Fixing hard disk with Win7 chkdsk: urgent

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Hi there,

I have win 8.1 64 bit installed on a dell inspiron 5421. I installed the free firewall COMODO. When I launched a game (BigFish.com), the firewall requested several permissions to let it start (it was freshly installed and that was the first time the game was launched). I gave all the permissions, but eventually when the game started the screen went black. Tried to ctrl+ALT+canc, ALT+TAB … nothing happened. Being tired of waiting, I forced the system to shut down.

When I restarted it, all the fonts were screwed up. I could not read a single word in the commands, the files’ names, etc.

I tried to re-install windows, but I only have a win 8.0 dvd, and for some reasons, the only viable option that the installer gave me was to eliminate all the files and applications on the disk… I tried to click one of the links below the shutdown symbol, but the win 8.1 “desktop” began to “flash” without control …

I thought the whole OS was probably screwed up, therefore I removed the hard disk from the laptop, and I connected it to another pc, with win 7 pro (NTFS, 32 bit).
My intention was to back up all the files, and then re-install win 8.0.

However, as soon as I connected the disk to the pc, the OS suggested me to run a checkdisk (automatically fix file system errors + scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors) …. I thought that maybe it was a good idea … it is several hours that it is running now.
I have now two concerns:
1) wouldn’t win 7 totally screw up the file system of win 8.1 trying to fix it? If yes, what would be the problem?
2) It seems to last forever… can I interrupt the process? What are the risks?

I hope someone could provide any suggestions to fix the hard disk… my backup is rather old and I need to at least recover the files!!

In win 7 pro (at least now that checkdisk is running), I cannot see the disk’s contents… maybe because it’s 32 bit?

Pls help!!

Thanks

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Hi,

Welcome to the Lounge.

There are no differences between the file system used by Windows 8 and Windows 7. Chkdsk should be able to fix things, hopefully. You should wait for chkdsk to complete and then try to access the disk contents. You should be able to access the disk once chkdsk completes.

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Chkdsk /r also has the attributes of chkdsk /f which is to repair files but for another HD you would have to include the drive letter and I’m not sure what it would try to replace the files with and you can stop the chkdsk.

I think a better option would be to put the HDD back into the Win 8.1 machine and see if you can boot up into Safe Mode and uninstall Comodo and possibly the game.

Check to see if it will then boot up normally to use Win 8’s repair tools http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc

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Chkdsk /r also has the attributes of chkdsk /f which is to repair files but for another HD you would have to include the drive letter and I’m not sure what it would try to replace the files with and you can stop the chkdsk.

Does chkdsk ever replace files with anything?

Bruce

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Does chkdsk ever replace files with anything?

Bruce

I did try to read through http://support.microsoft.com/kb/187941 to try to give a definitive answer to that but my eyes started to droop so I’ll let you read through and then perhaps you can make your own mind up on that.

And don’t forget to let us know what it is

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Does chkdsk ever replace files with anything?

Bruce

Chkdsk with the /r switch (implies /f) will attempt to recover files/file segments from bad sectors and move those recovered files to unused good sectors (and afterward mark the bad sectors as unusable), which is to say chkdsk may re-place files to a safe/stable location, but it won’t replace files with anything.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Hi polgy70, When you got your W8 – did you not make complete backup of the install? Why did you install Comodo when W8/8.1 are regarded as the most secure system from MS?
As suggested by Drew, if you have to do a fresh install – don’t forget to get ALL updates from MS before you try to install W8.1. Defender is built into the system and MBM and SpywareBlaster would be the only extras I would install. Don’t forget to make a Backup to an external drive! Cheers.

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thanks for your replies!

I understand that booting in safe mode is rather complicated in win8.1 ( http://www.7tutorials.com/5-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-8-windows-81 ) … plus remember I cannot read anything!!

I will try to wait for the checkdisk to finish …

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thanks for your replies!

I understand that booting in safe mode is rather complicated in win8.1 ( http://www.7tutorials.com/5-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-8-windows-81 ) … plus remember I cannot read anything!!

I will try to wait for the checkdisk to finish …

As I recall, if you hold down the shift key while clicking Reboot, when it reboots it will give you the menu which allows you to choose Safe Mode.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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As I recall, if you hold down the shift key while clicking Reboot, when it reboots it will give you the menu which allows you to choose Safe Mode.

If the OS is stable enough (which the OP implies this one was not), one may, from the Charms Bar, click the Power button, then while holding down the shift key, click Restart, which will begin the reboot process and bring up an options menu, “Choose an Option”. From there, click Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Enable Safe Mode.

From there the system will continue its reboot and boot into Safe mode.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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well, now the checkdisk counts more than 353,000 files and still counting … aren’t they a bit too many? The hd is 750 gb, and my files should not be more than 190,000 … the bar is only at about 10% .. is it possible that the checkdisk is not working properly?

