XP Repeatedly Runs CHKDSK

[Robert Lee]

What does it mean that XP is repeatedly running CHKDSK on my external hard
drive? It happens about once a week and, after the first time, didn't find
significant problems. The hard drive is a 1 terabyte Western Digital drive
that is about two years old.

I saw a post that it means that my drive is about to fail. Does that sound
right? Would formatting my hard drive address the problem?

 

[smlunatick]

What does it mean that XP is repeatedly running CHKDSK on my external hard
drive?  It happens about once a week and, after the first time, didn't find
significant problems.  The hard drive is a 1 terabyte Western Digital drive
that is about two years old.

I saw a post that it means that my drive is about to fail.  Does that sound
right?  Would formatting my hard drive address the problem?

I would download a few drive testing tools. Your drive is becoming
unstable and not matter how many times you format it, if the hardware
is beginning to fail, the drive will fail.

 

[John Inzer]

What does it mean that XP is repeatedly running CHKDSK on my external
hard drive? It happens about once a week and, after the first time,
didn't find significant problems. The hard drive is a 1 terabyte
Western Digital drive that is about two years old.

I saw a post that it means that my drive is about to fail. Does that
sound right? Would formatting my hard drive address the problem?

===================================
I'm not certain that the following article is
relevant but it may be worth a look:

(929755) The Chkdsk tool automatically starts
scanning a disk when you start a computer that
is running Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929755/

If you have not installed SP3...maybe that would
be worth a try:

--

J. Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Robert Lee]

Thanks for the response. I looked at the article you mentioned but it refers
to a related, but different, problem.

Your response alerted me to the fact that the Event Viewer might shed light

 

[db]

if there are files on that
drive that are not indexed,

the master file table will
not be current.

the check disk reconciles /
updates the master file table
with the files on the disk.

as to why check disk initiates
at each boot up, can be
explained by the above.

as to why you continue to
have un indexed files is something
you need to look into.

try running a chkdsk /p
on that drive

--------

I am not a fan of single
partitions especially giant
ones, for a number of
reasons.

that said, if you divided
up that drive into a number
of partitions,

chkdsk's, defrags and overall
file management would be
more efficient.
--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen

 

[BillW50]

In db typed on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:33:59 -0500:
[...]

I am not a fan of single
partitions especially giant
ones, for a number of
reasons.

that said, if you divided
up that drive into a number
of partitions,

chkdsk's, defrags and overall
file management would be
more efficient.

Maybe so, but disk space is far less efficient. You end up with too much
space on one partition and not enough on another after some amount of
time. Then you use partition managers over and over again and one day it
screws up and toasts everything in the partition. If you left everything
as one partition in the first place, none of this would have ever
happened. Want to chkdsk or defrag? Just fire up BartPE or WinPE and let
it run. And if you want to image the drive, the xPE boot disks, CDs, and
flash drives can do that too. I understand that WinPE includes Norton's
Ghost v11. Can anybody verify this?

 

[db]

frankly, you can post your
opinion and suggestion
independently

instead of piggy backing
the responses of others.

I "could care less" if you
like single partitions.

my suggestion as posted,
stands.

if the o.p. chooses to
consider it or not, is the
o.p.'s choice.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen

In db typed on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:33:59 -0500:
[...]

I am not a fan of single
partitions especially giant
ones, for a number of
reasons.

that said, if you divided
up that drive into a number
of partitions,

chkdsk's, defrags and overall
file management would be
more efficient.

Maybe so, but disk space is far less efficient. You end up with too much space on one partition and not enough on another after
some amount of time. Then you use partition managers over and over again and one day it screws up and toasts everything in the
partition. If you left everything as one partition in the first place, none of this would have ever happened. Want to chkdsk or
defrag? Just fire up BartPE or WinPE and let it run. And if you want to image the drive, the xPE boot disks, CDs, and flash drives
can do that too. I understand that WinPE includes Norton's Ghost v11. Can anybody verify this?

 

[Anna]

Thanks for the response. I looked at the article you mentioned but it
refers
to a related, but different, problem.

Your response alerted me to the fact that the Event Viewer might shed
light
on what's causing the CHKDSK program to start at booting. But I didn't
see
anything related to CHKDSK or the drive in question.

Robert...
One of the first things you should do is check out the HDD to determine if
it's indeed defective. Normally you would do this with the WD HDD diagnostic
utility that's freely available from WD's site. The (possible) problem here
is that you indicate the disk in question is an external HDD. I'm assuming
it's installed as a USB device in an external enclosure. If that be the case
I do not believe the current WD HDD diagnostic utility works with a
USB-connected device, i.e., the program will not detect a USB-connected HDD.

