chkdsk stuck at 0% in stage 4

[remay]

Using Win XP SP2 plus updates. I have two internal hard drives. My data drive
is a SATA wd800 and I am using the entire disk as drive F. I started having
BSODs so I scheduled chkdsk to run.

After reboot, it ran fine on the root disk (partition C and 2nd partition
D), and starts okay on F, but when it gets to 'verifying file data (stage 4
of 5)', it never starts, it is stuck at 0%. The disk activity light is solid
(no flickering), and I don't hear any activity either. I have left it in this
state for over an hour a couple of times with no success in getting it to
start.

Is it normal for chkdsk to take this long before starting? I didn't take
this long for the other file systems, but the other disk is an IDE ATA drive,
and this one is an SATA drive.

Any thoughts on what I should do?

 

[Bob Harris]

If anything a SATA disk is faster than an IDE/ATA disk, so that is not the
problem.

By mentioning "stage 4 of 5" I assume that you requested a CHKDSK F: /R.
The "/R" option not only checks files, but also all free space on the
partition. The running time is approximately proportional to the size of
the free-space on the partition.

However, I have checked 100 Gig partitions, and in less than an hour the
progress has always been well beyond 0% for stage 4.

At this point I suggest that you try running the XP recovery console from
the XP CDROM (if you have one), or from the multi-floppy set that is a free
download from Microsoft. The floppy set is called "setup disks":

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994

Note: You might be able to run the recovery console from a random XP CDROM
or even from a Vista DVD and certainly from a Windows PE CDROM (if you can
find one). Note that "repair" and "recovery console" are quite different in
XP. Be sure to read these links on how to invoke the recovery console and
not a repair installation at this time:

http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm
http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy33.htm (near bottom)

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_rec.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

Finally, most hard drive manufactures offer free software, which tests their
hard drives. These usually come as *.ISO files that you burn to CD via a
program like Nero or Easy CD Creator, which support "burn form image". Do
not simply drag&drop an ISO file to a CD. WD calls their tools "Data
Lifeguard" and offer both CD image sand floppy images. Further, they offer
it as a windows-based installer, that can be used if the basic windows setup
is still usable. But, the use of the CD or floppy will eliminate XP as a
possible source of problems when checking the disk.

WARNING: Some manuafacture tests are "destructive". Avoid anything that
sounds like "format", "erase", "partition", or worse "low-level format".

 

[Bob Harris]

One other note on the recovery console:

If running the recovery console or similar Microsoft product, you may need
to have SATA drivers on a floppy and hit F6 during the boot process to
install them into memory. If the recovery console can not see any SATA
disks, needing drivers is the most likely cause. These would be the same
drivers you installed (if any) when you installed XP on the WD drives.
These drivers come form the motherboard maker, not the drive maker. (If the
PC came with XP pre-installed, then the PC maker handled the drivers for
you. Note that XP has a limited support for a very few SATA controllers, so
sometimes SATA will work without extra drivers.)

 

[remay]

I assume chkdsk was done with /r. I didn't actually execute chkdsk - it was
done as a result of running Norton Disk Doctor, but I believe I did check an
option to check free space.

I forgot to mention the filesystem is NTFS, and it is one single filesystem
for the entire disk (80 GB). The filesystem is about 86% full (~10GB free). I
have since 'skipped' the chkdsk operation for F during another aborted/reboot
session, and now XP is back up and running with no apparent issues, other
than WinXP "found" the F hard drive again and re-installed it. chkdsk f: /c
runs fine from a DOS window, but it only does the 1st 3 stages.

I can use the recovery programs from my WinXP CD, but since F is not a
bootable drive and strictly data, is it necessary to use the recovery
programs? Before/If I do use the recovery programs, I am going to acquire a
2nd SATA internal hard drive and copy all data from the 'suspect one' to the
new one, so that I have a complete backup. I have already backed up my
critical data.


:
By mentioning "stage 4 of 5" I assume that you requested a CHKDSK F: /R.

At this point I suggest that you try running the XP recovery console from
the XP CDROM (if you have one),