chkdsk

[Guest]

Well I had a problem with a drive after a crash and ran chkdsk/f as was
requested, it found a lot of problems which it corrected, and manged to
delete about 15 gig of files (it seemed to zero size some large files that I
had, i.e they changed for 1.5 gig to 0k ect) It only produced 3 files in its
found dir which were also 0k so i deleted them. The files that it reduced to
0k were in a few directories and I certainly don't think I had all the files
open at the time. I simply deleted the 0k versions of the files and replaced
them. I then used chkdsk/f to check all the other partitions on my computer
(i have 4). I have no list of files that it changed, I only recognised 3
when watching the screen. I checked for a log but I could only find one for
the last time it was run which was on one of the other partitions.

My question is does this mean that chkdsk only altered those files that
became 0k, I dont really mind about that, just so long as I know what those
files were, the problem is if it altered lots of files that I dont know of so
dont know I need to replace (that hard drive is quite large).

Thanks for any help

 

[Rock]

Well I had a problem with a drive after a crash and ran chkdsk/f as was
requested, it found a lot of problems which it corrected, and manged to
delete about 15 gig of files (it seemed to zero size some large files that I
had, i.e they changed for 1.5 gig to 0k ect) It only produced 3 files in its
found dir which were also 0k so i deleted them. The files that it reduced to
0k were in a few directories and I certainly don't think I had all the files
open at the time. I simply deleted the 0k versions of the files and replaced
them. I then used chkdsk/f to check all the other partitions on my computer
(i have 4). I have no list of files that it changed, I only recognised 3
when watching the screen. I checked for a log but I could only find one for
the last time it was run which was on one of the other partitions.

My question is does this mean that chkdsk only altered those files that
became 0k, I dont really mind about that, just so long as I know what those
files were, the problem is if it altered lots of files that I dont know of so
dont know I need to replace (that hard drive is quite large).

Thanks for any help

Unfortunately chkdsk doesn't give much information on what it did. I
doubt that anyone can tell you what happened when chkdsk did it's thing.

The best way around this in the future is always have a full and
complete backup. Consider using a drive imaging program. This makes an
exact image of the partition which can be saved on CD/DVD or to another
drive - internal or external. Imaging to an external USB 2.0 / Firewire
drive works well. Then occasionally burning an image to DVD gives you
redundancy. Restores can be done of the entire partition or individual
files / folders. These work well and make it easy to recover from a
drive crash. Examples of this are:

Norton Ghost 10
Acronis True Image
Terabyte Unlimited's Image for Windows
CasperXP

 

[coal_brona]

Greetings,


speakiing about backup tools, I suppose using Disk Image utility. This
is a really useful and reliable tool, it is capable of making images of
the whole HDD or single partitions. It also allows browsing and using
single files within image. The tool itself can be found on a data tools
CD image, Active@ Boot Disk, that also includes other mighty tools for
data recovery and destruction.

http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk.htm

 

[Steve N.]

Unfortunately chkdsk doesn't give much information on what it did. I
doubt that anyone can tell you what happened when chkdsk did it's thing.

This is about as close as I've been able to find explaing the things
chkdsk does, but alothough very good info it admittedly leaves out some
details:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=187941&sd=RMVP

The best way around this in the future is always have a full and
complete backup. Consider using a drive imaging program. This makes an
exact image of the partition which can be saved on CD/DVD or to another
drive - internal or external. Imaging to an external USB 2.0 / Firewire
drive works well. Then occasionally burning an image to DVD gives you
redundancy. Restores can be done of the entire partition or individual
files / folders. These work well and make it easy to recover from a
drive crash. Examples of this are:

Norton Ghost 10
Acronis True Image
Terabyte Unlimited's Image for Windows
CasperXP

Backup, backup, backup. Always the best advice. There's no such thing
as too many backups.

Steve N.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Understanding what CHKDSK does
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314835/en-us#XSLTH3154121123120121120120

From...
An explanation of the new /C and /I Switches that are available to use with
Chkdsk.exe
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314835

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In