Suggestions, PLZ, for Win-based HDD diagnostic utilities & procedures

[Susan B.]

Hi,
I've posted in another thread for some help so that I might better
understand some terminology relating to the failure of my sole internal HDD.

Now I respectfully ask for recommendations for diagnostic/repair
software to address problems with HDDs. CHKDSK runs through my entire
disk, reporting that all is OK (it isn't, as far as being able to boot
up again into WinXPproSP2).

-- What utility (-ies) are at the top of the heap for probing further,
and possibly repairing?

-- Is there anyway I might detect whether this is simply a matter of the
drive needing to be reformatted (groan), or the drive having mechanical
issues which render it essentially useless?

I now live in a rural community where, frankly, I don't have a lot of
faith in local self-pronounced computer whizzes; this is why I am
turning to you for some help. The local "gurus" say they want to run my
drive through a diagnostic that takes about 72 hours to complete. What
might /that/ be? I *know* things are screwed up!

-- Upon looking over (from an uninformed stance) diagnostic tools listed
on Majorgeeks.com, I am not any clearer on how to most safely handle
this. Recs?

I would /greatly/ appreciate you help on this.

Many, many TIA,
Sue B.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Hi,
I've posted in another thread for some help so that I might better
understand some terminology relating to the failure of my sole internal
HDD.

Now I respectfully ask for recommendations for diagnostic/repair
software to address problems with HDDs. CHKDSK runs through my entire
disk, reporting that all is OK (it isn't, as far as being able to boot
up again into WinXPproSP2).

-- What utility (-ies) are at the top of the heap for probing further,
and possibly repairing?

-- Is there anyway I might detect whether this is simply a matter of the
drive needing to be reformatted (groan), or the drive having mechanical
issues which render it essentially useless?

I now live in a rural community where, frankly, I don't have a lot of
faith in local self-pronounced computer whizzes; this is why I am
turning to you for some help. The local "gurus" say they want to run my
drive through a diagnostic that takes about 72 hours to complete. What
might /that/ be? I *know* things are screwed up!

-- Upon looking over (from an uninformed stance) diagnostic tools listed
on Majorgeeks.com, I am not any clearer on how to most safely handle
this. Recs?

I would /greatly/ appreciate you help on this.

Many, many TIA,
Sue B.

I have used Spinrite from grc.com since the days of DOS and have always
found it to be a reliable and very useful program for disk problems. I
recently used it to repair a failing disk drive so that I could clone it
to another disk. Saved me a lot of trouble trying to retrieve the data
on the drive.

 

[Dave B.]

To test the hard drive for physical failure, use the drive mfg's test
utility which is downloadable via their website.
Depending on why Windows isn't booting, chkdsk may be of no use getting it
running again if it's not a disk or partition problem. What is the actual
problem?

--

 

[Susan B.]

Hi Michael,
Wow that was fast!! I forgot to add that since I cannot boot from the
problematic HDD, might there be a bootable approach, where my only other
devices are CD ROMS and a USB-connected floppy drive?

Regards,
Sue B.

 

[Susan B.]

Thanks you, Dave B.
I *have* run the disk through the manufacturer's suite (loaded on a
low-level-bootable partition of the drive); this is a Dell creation, so
to speak (and sheesh do I *ever* hate all the crap they load onto their
machines before shipment; I couldn't talk them into sending me just a
plain computer with nothing installed!)

The drive passes its own internal self-test. I am re-running the suite
now, to make sure that its results are consistent with what CHDSK and
the initial self-test indicate, namely---The drive is "OK".

The "actual problem" is that I can no longer boot into WinXPproSP2 from
the desktop's sole internal HDD. I initially get a msg to the effect
"...\CONFIG\SYSTEM" is corrupted or missing. Please reboot from the
original installation CD, and press 'r'".

Recognize that?

