(Another) Delayed Write Failure post

[Guest]

Like many others I'm experiencing the dreaded "Delayed Write Failure" on a
relatively new USB 2.0 drive. I've tried all the suggestions offered in other
posts (eg turning off write ahead, etc.) and none of the KB articles I've
read apply.

I've got the following:
Seagate 250GB hard drive
Ultra enclosure
Adaptec USB 2.0 adaptor
Windows XP SP2 with all the updates known to mankind (or at least Microsoft).

The specific error is: "Windows was unable to save all the data for the file
D:\$Mft. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of
your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file
elsewhere."

This error occurs for no apparent reason, I'm not writing anything to the
drive when it happens, I'm occationally reading, but not always. I use the
drive primarily for WMA files, the error does not seem to relate to actually
playing the music as it occurs most often without any media player running.

Any new suggestions on how to address this or work around it? Thanks for any
help you can offer.

Mike

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Like many others I'm experiencing the dreaded "Delayed Write
Failure" on a relatively new USB 2.0 drive. I've tried all the
suggestions offered in other posts (eg turning off write ahead,
etc.) and none of the KB articles I've read apply.

I've got the following:
Seagate 250GB hard drive
Ultra enclosure
Adaptec USB 2.0 adaptor
Windows XP SP2 with all the updates known to mankind (or at least
Microsoft).

The specific error is: "Windows was unable to save all the data for
the file D:\$Mft. The data has been lost. This error may be caused
by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection.
Please try to save this file elsewhere."

This error occurs for no apparent reason, I'm not writing anything
to the drive when it happens, I'm occationally reading, but not
always. I use the drive primarily for WMA files, the error does not
seem to relate to actually playing the music as it occurs most
often without any media player running.

Any new suggestions on how to address this or work around it?
Thanks for any help you can offer.

Copy off the data and get a replacement drive.. That can also be a sign of a
drive going bad.
(You could run a full CHKDSK and go to the manufacturer's web site to get a
utility to test the drive.)

 

[Guest]

The file seems to be like a temporary file. Do a scan on your D drive. Open
My Computer - right click on your D Drive - choose Properties - click Tools -
then click Check Now. If asked to schedule the scan for next restart - click
Yes. Restart your computer. While scaning see if it says something about that
particular file.

As said by Shenan - before replacing the Hard Disk, you should try another
ways. Like if you are sure that you don't need this file then delete this
file and if you are unable to delete this file then try deleting this file in
Safe Mode.

Hope this help, let us know.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq.]

| Mike Wachal wrote:
| > Like many others I'm experiencing the dreaded "Delayed Write
| > Failure" on a relatively new USB 2.0 drive. I've tried all the
| > suggestions offered in other posts (eg turning off write ahead,
| > etc.) and none of the KB articles I've read apply.
| >
| > I've got the following:
| > Seagate 250GB hard drive
| > Ultra enclosure
| > Adaptec USB 2.0 adaptor
| > Windows XP SP2 with all the updates known to mankind (or at least
| > Microsoft).
| >
| > The specific error is: "Windows was unable to save all the data for
| > the file D:\$Mft. The data has been lost. This error may be caused
| > by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection.
| > Please try to save this file elsewhere."
| >
| > This error occurs for no apparent reason, I'm not writing anything
| > to the drive when it happens, I'm occationally reading, but not
| > always. I use the drive primarily for WMA files, the error does not
| > seem to relate to actually playing the music as it occurs most
| > often without any media player running.
| >
| > Any new suggestions on how to address this or work around it?
| > Thanks for any help you can offer.
|
| Copy off the data and get a replacement drive.. That can also be a sign of a
| drive going bad.
| (You could run a full CHKDSK and go to the manufacturer's web site to get a
| utility to test the drive.)
|
| --
| Shenan Stanley
| MS-MVP
| --
| How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
|
|


I'd say Windows XP was going bad long before the drive was going bad...but if
you insist on continuing to use the drive, it will go bad amazingly fast. Heck,
you'll get Delayed Write Errors while reformatting it! Try the drive on another
machine with a different OS, like Me or 98SE and see if your drive behaves
properly...I betcha it works like a charm.

