repair NTFS: better than chkdsk?

[Hugo Trebl]

Hi all
got some bad sectors on a hard drive recently.
Most things are backed up, but, as usual, not everything in the most
recent version.

I attempted to relocate the data in the damaged sectors with Spinrite,
which reported some partial success.
I also cloned the disc in case further sectors go bad. (I no longer use
it for work)

Now the NTFS file system is naturally still damaged. What steps should
I take to fix it?

Is chkdsk /r my best choice or is there a better tool?

My main concern is finding out which files are most likely corrupted,
and my second concern to recover what is salvageable.
I want to know which files are likely to be damaged so I know which
ones to restore from previous versions, and which ones to keep.
chkdsk (whitout /r) finds several errors, but reports mainly file
numbers and file segment numbers, so is not very helpful with assessing
the damage. I don't know how good it is with repairing.

Any other options?

I am sorry, I posted this three days ago in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain but noone seemd to know an
answer, so I am retrying here.

 

[Kerry Brown]

If Spinrite can't repair the disk it is no good. Get what you can off it and
trash it.

 

[Hugo Trebl]

Sprinrite claims to have relocated most of the data in the bad sectors,
but spinrite does not deal with the filesystem. The filesystem is still
corrupt, and several folders cannot be accessed

I made tests by cloning the disc and running chkdsk on the clone, and
was able to recover some more of the files I was still missing.
However, chkdsk did not tell me which files where affected by the bad
sectors, and it gave no clue whether those files can be trusted to be
intact

I was just wondering if there is something better than chkdsk in
dealing with filesystem corruption.
I think back in the days of FAT Norton Disc Doctor could sometimes do a
better job than scandisk, but I don't trust norton nowadays

 

[Davy]

Further to Kerry's reply..

Don't be tempted to throw the hard drive away.... smash it up firs
ensuring the disc's or platters are damaged... unless of cours
there's no personal or private data stored

Dav

 

[Hugo Trebl]

uhm, thanks for your concern, I think I will eventually disassemble the
drive, maybe I can keep some of the magnets too.

But right now my only urgent concern is SALVAGING the data (which was
partially restored by spinrite but is right now in an inconsistent ntfs
filesystem, so I cannot access it completely)

So, chkdsk or something else?

 

[Kerry Brown]

Sprinrite claims to have relocated most of the data in the bad
sectors, but spinrite does not deal with the filesystem. The
filesystem is still corrupt, and several folders cannot be accessed

I made tests by cloning the disc and running chkdsk on the clone, and
was able to recover some more of the files I was still missing.
However, chkdsk did not tell me which files where affected by the bad
sectors, and it gave no clue whether those files can be trusted to be
intact

I was just wondering if there is something better than chkdsk in
dealing with filesystem corruption.
I think back in the days of FAT Norton Disc Doctor could sometimes do
a better job than scandisk, but I don't trust norton nowadays

You've gone about it the right way but make sure you keep at least one clone
that you don't do anything to. Once you've recovered anything you can from a
clone then have a go at the original drive before you trash it. With bad
sectors chkdsk sometimes loses more than it fixes but I don't know of a
better alternative. Ontrack (www.ontrack.com) has a good reputation. I have
never used their data recovery tools so I can't make a personal
recommendation. If the data is very important to you do nothing more to the
drive. You may make it worse. It will cost some money but the best bet is a
data recovery specialist.

 

[Malke]

uhm, thanks for your concern, I think I will eventually disassemble
the drive, maybe I can keep some of the magnets too.

But right now my only urgent concern is SALVAGING the data (which was
partially restored by spinrite but is right now in an inconsistent
ntfs filesystem, so I cannot access it completely)

So, chkdsk or something else?

You can try salvaging the data by either booting with Knoppix, a Linux
distro that runs from cd, or data recovery software. Here is
information about Knoppix and some links for data recovery software:

An easy way to retrieve Windows files is to boot with Knoppix, a Linux
distro on a live cd. You will need a computer with two cd drives, one
of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to
hold your data OR an external hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS). To
get Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet connection and
third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso from
www.knoppix.net and create your bootable cd. Then boot with it and it
will be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the usb thumb
drive or the external hard drive, right-click on its icon (on the
Desktop) to get its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read
Only". Then click on it to open it. Note that the default mouse action
in the window manager used by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open
instead of the traditional MS Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the
K3b burning program to burn the files to cd/dvd-r's.

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/
Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/

Professional data recovery companies:
DriveSavers - http://www.drivesavers.com
Seagate Data Recovery Services -
http://www.seagate.com/support/service/drs/services.html

Malke