How to force CHKDSK fix index on NTFS drive?

[trodas]

At first I made the mistake using Partition Magic v8.00 to setup a drive (2G FAT32 for OS, 184G NTFS for data). PM v8.00 is faulty and screw up the drive, mainly the NTFS partition. Usually the results are not as dramatic as I experience (mostly only windows is slow in powering off), however on VIA chipset, as this old machine use, it is hell. New files are corrupted and gone missing after reboot, etc. Bad.
(results of using PM 8.00 on VIA chipsets from Symatec page are not exaggerated at all)
In PM v8.02 or v8.05 it should be fixed, however even the v8.02 is not going to allow me to fix ANY error. It finding twice
Error 1611 bad system file name
...and about hundred times...
Error 1527 bad update sequence number
...and button FIX is still grayed out.

So I tried a workaround - used the recommended Acronis Partition Expert v8 and I downsized the D drive a bit and then get it back to former status and quess what - most of the errors and problems are gone now! No more bit table troubles with MFT, but the new file corruption and files gone missing behaviour sadly continue...

So the first thing one do is to run chkdsk, right? So I run it with parameters /x /f and it always says "Fixing error in index $I30 file 5. Checking of index finished." - that it should be translated to english... However when I run it imediatelly again, it report the very same thing!
So the error is NOT fixed.

So I get the idea that I just find the file no. 5 using MFT table and kill it. Using DiskEdit utility (from Win2k SP4 CD by M$ itself, grab it there: http://rapidshare.com/files/189278835/DiskEdit.zip ) I opened the NTFS D drive and - sadly instead of the path and file I saw only couple of empty boxes... I can check other files fine, so, what now? It is a system file or hidden something then...?

I tried threat that as it is a deleted file fragment or something like that. I tried the Recuva utility from Sysinternals, because it can safely erase the deleted files, based on the MFT infos... If you did not know, well, then MFT store and keep information about every files you ever had on your HDD, so... (MFT on my drive have 57MB currently) Recuva found like 16k of deleted files, so I check them all and say - delete them right away!
But things went wrong, as some of the files are "resident" in the MFT table, so, they are not deleted. Also Recuva cannot delete the infos MFT keep about files long time gone from HDD. So I tried the recovering utility Restoration v3.2.13, because it know not only erase files, but also erase the infos about them in MFT! Then in Recuva you see only 16k of empty lost file infos, hehe.
But that did not help me either.
Then I tried Winhex v15.1, witch offer fantastic things, and among others - erasing the unnecessary MFT infos. However it again only erase the missing files infos, not remove them from MFT - it probably did not know how to rebuild the MFT then... So, no improve in the chkdsk error and HDD behaviour done...

Hence - anyone have any ideas how to fix this index problem? Chkdsk /x /d /r D: run way too long and at the end, no change at all.

Also I tried chkdsk from the Windows repair console, however no difference. It says that he find something, but then again - it did not fix it. And only report that find and fixed errors the first time I run it. Each next run it make there pauses (hence 3 errors, I presume) but not report them anymore!
Much less to fix them...

So when I get back in win, it way agaion like that:

Program CHKDSK ověřuje soubory (fáze 1 z 3)...
Ověření souboru dokončeno.
Program CHKDSK ověřuje rejstříky (fáze 2 z 3)...
Probíhá oprava chyby v rejstříku $I30 souboru 5.
Ověření rejstříku dokončeno.
Program CHKDSK ověřuje popisovače zabezpečení (fáze 3 z 3)...
Ověření popisovače zabezpečení bylo dokončeno.

193253884 kB místa na disku celkem.
190638064 kB v 37513 souborech uživatele.
14644 kB v 1583 rejstřících.
0 kB v chybných sektorech.
78740 kB používá systém.
16384 kB zabírá soubor s protokolem.
2522436 kB na disku je volných.

