Disk Read Error

[Randem]

Every so often on my laptop Windows crashes and states that I have a Disk
Read Error and wont boot. Now before anyone goes off on a tangent there are
no viruses or anything of the sort.
I have used every utility know to the disk world and every disk utility
states that the disk is fine (except windows). Now I can boot from a CD and
read all the data with any other OS or utility that reads NT based file
structures such as Linux, Bart PE, Windows Installation CD, etc... Now I
take out my backup disk image and restore the disk and all of a sudden I can
boot and the disk is not bad!!!! None of the MS disk utilities can fix it
but a restore can???? Fixmbr and fixboot are basically worthless to me and
have never worked for any situation. What is going on here????

--
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[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

See below.

Every so often on my laptop Windows crashes and states that I have a Disk
Read Error and wont boot. Now before anyone goes off on a tangent there
are no viruses or anything of the sort.

*** Viruses do not cause "disk read errors".

I have used every utility know to the disk world and every disk utility
states that the disk is fine (except windows). Now I can boot from a CD
and read all the data with any other OS or utility that reads NT based
file structures such as Linux, Bart PE, Windows Installation CD, etc...
Now I take out my backup disk image and restore the disk and all of a
sudden I can boot and the disk is not bad!!!! None of the MS disk
utilities can fix it but a restore can????

*** Presumably your restoration effort bunched up all files at the
*** beginning of the disk, thus avoiding the suspect clusters.
*** The messages might come back later on as your disk fills up.

Fixmbr and fixboot are basically worthless to me and have never worked for
any situation.

*** Fixmbr and fixboot were never intended to repair bad
*** clusters. They will restore the boot environment, nothing else.

What is going on here????

*** Perhaps a temperature-dependent bad cluster problem.

 

[Randem]

Ok, but why does no disk utility find this error and this only happens AFTER
I shut down the computer. The next time I attempt to boot then BAM!!! Disk
Read Error. The computer is cold at that point. but after hours of disk
usage restoring a 160GB image I can run for a few months again? The OS is
the only thing that sees a problem...

--
Randem Systems
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org

 

[philo]

Every so often on my laptop Windows crashes and states that I have a Disk
Read Error and wont boot. Now before anyone goes off on a tangent there are
no viruses or anything of the sort.
I have used every utility know to the disk world and every disk utility
states that the disk is fine (except windows). Now I can boot from a CD and
read all the data with any other OS or utility that reads NT based file
structures such as Linux, Bart PE, Windows Installation CD, etc... Now I
take out my backup disk image and restore the disk and all of a sudden I can
boot and the disk is not bad!!!! None of the MS disk utilities can fix it
but a restore can???? Fixmbr and fixboot are basically worthless to me and
have never worked for any situation. What is going on here????

First off I've often enough seen drives that were definitely bad...
pass the manufacturer's diagnostic test...
however, if you re-imaged your drive from a backup and have never seen the
error again...
your drive must be OK I'd think.

It might have been a logical drive error of some type.

What you should have done is either scheduled a chkdsk /f
from the command prompt

or have run a chkdsk /r from the repair console


But fixmbr or fixboot would of course not have done you any good...
they'd be used for bootloader or mbr problems.

Anyway...you were quite wise for imaging your drive!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Ok, but why does no disk utility find this error and this only happens
AFTER I shut down the computer. The next time I attempt to boot then
BAM!!! Disk Read Error. The computer is cold at that point. but after
hours of disk usage restoring a 160GB image I can run for a few months
again? The OS is the only thing that sees a problem...

Different disk checking tools use different algorithms to detect disk
problems. It appears that you're moving in a grey area where your disk
passes some checks and fails others. If you're supremely confident that
there is nothing wrong with your disk, keep it. If not, replace it. To get
more opinions, repost your question in a hardware-focused newsgroup. They
will probably recommend that you run the disk manufacturers "deep test".

BTW, why does it take you "hours" to perform a restoration? Disk imaging
tools such as Acronis TrueImage can do it much faster!

 

[Jim]

Different disk checking tools use different algorithms to detect disk
problems. It appears that you're moving in a grey area where your disk
passes some checks and fails others. If you're supremely confident that
there is nothing wrong with your disk, keep it. If not, replace it. To get
more opinions, repost your question in a hardware-focused newsgroup. They
will probably recommend that you run the disk manufacturers "deep test".

BTW, why does it take you "hours" to perform a restoration? Disk imaging
tools such as Acronis TrueImage can do it much faster!

