How to check a HD for errors?

cormie

Hi there,
I used a back up program just today to back up my hard drive to an external drive. Both are 500GB but the program I use only backs up the data in use and I've excluded the path of one folder which contains files already on the external HD. The backup file is 42GB.

During the backup process, I got 1 error stating:

"Failed to read data from the disk. Failed to read from the sector 856,467,143 of the hard disk" Retry/Ignore/Ignore All/Cancel.

I clicked retry and the same error popped up, clicked it again and it popped up again so I clicked ignore and it continued the back up until I got a 2nd error stating:

"Failed to read data from the disk. Failed to read from the sector 881,807,951 of the hard disk" Retry/Ignore/Ignore All/Cancel.

I also just looked at a previous log from the last backup in November and I see the same sector 856,467,143 reporting a failed read.

I had clicked retry a few times back then too with it popping up again each time.

So after ignoring the two errors on today's back up, it completed successfully, as it did back in November after ignoring the same 856,467,143 error.

So I'm just wondering, is this a fault with the HD? Is it likely to get worse since today's backup returned two errors? What are the chances of the whole backup file being corrupt and unusable due to these errors?

Would really appreciate any feedback on this and the best course of action to take

flyingsnail

go the the website of your HD manufacture and download and run their diagnostic software. If you dont know who made your HD, go into mycomputer and right click on the HD that you think is going bad and select porpertys. under the hardware tab is should give you a list of you installed HDs

Deano12345

Download HDTUNE and run the health check on it

Erper

Im 8y technician to myself and to others... so do this...
go to start, if u have xp press Run, if u have vista, type on the bottom cmd and press enter..

than, when dos pops up, type chkdsk and press enter...
he will do everything by himself...

cormie

I ran the WD diagnostic tool on the HD and it passed I find that quite strange since it's given the same error when backing up! It's a 500GB HD I bought separate to the laptop so I'd really prefer not to have to replace it and go through all the hassle. So I wonder am I safe enough to just go by the test result of "pass"?

Also, I wonder is the error on the backup going to cause any problems if I ever have to ghost a replacement drive from the backup file?

flyingsnail

run a scan on the laptop HD and let us know how you get on.

cormie

Sorry, I meant that I ran the scan on the laptop HD and it passed, even though it has given me errors while trying to back it up

Cuddlesworth

Erper wrote: »

Im 8y technician to myself and to others... so do this...
go to start, if u have xp press Run, if u have vista, type on the bottom cmd and press enter..

than, when dos pops up, type chkdsk and press enter...
he will do everything by himself...

Eight years ehh? Do you think that by implying he runs a check disk but by ignoring the actual command syntax like "chkdsk E: /r" you leave him wondering why it doesn't work. Sub standard information to be honest.



Cormie, open up "My Computer". Right click on the external drive, go to properties. Open the tools tab, in error checking click on "check now". Tick both box's and click start.

It should find the damaged sector, try to repair it and index the sector as damaged so its not used again.

Erper

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Eight years ehh? Do you think that by implying he runs a check disk but by ignoring the actual command syntax like "chkdsk E: /r" you leave him wondering why it doesn't work. Sub standard information to be honest.



Cormie, open up "My Computer". Right click on the external drive, go to properties. Open the tools tab, in error checking click on "check now". Tick both box's and click start.

It should find the damaged sector, try to repair it and index the sector as damaged so its not used again.

by doin chkdsk u will fix disk where is ur windows..

Dermot Illogical

OP, don't trust that drive with anything important whatever the results of your tests. It's likely to let you down.

Erper

RT66 wrote: »

OP, don't trust that drive with anything important whatever the results of your tests. It's likely to let you down.

probably, but for case, check disk with command...
and btw... how old is that disk

Cuddlesworth

Erper wrote: »

by doin chkdsk u will fix disk where is ur windows..

By doing chkdsk without proper command syntax it fix's nothing, like pretty much every DOS program.

RT66 wrote: »

OP, don't trust that drive with anything important whatever the results of your tests. It's likely to let you down.

I wouldn't trust it, but considering he is doing a back up of it its not a major issue. Its not uncommon for sectors of drives to become corrupted, its only when its on a large scale that its a significant indication of drive failure.

Erper

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

By doing chkdsk without proper command syntax it fix's nothing, like pretty much every DOS program.



I wouldn't trust it, but considering he is doing a back up of it its not a major issue. Its not uncommon for sectors of drives to become corrupted, its only when its on a large scale that its a significant indication of drive failure.

i like smart guys...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265

Cuddlesworth

Erper wrote: »

i like smart guys...

So your a self hater then? I've put the important bit in bold.

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> chkdsk /?
Checks a disk and displays a status report.


CHKDSK [volumepath]filename] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/C] [/L[:size]] [/B]


volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for fragmentation
.
/F Fixes errors on the disk.
/V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file
on the disk.
On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.
/R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information
(implies /F).
/L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified number
of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current
size.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid
(implies /F).
/I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries.
/C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder
structure.
/B NTFS only: Re-evaluates bad clusters on the volume
(implies /R)

The /I or /C switch reduces the amount of time required to run Chkdsk by
skipping certain checks of the volume.
[/I]

commander cool

I have to agree with Cuddlesworth. Without any paramater it does nothing but check the integrity of the drive, it will tell you if there are issues with the drive but it will not repair sectors etc.