4096 bajtů v každé alokační jednotce
48313471 alokačních jednotek na disku celkem.
630609 volných alokačních jednotek

So, anyone get any idea about chkdsk replacement that works? Or thanks to PM, I have to backup my entire drive on DVDs and format it and then copy all the data back or what?!

It is VERY annoying to lose data in new files and I of course run diagnostic tests on the drive and then SpinRite v6 and the drive is perfectly okay. A not so old 200G Seagate PATA one :)


http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee193/trodas_cr/PartitionMagic8errors.jpg

PM reporting WAY less errors after the trick I made with Acronis Partition Expert, but still... they are there. Help?

[jeffy]

Chkdsk can run for a few hours, but it can also delete your precious data (calling them orphan files, cross-linked files, etc.) Your drive might be dying.

If you don't have your precious data backed up, consider something like this (you have to know WHAT you are doing):
- get a new drive and create the exact drive copy, wipe this drive and copy the image back to this original drive
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/copywipe.php
Raw Sector Copy!
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads/copywipe.pdf

or backup what you can and
- if there are problems when copying files, then use TestDisk and copy all other files you can onto another drive (even flash drive might be helpful)
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Test the drive sectors with HDDScan - option Verify (I can recommend version up to 2.8 only):
http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.01.22-HDDScan/


What OS do you have?

[trodas]

Nice copy tools, I would rather stay with oldfashioned Total Commander copy :D

Harddrive is okay, luckily. By HW side, that is. So, skipping to the OS question - Windows 2000 SP4, why? :)

[Codex0nz]

Have you tried doing a surface scan with zero assumption recovery?

Great program, when my index and file system corrupted it recovered everything perfectly.

[jeffy]

Technical details:
One or more of the system files 0-15 in the file table are named incorrectly.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/powerquest.nsf/pfdocs/2004090415655762?Open&docid=2004090415655762&nsf=powerquest.nsf&view=pfdocs

A buffer contains mismatched update sequence numbers. This error may have been caused by a power failure or system crash that occurred while Windows was writing to the partition.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/powerquest.nsf/b9d6d49a5dab26d488256e97004b8ff0/79bade34697aef7888256e75007cbc6f?OpenDocument

[jeffy]

Nice copy tools, I would rather stay with oldfashioned Total Commander copy :D

Harddrive is okay, luckily. By HW side, that is. So, skipping to the OS question - Windows 2000 SP4, why? :)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831375/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873437/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/169404
unsolved:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885871

[trodas]

Codex0nz - I did not need recovery, I need fix the filesystem. HDD is in perfect hardware condition. Just the NTFS...

jeffy - nice one, thanks. However the solution is NOT solution at all:

Solution:
To fix this error, run CHKDSK /F on the affected drive.

I running chkdsk like 100x per day and still no fix!

Bad update sequence number

Fixed already by Acronis Partition Expert, as I shown above...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831375/en-us
if the volume contains more than 4,194,303 files

Luckily, this is not the case :)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873437/en-us
security descriptor contains an access control entry (ACE)

Also, this is not the case. No ACE descriptors or security there, ever.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/169404
Adjusting instance tags to prevent rollover on file 252.

No rollover there either. Just simple stuuuuuuupid error the chkdsk refuse to fix, even when it claim to do so each time I run it...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885871
save a file that has a double-byte character set (DBCS) file

Well, my system file sure are not double-byte character in name. In fact, it even refuse to give it's name :o

So, I'm stuck there. Something better that the cursed chkdsk exist?

[jeffy]

Well, since you are trusting to chkdsk, you might try running it under a different OS version?
http://helpdesk.wisc.edu/page.php?id=6565

OCZ forums (http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48366) linked this Vista Recovery Disc:
http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

[shakey]

Given the amount of problems you're having, I'd resort to backing up all the files I want to keep, then delete the faulty partition and start again. I'd also be tempted to use something like the GParted Live CD (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/) to make the new partition.