 

[Guest]

It's unlikely the drive is bad as it's a brand new drive. (Less than two
months old.) I'll see if I can track down a drive test utility from Seagate
and run checkdsk though, just for good measure.

I'll assume that moving to Windows ME was a joke. <g>

Mike

 

[Guest]

My guess is that $Mft is the Master File Table, which I believe has something
to do with tracking information about what is stored on the drive. I'll see
if a scan says anything about the file, but I don't think it's one that can
be removed.

Mike

 

[Leythos]

It's unlikely the drive is bad as it's a brand new drive. (Less than two
months old.) I'll see if I can track down a drive test utility from Seagate
and run checkdsk though, just for good measure.

Assuming a drive that is newer than 90 days old is good just because of
age, well, that's a bad idea. Drives fail during the first 90 days all
the time, and they go bad anytime, but the first 90 days is critical.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

"Mike Wachal" wrote:

It's most likely a dying HD. External enclosures kill 'em like flies.

That most likely means what it says. It sounds like you're using NTFS
on the drive, as \$MFT = Master File Table, i.e. the holy nads of the
NTFS file system. You could be in the process of losing data, big
time, and while NTFS's AutoChk or ChkDsk will paper this over and
"fix" the file system, that only makes it even more impossible to get
lost data back. NTFS has very poor "deep" recovery tools.

Don't worry, XP will be constantly scribbling on the drive...
- indexing, thumbnails and "last accessed" values
- System Restore
....and every directory update can fail and eat whatever was supposed
to be there. The MFT is an even greater opportunity to lose masses of
data suddenly, irrespective of which directory was in use.

1) Evacuate data from HD before it fails
2) Check drive for heat, SMART error detail, surface errors
3) Ensure enclosure allows proper cooling of the HD (few do)
4) Ensure the HD's power supply is adequate (USB isn't enough)

Also be *meticulous* about handling and managing the HD:
- always "stop" the drive via SysTray before removal
- unplug USB cable when safe to remove
- only when unplugged, power off the drive
- don't move or bump HD when powered up or still spinning down
- don't boot with the HD in place
- don't install Windows with the HD in place

The USB interface may mask the drive's IDE interface from SMART
diagnostics, including temperature readings - and the chances are that
if you could see these, you'd see high temeratures (>40C) and climbing
error counts in the raw SMART data, even if SMART summary and ChkDsk
with the /R parameter tell you everything's OK.

Try www.hdtune.com, though you may have to connect the HD via IDE to
use this effectively. Unplug PC from mains when (un)hooking up HD.

The file seems to be like a temporary file.

HA! You wish... not everything with $ at one end of the name is temp;
in fact, names starting with $ are more likely to be core NTFS
structures. Unlike FATxx, the file system structure of NTFS is itself
in the form of (very hidden) files.

Do a scan on your D drive.

Evacuate data first. Windows is a dangerous place for at-risk drives,
but as it's NTFS, you don't have many options; the best ones are Bart
CDR boot or a Linux that can read NTFS, e.g. Knoppix CDR boot.

As said by Shenan - before replacing the Hard Disk, you should try
another ways.

Rubbish. If the HD is dying - and I don't see any evidence to the
contrary, and very good evidence to suggest it is - then nothing else
will change that. While you faff around with pointless
flower-arranging in Windows, the HD is liable to lose data and may
well die completely, killing all data on it in the process.

Like if you are sure that you don't need this file then delete this
file and if you are unable to delete this file then try deleting this file in
Safe Mode.

You need the Master File Table. Trust me on that one ;-)

--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

Tech Support: The guys who follow the
'Parade of New Products' with a shovel.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq.]

That most likely means what it says. It sounds like you're using NTFS
on the drive, as \$MFT = Master File Table, i.e. the holy nads of the
NTFS file system. You could be in the process of losing data, big
time, and while NTFS's AutoChk or ChkDsk will paper this over and
"fix" the file system, that only makes it even more impossible to get
lost data back. NTFS has very poor "deep" recovery tools.


Don't worry, XP will be constantly scribbling on the drive...
- indexing, thumbnails and "last accessed" values
- System Restore
...and every directory update can fail and eat whatever was supposed
to be there. The MFT is an even greater opportunity to lose masses of
data suddenly, irrespective of which directory was in use.


