Partition table problem

[traceyw]

Hi

I have a bit of a problem with a partition table. The disk is a WD2500JB of 250Gb in size partitioned to use the whole disk as one drive. It is fitted to an external USB caddy of which I have a total of three - but this is the only disk reported as faulty (the other two USB drives have Seagate disks fitted)

When I start either TrueImage 9.0 OR Disk Director Suite 10.0, they go through the process of analyzing the drives on my PC. All drives are OK except the WD USB drive and the programs keep reporting several sectors as unreadable (16,128 to 16,135, 16,144 and 16,256 a total of ten sectors). However, it ONLY occurs when I load TI or DD. WinXP does NOT recognize any errors at all and XP Disk Management reports the disk as healthy. Also, under normal use, the disk behaves exactly as you would expect any fully working, healthy drive to behave.

Since the disk is a WD, I downloaded the diagnostic software and ran both a short and a long test on the drive, both of which reported a PASS. Now whilst this is, of course, good, what is worrying is just why TI and DD are reporting errors.

So why are TI9.0 and DD10.0 both reporting errors? Do I have a dodgy disk on my hands - and I have a sneaky feeling I haven't - or do the programs look for something that only they look for - but which isn't there? Whatever, when DD10.0 is fully up and running it reports the correct partition size and the correct unallocated size at the start of the disk - but where it should report the free space, it report nothing - literally! Also, where it should have the partition type, i.e. NTFS, it shows FS: None Partition: 0x7 (NTFS, HPFS). However, WinXP reports the partition name as MiscBU which is 250Gb in size with 96Gb used and 153Gb free.

I should add that this has happened several times in the past when I've simply copied all my files to other drives, deleted the partition and then recreated it. However, I do not want to keep doing this as one day I may finish up unable to access the drive. Hence my reason for seeking assistance.

Any help in sorting out what is happening and how to correct it would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Tracey

[MudCrab]

Do you have a current backup of the files on the drive?

Have you run chkdsk /f on the drive to check for any file errors?

Do TI and DD show the same errors when you run them from the TI/DD CD?

[traceyw]

Hi

Thanks for your response.

My apologies, I thought I'd said that I'd now copied all the files on the drive to space on other drives so I can play with the reported faulty drive to my heart's content. I don't tend to play around with OS level problems like this if I have files on the drive without at least copying them elsewhere.

I've not done a chkdsk /f on the drive as yet since it takes so long and I'm not really expecting any problems to be found. Nevertheless, it would be worth doing overnight.

As for checking using the TI and DD boot disk, I don't really know why but it just didn't occur to me to check what happens using the discs. I've now completed the checks and they check out fine. Both programs recognise the drive exactly as they should - they just work perfectly.

So why don't the Windows versions do likewise? What is different between the boot disk versions and the Windows versions? I guess something rather subtle. I should add that these are just questions I am posing and I realise you may not have ready answers. Nevertheless, I appreciate and thank you for your input.

Tracey

[MudCrab]

Running chkdsk /f on the drive shoudn't take too long. It's chkdsk /r that takes a long time because it scans the entire drive checking for bad sectors.

The CD versions don't use the Windows NTFS drivers. It's possible that a problem being detected in Windows is because of that or it might be that it's an actual Windows/TI/DD/driver problem or conflict.

[traceyw]

Hi

Well, I'm not really sure what it was that I did that fixed it but now everything is back as it should be. I did a check on the internet to see how to use chkdsk /f and also found reference to chkntfs. I therefore ran chkdsk /f AND chkntfs /d. Having read up on chkntfs again this morning though I suspect it was chkdsk /f which did the trick.

Regarding the boot CD, I understand it uses the Linux kernal - not anything developed my MS and I realise that may have affected the way it didn't find any errors. It was interesting though nevertheless.

Anyway, many thanks for your help and guidance. I just wish all problems were that easy to sort. Thanks again.

Tracey

[Acronis Support]

Hello Tracey and MudCrab,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/)

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

Tracey, please also keep in mind that Windows or another OS can not trach all bad sectors on your HDD.

The easiest way to check the drive is Acronis Report file. The description on how to create it is available in Acronis Help Post (http://wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317). When .txt report file is created, please check C column (at the right part of the opened file).

The C column stands for Full partition check status:

* C - no errors
* E - error
* W - warning

If there is an E or a W, then it is recommended to check the partition for errors and repair:

* Go to the Command Prompt (Start -> Run -> cmd);
* Enter the command:

chkdsk DISK: /r

where DISK is the partition letter you need to check. Please note, that checking the C: drive may require you to reboot the machine.

Also, there's Bad Block Count value: press ctrl+f keys combination and type "Bad" without quotes in the opened window, then check the value. If it equals to zero - the partition does not have bad blocks. Otherwise, it will show you the quantity of bad blocks on your partition.

Thank you.
--
Alexander Nikolsky