Drive Errors

[mcp6453]

Computer:
Intel 865 Motherboard
- OEM drivers installed
- Latest BIOS flashed
Fresh install of XP2 SP2
- All updates applied
Seagate 40GB Barracuda IDE Drive
- NTFS partition created by XP

After creating this fresh install, I tried to create an image of the
drive using BootItNG to store on DVD. (I'm very familiar with this
process and know that I am not doing anything incorrectly.) BING
reported that it was having a problem reading the data on the drive. I
ran scandisk/chkdsk from within Windows with Automatically Fix File
System Errors checked, and it reported no problems. Running BING again
reported the same errors.

Not know which program is incorrect, I ran Seagate Seatools. Here are
the errors it reported:

File Structure Test Result:

Partition 1 (NTFS (40 GB) ) Result: Failed with critical Errors

The following errors were found while scanning the volume:
- One or more errors were found in the index
- One or more errors were found in metadata file records
- Other errors were found

So it appears that Windows is overlooking these errors, since everything
is running correctly, but BING and Seagate are finding errors. This
computer will be used for a critical purpose, and I am not willing to
trust it. Is there a utility that can properly diagnose and correct
whatever file system errors are there?

 

[DL]

Generally the hd manu utility will correctly report disk errors.
If it does, and you say the hd will contain critical data, then replace it,
its not worth the risk even if you can 'repair'

 

[mcp6453]

Generally the hd manu utility will correctly report disk errors.
If it does, and you say the hd will contain critical data, then replace it,
its not worth the risk even if you can 'repair'

The errors are Windows File System errors...not hard drive errors. I
will not use a drive that has any surface errors.

 

[Mistoffolees]

mcp6453 wrote:

The errors are Windows File System errors...not hard drive errors. I
will not use a drive that has any surface errors.

Irrelevant. It is the media that is important and when it
is defective, Windows (or any other OS with the capability)
will attempt to compensate for it by using error-correction
algorithms based, for instance, on Solomon-Reed CRC, etc.,
and it is possible because data is "interleaved" on the HD,
that the data is not physically contiguous. Disc imaging
software do a sector-by-sector (i.e., contiguous) copy and
any loss of integrity from one sector to the next results in
the error report. Such apps are also not capable of "fixing"
an error since it has no way of "guessing" what the missing
or damaged cluster should be.

For mission-critical use, physical HD defects which are not
locked out are unacceptable because one can never have 100%
confidence in the device. (BTW, all HD's have errors; it is
its capability to identify these clusters and remove them
from use that is important.) Your original instincts were
correct.