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[Maleko]

Why would I spend 3-4 days of time and lost income just to fix an error message?

image the partition/disk, format the hd and dump back the image to the hd. done..wont takes more than 30 min to finish.

[redmike]

I very much appreciate your help but don't really see the logic in you post.

That's a pity. I wish you all the best with your disk.

I have been looking at different programs that will help me to get up and running asap if I format. I am not against doing this but simply reluctant to if there is an alternative. 

I just checked out the 'backup'  that's built into XP and when I told it 'all' it looked like it might take days, and I have a 3Ghz pc with 1gb of ram.

I would do that but will it restore the old MFT? I have an almost empty 250gb external drive available and the disk on this pc is 80GB

I have Acronis, but like I said I don't know how good the clone would be and I don't know if it restores the old MFT ??

I would like to save the settings for all my progams if possible.

Any ideas,

Mike

[schitzn]

why not chkdsk c: /f /r ?

because a /r implies /f

do a chkdsk /? for more info

I would do that but will it restore the old MFT? I have an almost empty 250gb external drive available and the disk on this pc is 80GB

Acronis backup will either do a sector by sector backup or a file by file backup.  The sector approach will reapply the faulty mft.  The file by file skips all metadata including the mft.

Your best approach is to do a file by file backup, do a full format (not quick) and reinstall your windows.  Install Acronis and then mount the image from your external drive, copy personal files back to your newly formatted disk.  You will unfortunately need to reinstall most of your programs due to missing dll's and registry entries that would only be reapplied by a fresh install. 

Theres probably a lot of work for you ahead, you might even choose to skip the task and never see an issue arise.  Another way to look at it is you may one day turn on your machine to find it fails to boot due to a faulty mft, and be left with a bigger problem.  Either way, backup your files for peace of mind.

[redmike]

maybe preform a CHKDSK C: /R on the disk.  This would test for bad sectors.  Damaged MFT's in my experience can be a sign of a HDD that is pending more serious issues down the track.

why not chkdsk c: /f /r ?

I did and it says my partitions are clean.

thanks

Mike

[schitzn]

I did and it says my partitions are clean.

More specificly, does the final report list any sectors as bad, if so, then be concerned of "grown defects".

Always love that title, its written in the warranty of not being covered by most hard disks.  Most people probably overlook it as things that pop out of no where, when in reality what it means is every hard disk brand new has a pile of bad sectors already hidden from you that overtime will grow into its neighbouring sectors.

[redmike]

maybe preform a CHKDSK C: /R on the disk.  This would test for bad sectors.  Damaged MFT's in my experience can be a sign of a HDD that is pending more serious issues down the track.

why not chkdsk c: /f /r ?

I did last week, and just tried it again on all three partitions and chkdsk says all three are clean.

Thanks for prodding me again though!

Mike

[cquinn]

All my data is already backed up and my computer 'on the surface' is working fine.

If it crashes in the future then I will format, and spend three days putting my system back together again.

Or you could look at some of the popular image backup solutions, which might give you the option of restoring the system on that drive or another, within a couple of hours instead of a couple of days.   I use Acronis Trueimage,  but there is also the freeware Driveimage XML or other programs that you might check into.  If the imaging program can read the files correctly then you are in a better position if the drive does fail.

[redmike]

I very much appreciate your help but don't really see the logic in you post.

That's a pity. I wish you all the best with your disk.

Just to let you know that I did format my drive and JKDefrag didn't display any errors when I just used it prior to cloning.

The reinstall of all my programs didn't take as long as I anticipated. About 24 hours.

I used the XP 'files and transfer wizard' to back up my setting and it worked very well. After I installed Word (for example) it had all my custom dictionaries etc and my desk top looked the same etc etc

Anyway, thank you for your help,

Michael

[sweetemo22jd]

Hmm, if running chkdsk did not work, maybe you can try downloading and installing a utility repair tool on your device. You can find lots of them on the Internet. Choose one that is compatible with your device and has been proven by many users to work well. You need to find the right software program to fix your corrupted hardware.