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jeffy
11th September 2007, 14:49
This is the question, followed by a long story:
Could you please suggest to me a non-destructive method how to check and/or repair the hard drive NTFS filesystem WITHOUT chkdsk/autochk? The version in Windows 98 at least asked if I wanted to recover the file, but not the XP version, what it decides to save into DIRxxxx.CHK folders is usually useless.

This has not happened for the first time and its cause remains a mystery to me. I have encountered several PC machines (10?), that at some point in time suffered a serious NTFS directory file corruption.

What do the machines have in common?
- Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home with all the available patches (where appropriate), OEM licensed versions
- NTFS file system

What is different amongst them:
almost everything: motherboards, different CPUs: AMD & Intel ones, different architectures (DDR1 & DDR2), different chipsets, different harddrives and their interfaces (brands: Western Digital and Seagate, interfaces: Ultra ATA, SATA1, SATA2).

Overclocked or not?
Some yes, some never were.

What could cause some corruptions, but not on all systems:
- ADSL modem drivers (BSOD confirmed)
- some versions of nVidia graphic drivers (BSOD confirmed)
- overclocking? (if yes, then this would not explain why it happened on non-overclocked PCs as well)
- bad sectors on the hard drive (1 case confirmed)

Some corruption happened all of the sudden, without any BSOD or power outage or whatever before.

Impacts:
- really serious: on some systems the chkdsk when allowed to run deleted much files without any hope for recovery
(eg. home video files 70 GB out of a 200 GB partition wiped out, their file sizes were truncated to 0 bytes). No recovery utility I was able to try, did get them back.
If they were really corrupt, it can't be explained why I was able to copy them right before the chkdsk run without any problem.

- a mystery:
on one Seagate drive, where all the S.M.A.R.T. attributes were absolutely ok, chkdsk run repeatedly with the message
Inserting an index entry into index $0 of file 25, similar to this thread:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=98121
The message disappeared after some time.... ???

If you have any questions/comments, feel free to ask. Thank you to all in advance.
Inventive Software
11th September 2007, 15:12
Only thing I could suggest is a Linux LiveCD (or UBCD, thinking about it) that could run fsck on the filesystem, just to scan it. But read the help before you do. ;)
jeffy
11th September 2007, 16:08
Only thing I could suggest is a Linux LiveCD (or UBCD, thinking about it) that could run fsck on the filesystem, just to scan it. But read the help before you do. ;)
Unless I am mistaken, there isn't fsck for NTFS, or am I wrong?
Inventive Software
11th September 2007, 16:57
I think there is, but I've never needed to use it. Only thing you could do is try a Knoppix LiveCD and see whether you can mount and/or access the drive. If you can mount it, you can fsck it.
Hard Core Rikki
11th September 2007, 18:03
Trinity Rescue Kit (http://trinityhome.org/Home/blog.php?front_id=15) should save you (compact liveCD)
kumi
11th September 2007, 19:50
You can exclude volumes from chkdsk scanning:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q218461/
jeffy
11th September 2007, 21:58
You can exclude volumes from chkdsk scanning:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q218461/

I know Chkdsk /X, but thanks anyway. It does not solve the problem with corrupt files, they will remain either inaccessible or chkdsk/autochk truncates them next time when allowed to run. BTW, Norton System Works runs the same chkdsk...

I can even brute force delete both of the checking routines, but it won't help with corruption itself. Thank you to all, Knoppix will be tried and I will report back soon. Still awaiting other suggestions as well. :)
GrofLuigi
11th September 2007, 22:10
Have you tried recovery console? It has often saved me when regular chkdsk couldn't.

GL
jeffy
11th September 2007, 22:38
Have you tried recovery console? It has often saved me when regular chkdsk couldn't.

GL

The same chkdsk does (and did) the same bad thing...
setarip_old
11th September 2007, 23:29
@jeffy

Just as a point of information, I have used "chkdsk /R" many times from within the XP Professional install disc via selecting "R" (for "repair"), entering my "Administrator" ID and typing "chkdsk /R" (without the quotation marks).

Doing so has never resulted in the problems you've described...
jeffy
12th September 2007, 07:45
@jeffy

Just as a point of information, I have used "chkdsk /R" many times from within the XP Professional install disc via selecting "R" (for "repair"), entering my "Administrator" ID and typing "chkdsk /R" (without the quotation marks).

Doing so has never resulted in the problems you've described...

Then I can only wish the same luck to you next time, since I have seen it several times and it made me feel desperate :(

And the next disappointment came with Norton System Works, this software was recommended as the older versions of Norton Utilities were using different Disk Doctor routines, but as of now they just run chkdsk routines in the background, but you don't know about it when you run it. You will just find the event in the Event Viewer when it finishes its work.

NTFS can have its woes (info related to Windows NT):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/229607
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/169404
JohnnyMalaria
12th September 2007, 14:00
http://www.diskinternals.com/ntfs-recovery/ (free to try, $39.95 to buy)

There's a freeware app I used last year after PartitionMagic decided to convert a FAT32 partition to RAW. It worked flawlessly and recovered all my data. I can't recall what it was except it was from a German company.
JReiginsei
15th September 2007, 04:22
Was it http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recovery/info.htm?language=1