If you could uninstall the disk without any damage to the enclosure (should
it be a commercial product) and install it as an internal HDD in your
system, you could then use the WD diagnostic utility to check it out.

In any event, at the least, you should copy any files/folders on that HDD
that are important to you. Perhaps back to your internal HDD on another
partition or a folder specifically created to contain the contents of that
external HDD. Better yet would be to either clone or image the contents of
the drive to another HDD if that's practical.

It is conceivable that the disk is failing.

Have you tried...
Start > Run > cmd > fsutil dirty query c:
(assuming C: is your boot/system partition)
Any problem indicating that the volume is "dirty"?

You might also want to take a look at...
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_keep_chkdsk_from_running_on_every_start_up.html
Anna

 

[BillW50]

In Anna typed on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:21:33 -0400:

Robert...
One of the first things you should do is check out the HDD to
determine if it's indeed defective. Normally you would do this with
the WD HDD diagnostic utility that's freely available from WD's site.
The (possible) problem here is that you indicate the disk in question
is an external HDD. I'm assuming it's installed as a USB device in an
external enclosure. If that be the case I do not believe the current
WD HDD diagnostic utility works with a USB-connected device, i.e.,
the program will not detect a USB-connected HDD.
If you could uninstall the disk without any damage to the enclosure
(should it be a commercial product) and install it as an internal HDD
in your system, you could then use the WD diagnostic utility to check
it out.
In any event, at the least, you should copy any files/folders on that
HDD that are important to you. Perhaps back to your internal HDD on
another partition or a folder specifically created to contain the
contents of that external HDD. Better yet would be to either clone or
image the contents of the drive to another HDD if that's practical.

It is conceivable that the disk is failing.

Have you tried...
Start > Run > cmd > fsutil dirty query c:
(assuming C: is your boot/system partition)
Any problem indicating that the volume is "dirty"?

You might also want to take a look at...
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_keep_chkdsk_from_running_on_every_start_up.html
Anna

Or download Hard Disk Sentinel which is a great hard drive tool anyway.
And under Configuration -> Advanced Options. Check "Disable automatic
scandisk upon start of Windows".

 

[noone]

I would download a few drive testing tools. Your drive is becoming
unstable and not matter how many times you format it, if the hardware
is beginning to fail, the drive will fail.

crap.

 

[Robert Lee]

I twice ran chkdsk for the external hard drive in question:

1. The first time, I received a message at the c:\ command prompt
that errors were detected, and that chkdsk could not continue in a read-only
mode;

2. The second time, the drive froze 58% of the way into the third
stage, where chkdsk checks security descriptors. The event log states, "The
device, , did not respond within the timeout period." But there was no
indication in the event logs of what the problems with the disk were.

Does chkdsk send report its findings to somewhere besides the event logs?

 

[Robert Lee]

Thanks for the helpful suggestion. I was able to run the tests because my
devices have a fire wire interface.

The drive passed the quick test, but failed the extended test. The utility
stated, "Too many bad sectors."

Here are two questions:

1. Am I correct that the drive is about to fail?

2. Would reformatting the drive help?

 

[ju.c]

How to reset chkdsk to the default behaviour:

Open the Run box and enter: cmd
In the command window type: chkntfs /d


How do I keep CHKDSK from running on every start up?
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_keep_chkdsk_from_running_on_every_start_up.html


ju.c

 

[Anna]

Thanks for the helpful suggestion. I was able to run the tests because my
devices have a fire wire interface.

The drive passed the quick test, but failed the extended test. The
utility
stated, "Too many bad sectors."

Here are two questions:

1. Am I correct that the drive is about to fail?

2. Would reformatting the drive help?

Robert:
The fact that the drive failed the WD diagnostic utility extended test is an
ominous signal that the disk is failing. Since you indicated the HDD is
about 2 yrs old, hopefully that disk is covered by either the WD 3-yr or
5-yr warranty and not the 1-yr warranty so it may be eligible for a RMA. You
might want to check it out at WD's site...
http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp?custtype=end&lang=en
Anna

 

[Robert Lee]

Thanks for your response, but it addresses a situation where the drive is
healthy and you don't want it checked every time you start up. Here, my
drive appears to be failing, so that I don't want to turn off the safety
alarm.