1) Evacuate data from HD before it fails
2) Check drive for heat, SMART error detail, surface errors
3) Ensure enclosure allows proper cooling of the HD (few do)
4) Ensure the HD's power supply is adequate (USB isn't enough)

Also be *meticulous* about handling and managing the HD:
- always "stop" the drive via SysTray before removal
- unplug USB cable when safe to remove
- only when unplugged, power off the drive
- don't move or bump HD when powered up or still spinning down
- don't boot with the HD in place
- don't install Windows with the HD in place

The USB interface may mask the drive's IDE interface from SMART
diagnostics, including temperature readings - and the chances are that
if you could see these, you'd see high temeratures (>40C) and climbing
error counts in the raw SMART data, even if SMART summary and ChkDsk
with the /R parameter tell you everything's OK.

Try www.hdtune.com, though you may have to connect the HD via IDE to
use this effectively. Unplug PC from mains when (un)hooking up HD.


HA! You wish... not everything with $ at one end of the name is temp;
in fact, names starting with $ are more likely to be core NTFS
structures. Unlike FATxx, the file system structure of NTFS is itself
in the form of (very hidden) files.


Evacuate data first. Windows is a dangerous place for at-risk drives,
but as it's NTFS, you don't have many options; the best ones are Bart
CDR boot or a Linux that can read NTFS, e.g. Knoppix CDR boot.


Rubbish. If the HD is dying - and I don't see any evidence to the
contrary, and very good evidence to suggest it is - then nothing else
will change that. While you faff around with pointless
flower-arranging in Windows, the HD is liable to lose data and may
well die completely, killing all data on it in the process.


You need the Master File Table. Trust me on that one ;-)

You may be able to get the drive back from dysfunction by Quick Formatting it to
FAT 32 within Win XP, then use the drive on another machine. I have been here.
Why is this happening? The drive is dying because Win XP is KILLING IT! Just get
the drive formatted and OFF the OFFENDING OS.

Does Windows MCE 2005 cause these kinds of USB 2.0 problems? If it doesn't, that
will be my next OS.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq.]

It's unlikely the drive is bad as it's a brand new drive. (Less than
two months old.) I'll see if I can track down a drive test utility
from Seagate and run checkdsk though, just for good measure.

I'll assume that moving to Windows ME was a joke. <g>

Mike

I lost my internet connection while typing up a reply, so I have to start all
over again.
Moving to Win ME/98Se was a sick truth. However, ME/98SE are fast becoming
internet unworthy OS's.
I wonder if Win MCE 2005 would have a better track record with USB 2.0 ports and
external hard drives.

I've tried the hard drive utilities before, and the results have little in
common with what Win XP was doing to the HDD. Try it and report back, if you
dare. I believe the utilties will be a futile exercise that will only confound
you concerning the status of your HDD. You are putting your HDD at extreme risk
the longer it is plugged into the machine. Win XP is just screwing it over as
the seconds tick by. You'll be lucky to Quick Reformat the external drive before
the drive is corrupted beyond repair by XP, there is that canyon of risk staring
you in the face all the way. Try formatting for four partitions on the drive, so
if one partition goes down, you still have 3 others.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the detailed reply and the many suggestions about correct handling
of the drive. For the record, I have copied all the data to another drive so
there is no worry about losing any information.

I've run the Seagate utilities on the disk. The HD scan reported that the
drive was fine but a "File System Scan" (what ever that is) claimed that
there were file system errors that needed to be corrected. I ran chkdsk /f
but did not see anything reported as being fixed.

I've installed HDTune and am scanning the drive with that tool, but it
appears that the USB interface is blocking the SMART statistics as you
suggested it might. I don't really expect much to come of this, but figured
it was worth a try.

I'm waiting to hear back from Seagate regarding the next steps, I've pretty
much exhausted the test I can perform myself, short of putting the drive
directly into the computer, which to my mind changes the configuration so
much as to make the test pointless to support the current configuration.

Any other suggestions are of course appreciated, we'll see what Seagate has
to say.

Mike