.
>
> No wonder there are MVPs recommending you *never* defrag your drive, look
> at
> what happens. And with no warning, disclaimer, or forced safe mode/reboot
> like other utilities. MS screwup?

Just don'te ever use the built in windows defragmenter and get a much better
one such as Diskeeper.

"Col. Firefly" wrote:

> Did the cleanup, started defrag and left overnight. Awoke to the WinXP light
> blue screen that normally accompanies a chkdsk, but no activity or actual
> displayed writing.
>
> Hit reset, computer appears to boot, but hangs after the WinXP logo
> disappears. Directory services restore doesn't appear to find disks C: and
> E:, even though I only defragged E:.
>
> Tried repair install, hangs on examining the RAID Array. Tried recovery
> console, hangs on examining the RAID Array.
>
> RAID 0 array, with 3 partitions, split into C: (Windows), D: (Pagefile), and
> E: (Programs). Running on the VIA 8237 Integrated SATA Controller.
>
> Any suggestions would be welcome.

All defraggers use Microsoft defrag APIs to defrag the disk. The program just tells windows what files it wants where.

To allow defragmentation without requiring detailed knowledge of the disk structure of the file system, a set of three control codes is provided. These enable applications to locate empty clusters, determine the disk location of file clusters, and move clusters on the disk. They transparently handle the problem of inhibiting and allowing other processes to read from and write to files during moves.

These operations can be performed without inhibiting other processes from running. However, the other processes will have slower response times while a disk drive is being defragmented.

To defragment a file, use the following steps:

1.. Use the FSCTL_GET_VOLUME_BITMAP control code to find a place on the volume large enough to accept the entire file. If necessary, move other files to make a place that's large enough. Ideally, there will be enough unallocated clusters after the first extent of the file that you can simply move subsequent extents into the space after the first extent.
2.. Use the FSCTL_GET_RETRIEVAL_POINTERS control code to get a map of the current layout of the file on the disk.
3.. Walk the RETRIEVAL_POINTERS_BUFFER structure returned by FSCTL_GET_RETRIEVAL_POINTERS. Use the FSCTL_MOVE_FILE control code to move each cluster as you walk the structure. You may need to renew either the bitmap or the retrieval structure, or both, from time to time as other processes write to the disk.
Two of the operations used in the defragmentation process require a handle to a volume. Only administrators can obtain a handle to a volume, so only administrators can defragment a volume. Your program should check the privileges of the user attempting to run defragmentation software, and it should not execute if the user does not have the appropriate credentials.


--
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http://www.uscricket.com
"Jolly" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:8BCFDAAD-A9CE-4AB5-AC4B-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Just don'te ever use the built in windows defragmenter and get a much better
> one such as Diskeeper.
>
> "Col. Firefly" wrote:
>
>> Did the cleanup, started defrag and left overnight. Awoke to the WinXP light
>> blue screen that normally accompanies a chkdsk, but no activity or actual
>> displayed writing.
>>
>> Hit reset, computer appears to boot, but hangs after the WinXP logo
>> disappears. Directory services restore doesn't appear to find disks C: and
>> E:, even though I only defragged E:.
>>
>> Tried repair install, hangs on examining the RAID Array. Tried recovery
>> console, hangs on examining the RAID Array.
>>
>> RAID 0 array, with 3 partitions, split into C: (Windows), D: (Pagefile), and
>> E: (Programs). Running on the VIA 8237 Integrated SATA Controller.
>>
>> Any suggestions would be welcome.

Sounds like "something" broke the RAID array. "Something" did the same to me
when I tried to install XP SP2, and I wound up having to re-initialize the array
and start from scratch again. However, this time I went to RAID 1. FWIW,
though, I had used the XP defragger several times prior to that, and it worked
fine on the RAID 0 array.

It appears that current SATA RAID controllers (mine is Promise) are too fragile
for reliable RAID 0 operation with XP. If I were you, I'd change to RAID 1 or
10.

"Col. Firefly" wrote:
>
> Did the cleanup, started defrag and left overnight. Awoke to the WinXP light
> blue screen that normally accompanies a chkdsk, but no activity or actual
> displayed writing.
>
> Hit reset, computer appears to boot, but hangs after the WinXP logo
> disappears. Directory services restore doesn't appear to find disks C: and
> E:, even though I only defragged E:.
>
> Tried repair install, hangs on examining the RAID Array. Tried recovery
> console, hangs on examining the RAID Array.
>
> RAID 0 array, with 3 partitions, split into C: (Windows), D: (Pagefile), and
> E: (Programs). Running on the VIA 8237 Integrated SATA Controller.
>
> Any suggestions would be welcome.

"David Candy" <.> wrote...
All defraggers use Microsoft defrag APIs to defrag the disk. The program just
tells windows what files it wants where.

IIRC, the Symantec/Norton SpeedDisk defragger is one that does NOT use the Win
APIs, but uses its own.

According to Raxco, Norton changed to the defrag APIs a while ago. But they did it too late for me. I now don't want their programs at all. I had speeddisk for NT but waited till XP came out to install it. It didn't work like all Norton's products, just blue screened. That's just theft.

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http://www.uscricket.com
"John R Weiss" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "David Candy" <.> wrote...
> All defraggers use Microsoft defrag APIs to defrag the disk. The program just
> tells windows what files it wants where.
>
> IIRC, the Symantec/Norton SpeedDisk defragger is one that does NOT use the Win
> APIs, but uses its own.
>
>

Nope, the actual array is fine. Partition tables, boot sectors etc. are all
ok and functioning. It's the MFT which appears to be broken.

I used a NTFS DOS reader to look at the disk, and it dies about a quarter
way through reading the MFT. I hid the partition with Ghost, and it actually
booted into Windows, although it resets shortly after getting to the desktop,
probably trying to access a non-existant E: drive.

"John R Weiss" wrote:

> Sounds like "something" broke the RAID array. "Something" did the same to me
> when I tried to install XP SP2, and I wound up having to re-initialize the array
> and start from scratch again. However, this time I went to RAID 1. FWIW,
> though, I had used the XP defragger several times prior to that, and it worked
> fine on the RAID 0 array.
>
> It appears that current SATA RAID controllers (mine is Promise) are too fragile
> for reliable RAID 0 operation with XP. If I were you, I'd change to RAID 1 or
> 10.

Gee Ted, thanks for that wonderful and informative post.

Just quickly, exactly how many credentials *should* you need to defrag a
volume? MCSE maybe? Or MCP?

Defrag should be as pain free as possible. It *is* expected of the common
user to be able to perform it, and maybe this shows that there is a weakness
in NTFS that can be exploited. Or possibly improved upon?

"Ted Zieglar" wrote:

> "MS screwup?"
>
> Another case of the man who can't dance complaining that the band doesn't
> know how to play.
>
> Ted Zieglar