backing up files

[Bill H.]

I have winxp pro and have installed a SATA drive that came from a vista
64-bit system. All I need to do is back up the Vista drive. I suspect the
vista drive is failing, and it does not boot correctly when in the vista
computer (sometimes does, sometimes not, sometimes with error msgs, etc, and
other issues, like most services are listed as "disabled" even though
msconfig is set to normal boot), so doing the backup as safeguard.

Even if I just copy the files (vice a full backup, reset archive bit), soon
after I start the backup, I get "Delayed Write Failed, \Mft$" Does this
help to confirm the drive is failing, or is this some other issue, xp vs.
vista?

Thx.

 

[Big_Al]

Bill H. said this on 10/2/2009 3:59 PM:

I have winxp pro and have installed a SATA drive that came from a vista
64-bit system. All I need to do is back up the Vista drive. I suspect the
vista drive is failing, and it does not boot correctly when in the vista
computer (sometimes does, sometimes not, sometimes with error msgs, etc, and
other issues, like most services are listed as "disabled" even though
msconfig is set to normal boot), so doing the backup as safeguard.

Even if I just copy the files (vice a full backup, reset archive bit), soon
after I start the backup, I get "Delayed Write Failed, \Mft$" Does this
help to confirm the drive is failing, or is this some other issue, xp vs.
vista?

Thx.

Several things effect the writing to a drive.
1) the controller
2) the cable
3) the drive

Most drive manufacturers have diagnostics for their drives. Free. I
would suggest running it. If that passes then since you moved the
drive to a new cable / controller, guess what's left.

 

[Bill H.]

You see, that is what I'm trying to do, backup the data on the drive by
moving the drive to my computer and backing up to one of my hard drives
and/or my tape backup.

Therein lies the problem.

Further, I don't understand why a simple COPY operation would involve
writing to the disk (the error msg says delayed write failed to the \$Mft).
I changed my backup from reset archive bit to just copy, which I would think
should not involve a write to the disk. So that has me puzzled as well.
Thx.



--Bill

 

[Richard]

I have winxp pro and have installed a SATA drive that came from a vista
64-bit system. All I need to do is back up the Vista drive. I suspect
the vista drive is failing, and it does not boot correctly when in the
vista computer (sometimes does, sometimes not, sometimes with error
msgs, etc, and other issues, like most services are listed as "disabled"
even though msconfig is set to normal boot), so doing the backup as
safeguard.

Even if I just copy the files (vice a full backup, reset archive bit),
soon after I start the backup, I get "Delayed Write Failed, \Mft$"
Does this help to confirm the drive is failing, or is this some other
issue, xp vs. vista?

Thx.

Hi Bill,

If I understand correctly, you are booting to a Win XP installation on drive
C, and have the Vista drive set to slave? You did not mention what drive
letter, so let me refer to it as V drive. Do this:

Fresh boot into Win XP, click Start, click Run, type: CMD
and press Enter. You should be at the C:\> prompt, type this:
CHKDSK /X /R V:
and press Enter. (Change V to the Vista drive letter.)

The "X" forces a dismount of the volume. The "R" will run the file fix
stages 1, 2, and 3; and then run the Recovery stages 4 and 5. Each stage
has its own percent indicator. The percent indicates things completed, not
time. CHKDSK may appear to be hung for a long time. NEVER interrupt CHKDSK.
If the drive is larger than about 60 Gigabytes, and/or has millions of
files, it could take days, rather than hours for CHKDSK to finish. (Avoid
running CHKDSK when there is a risk of power loss due to storms.)

The "Delayed Write Failed" error is either due to file corruption affecting
the Master File Table which CHKDSK can fix, or you are losing the physical
connection to the drive before information can be flushed, so you should
check your plug connections also. Does it have sufficient power supplied?

HTH. (Hope This Helps.
--Richard

 

[Richard]

You see, that is what I'm trying to do, backup the data on the drive by
moving the drive to my computer and backing up to one of my hard drives
and/or my tape backup.

Therein lies the problem.

Further, I don't understand why a simple COPY operation would involve
writing to the disk (the error msg says delayed write failed to the
\$Mft). I changed my backup from reset archive bit to just copy, which I
would think should not involve a write to the disk. So that has me
puzzled as well. Thx.



--Bill

Hi Bill, let me re-quote part of the reply I posted earlier today:

[begin quote:]
The "Delayed Write Failed" error is either due to file corruption affecting
the Master File Table which CHKDSK can fix, or you are losing the physical
connection to the drive before information can be flushed, so you should
check your plug connections also.
[:end quote]

The clue that points to your puzzle is the term $Mft in the error message,
which indicates that the disk has NTFS formatting, with a Master File Table.
Even though a copy is only a read, it is an access and the last access time
of the file has changed. Rather than immediately update the last access
time, Windows keeps the value in memory, and delays to write the value to
disk for awhile, sometimes as long as an hour. (The system is "lazy" by
design.) The reason for the delay is logical: If it immediately wrote the
value to disk during a continuous read operation, every read operation would
be a continous write new last access time operation. The drive would be
continually thrashing back and forth between the file and the MFT area of
the disk.

This is especially a problem for external drives connected to the computer
through a USB port. The Safely Remove Hardware option needs to be used to
dismount the drive before the connection is broken. If that doesn't seem to
be working after at least 5 minutes waiting, then the computer should be
shutdown from the Start Menu Shutdown before disconnecting. And you may need
way more than a few more minutes of patience.

Another way to force a dismount:
Click Start, click Run, type or paste next line and press Enter:
fsutil volume dismount V:
(Change "V" to the correct letter of your drive.)

Make sure the problem drive is kept as cool as possible. If the computer is
plugged into an octopus outlet with numerous devices, unplug any devices
that are not needed, to minimize voltage drop.

HTH. (Hope This Helps.
--Richard