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Polgy, good morning.
I just yesterday fixed another Dell laptop for my daughter, it would not boot at all, reported a “non-bootable” device and froze. I removed the SATA 200 G HD and connected it via USB to my main machine. It got studied by W-8 and reported that it got a “fix”, it is running XP. I then replaced the HD into the Dell and it then saw a problem and tried to fix it and it did after about 5 minutes of looking at files etc.. I have no information as to what it found/fixed but the procedure worked. YMMV ??? . Jean.

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Unfortunately a full chkdsk on a drive the size of yours will take a long time, best to just have patience and let it finish.

I wouldn’t be too concerned on the number of files as I have a relatively new installation of W8.0 and the 1st step of chkdsk reports ~268k file records.

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Sometimes it’s best to first run chkdsk without any parameters which is a read-only mode and then you can see what you are up against.

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Putting more than one firewall in a machine can oft crash the HDD.

Eh?

There may be software conflicts with multiple firewalls but I’ve never heard of them crashing a hard drive.

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You can start safe mode from the login screen, of course, if you can get there.

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Checkdisk does just that, it checks the hard drive for errors and if the /f switch is specified attempts to fix them.
However, the problem seems more likely to be related to corrupted system files than to the disk condition.
I suggest that you run the ‘System File Check’ tool. To do so, open CMD with Admin privileges and enter sfc /scannow [note the space before the ‘/’]. Sfc will check the system files and replace any corrupted files it finds.
If, as sometimes happens, sfc /scannow reports corrupted files and is unable to fix them run the following command from an Admin user CMD line
DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth [again, note there is a space before each ‘/’].

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As a matter of general maintenance, you may run a surface scan using a third-party (free) partitioning program such as MiniTool Partition Wizard once in a while (i.e. several times a year). It will show, and try to correct, bad or failing sectors when it detects them, and because it has a graphic display you can see if you have real trouble with a drive. There are also free drive utilities provided by the major manufacturers (Seagate and WD, for sure). As for chkdsk, just enter chkdsk /? at the command line to see what the switches do.

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Once your system is stable you’d better buy a 1GB or more external hard drive, find a good partition backup program, and start running it regularly. If you got lucky and save your data this time, you won’t next time. Hard drive crash, malware, theft, fire, lightning strike – any of them can wipe out your system irrecoverably when you least expect it, don’t be one of the tragic.

If the game was warez, you learnt a good reason not to install warez.

Asus N53SM & N53SN 64-bit laptops (Win7 Pro & Win10 Pro 64-bit multiboots), venerable HP Pavilion t760 32-bit desktop (XP & Win7 Pro multiboot), Oracle VirtualBox VM's: XP & Win7 32-bit, XP Mode, aged Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2019s (8" & 10.1"), Blu-ray burners, digital cameras, ext. HDDs (latest 5TB!), AnyDVD, Easeus ToDo Backup Home, Waterfox, more. Me: Aussie card-carrying Windows geek.

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Drew, the Forum admins are working on the Insert issue. See:http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//159019-Uploading-files-please-use-the-basic-uploader-if-the-advanced-fails?p=937214#post937214

Jerry

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The workaround works for me.

36046-IMG_1999
Jerry

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The workaround works for me.

36046-IMG_1999
Jerry

How does it work as I couldn’t get it to add a .JPG

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Well, that’s good news. Thanks for this info, Jerry.

I had, already, tried the workaround that the link you gave suggests and that doesn’t work, right now, either.

Cheers,
Drew

Let’s discuss the graphics issue at the topic I posted in the forum feedback forum, please, we are way off topic here. I have replied to you there, hopefully my suggestion will allow you to upload images again.

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1. Correct, there is no need for something other than the embedded Windows Firewall, native to the OS.

That’s a matter of opinion and I beg to differ. The windows firewall is not comparable to Comodo. Comodo is not just a network firewall, which is what the native windows firewall is. Comodo is way safer than anything native to Windows, for multiple reasons:

1. If you consider the network firewall aspect alone, the Windows Firewall interface is kludgy, to say the least;
2. If you consider Defender, it is a classic, blacklist based AV and antimalware. It is useless against zero day threats and it is useless against existing threats that are repackaged to beat AV signature detection. Comodo, on the other hand, relies on whitelisting, which means that, if properly used, no zero day threat or repackaged old threats can ever run under Comodo (unless a user explicitly allows it).

This doesn’t mean Comodo doesn’t have issues, all apps have, yes, even the native Windows MSE / Defender. Maybe it requires more care from anyone wanting to use it, but I would use Comodo over any MS security software any day.

Personally, I prefer to use software similar to Comodo from other manufacturer, but statements made about Comodo should be made considering what it is and frankly, Windows users would be a lot safer if MS used any technology similar to Comodo.

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