Yes, ATI does a restoration much faster...
The one and only time that I have ever had to reinstall XP (from full
backups on double layer DVDs), the time taken was about:
30 minutes to consolidate the backup into a single file
15 minutes to down load the backup.
30 minutes to bring the newly restored backup to current.

That is about an hour and 15 minutes. In contrast, I have spent most of two
days reinstalling from the assorted CDs that must be used.
Jim

 

[Randem]

It's not failing on others just Windows. All "DEEP TEST" are good. It takes
hours because I have to update the backup to current (copy data files)
before I restore.

It's WINDOWS not hardware... But I guess thats why FIXMBR and FIXBOOT don't
work IT"S HARDWARE???? Yet the restore works... What a JOKE!!!!

--
Randem Systems
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

It's not failing on others just Windows. All "DEEP TEST" are good. It
takes hours because I have to update the backup to current (copy data
files) before I restore.

It's WINDOWS not hardware... But I guess thats why FIXMBR and FIXBOOT
don't work IT"S HARDWARE???? Yet the restore works... What a JOKE!!!!

You've had two people telling you independently that fixboot and fixmbr are
not designed to repair disk cluster errors, yet you persist in blaming these
boot repair tools for some obscure reason. Why?

 

[Randem]

Why not read or comprehend???? They are not disk Cluster errors and I did
not blame those tools. I said they are a joke to fix the error (MS states to
use these for that error). I already know what they aren't... Geezz!!! Old
disk or new disk it happens. comprehending the post would help when
attempting to give an answer.

Besides Those two people are wrong and why would I listen to wrong
explainations????

--
Randem Systems
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org

 

[Monitor]

You've had two people telling you independently that fixboot and fixmbr are
not designed to repair disk cluster errors, yet you persist in blaming these
boot repair tools for some obscure reason. Why?

It is obvious that Randem's mind is made up - there is no point at all in
trying to confuse him with facts.

 

[teldave]

Why not read or comprehend???? They are not disk Cluster errors and I did
not blame those tools. I said they are a joke to fix the error (MS statesto
use these for that error). I already know what they aren't... Geezz!!! Old
disk or new disk it happens. comprehending the post would help when
attempting to give an answer.

Besides Those two people are wrong and why would I listen to wrong
explainations????

Hi,
Maybe this will sound too simple but have you checked the cables from
the motherboard to the hard drive.
Over the years I have seen this problem fixed by removing the cable
and installing it again or even replacing the cable. A loose or dirty
connection won't give a consistant, fault it will be intermittant.
The reason the restore worked was the OS probably got corrupted and
only the restore could fix it.
I have seen this problem with a USB stick attached or floppy disk in
the drive but I'm sure you have made sure that these two things
weren't the cause.
I have also seen HD's pass all sorts of tests and then fail so if you
have an on going problem replace the disk, they are cheap enough and
all the time you have spent so far probably would have paid for a
couple of new ones.
As far as virus's go you can never be sure you haven't got one,
particularly rootkits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit but I'll
check the simple things first.

Best Dave

 

[Randem]

Facts, you guys are so off base. If I had disk cluster errors I could not
read the data from the drive to update my backup drive then restore the
whole drive to have a bootable drive once again on the same drive.

Beside by your example all the drives have "Disk Cluster Errors" in exactly
the same spot.... You really should gather more knowledge instead of just
repeating what others say... Parrots can do that... I have been doing these
sorts of things longer than probably most of you have been alive... GET
SMART.

--
Randem Systems
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org

 

[Monitor]

Facts, you guys are so off base. If I had disk cluster errors I could not
read the data from the drive to update my backup drive then restore the
whole drive to have a bootable drive once again on the same drive.

Beside by your example all the drives have "Disk Cluster Errors" in exactly
the same spot.... You really should gather more knowledge instead of just
repeating what others say... Parrots can do that... I have been doing these
sorts of things longer than probably most of you have been alive... GET
SMART.

I was referring to your repeated and patently incorrect claim that the
commands fixboot and/or fixmbr can repair bad clusters. They can't and they
never will, no matter how often you parrot your own claim. You appear to be
a fine illustration about wisdom not coming automatically with old age -
sometimes it's just senility.

 

[Randem]

Please re-read and comprehend. I NEVER STATED that fixboot or fixmbr did
anything. I stated they do nothing for me in any situation, no matter what
computer they were run on. But you will probably mis-read and mis-comprehend
this also... Sad is our education system...

--
Randem Systems
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org

 

[Randem]

It seems that Apple iTunes software is the cause of the crash. It seems that
the only fix is to restore from a backup. Since my backups do not have
iTunes installed everything works fine until I install iTunes and soon after
that BOOM!!!

--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
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