Sue

 

[Jim Macklin]

Spin-Rite www.grc.com



| Hi,
| I've posted in another thread for some help so that I
might better
| understand some terminology relating to the failure of my
sole internal HDD.
|
| Now I respectfully ask for recommendations for
diagnostic/repair
| software to address problems with HDDs. CHKDSK runs
through my entire
| disk, reporting that all is OK (it isn't, as far as being
able to boot
| up again into WinXPproSP2).
|
| -- What utility (-ies) are at the top of the heap for
probing further,
| and possibly repairing?
|
| -- Is there anyway I might detect whether this is simply a
matter of the
| drive needing to be reformatted (groan), or the drive
having mechanical
| issues which render it essentially useless?
|
| I now live in a rural community where, frankly, I don't
have a lot of
| faith in local self-pronounced computer whizzes; this is
why I am
| turning to you for some help. The local "gurus" say they
want to run my
| drive through a diagnostic that takes about 72 hours to
complete. What
| might /that/ be? I *know* things are screwed up!
|
| -- Upon looking over (from an uninformed stance)
diagnostic tools listed
| on Majorgeeks.com, I am not any clearer on how to most
safely handle
| this. Recs?
|
| I would /greatly/ appreciate you help on this.
|
| Many, many TIA,
| Sue B.

 

[Dave B.]

Don't run the dell diags, get the ones specific to the drive, if it's made
by Seagate, get it from Seagate's website, Same for Western Digital,
Samsung, and so on.

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[Michael W. Ryder]

Hi Michael,
Wow that was fast!! I forgot to add that since I cannot boot from the
problematic HDD, might there be a bootable approach, where my only other
devices are CD ROMS and a USB-connected floppy drive?

SpinRite runs from a floppy drive so if the floppy is bootable it should
work fine.

 

[Bill Blanton]

"Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM "

That message means that the Windows registry is corrupt. Though
it could be due to disk corruption, it's not necessarily so. Your disk
and file system diagnostics point away from that.

Have you tried using the "Last Known Good Configuration"? Boot to the
startup menu by pressing F8 immediately following the BIOS post, but
before Windows starts to load. You'll be given the above option from
the boot menu.

If that doesn't work, then see-
How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

 

[Susan B.]

Thanks!
From what I can tell, though, I cannot boot form the floppy on my
system (the floppy drive is USB-connected). I'll give it a go from a CD/

Again, thank you.

Sue B/

 

[Bob Willard]

Spin-Rite www.grc.com

To the OP, I note that:
1. SpinRite is not free
2. It is not clear that SpinRite accomplishes any actual data repair on
a current HD (technology has changed a lot since SpinRite was created)

Hence, I don't recommend buying SpinRite, at least until you have tried
everything else. {I'm not a SpinRite hater; I have a paid-for copy.}

Chkdsk and other HD test/diagnostic apps only test that the HD's sectors
are capable of holding data; they do not verify that the data currently
residing therein is correct. From your description, it sounds as though
the registry data is corrupt, not that the underlying HD is sick. So,
if you have a XP CD, I recommend booting from that and then doing a
"repair install"; you may then need to reinstall many of your other apps
(and data), so I hope you have faithfully backed up your stuff.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

To the OP, I note that:
1. SpinRite is not free
2. It is not clear that SpinRite accomplishes any actual data repair on
a current HD (technology has changed a lot since SpinRite was created)

SpinRite has also changed a lot since the days of DOS. The newest
version supports NTFS file systems and does repair damaged disks. I had
a 100 GB master drive start failing on me. Ghost would not clone the
drive because of the errors. Running SpinRite on the drive fixed the
errors and allowed Ghost to clone the drive successfully. While
SpinRite is not free the cost is nothing compared to using a data
recovery service or the loss of important data. It is also a great
program for testing a drive if you are uncertain about it.

 

[Susan B.]

Bill,
A belated thanks for your suggestion. It did the trick. I *did* have to
go through the process manually, because I didn't know of a way to
execute the guided help (can't execute it from the Recovery Console).
And instead of using the *\restore\"hive-files", I used hives I had
explicitly saved with ERUNT. That was enough to help me bootstrap back
into a working computer again. And sheesh, did I learn some stuff along
the way.

Michael, DaveB, Bob --- Thanks so much for the attention, input and help!
Regards,
SueB

 

[Bill Blanton]

Good to hear that Sue!..you apparently do know some 'stuff' in order
to do what you did.. Belated? ... Enh, what's a couple of months