Conmari
asked on
chkdsk results: cleaning up unused index entries
A question posed by normanmi on 2/9/08 concerned the presistence of chkdsk returning the message:
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 1 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 1 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 1 unused security descriptors.
Two MS support articles were referenced, as follows:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255008
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327009/EN-US/
However, both of these articles refer only to Windows 2000 even though the question tag was XP PRO SP2.
There is another article - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831374 (Last Review 2/1/07) - which discusses the same problem as related to both Windows XP & Windows Server 2003. The solution for XP is to install the latest service pack.
I am experiencing the same problem described in the earlier EE post by normanmi with the following differences and additional details:
* Successive runs of chkdsk on the C: drive (all run at boot time) shows varying numbers of unused index entries cleaned up. However, the message concerning free space in the MFT bitmap referenced in KB831374 is not included.
* I only have some 50,000 files on the C: drive vs. the 4+ million referenced in KB831374.
* I already have SP3 installed on XP Pro. All other OS updates have been installed.
* I was unaware of this problem until restoring the system partition from a backup (which is mentioned in article KB327009 re: Windows 2000).
* The HDD is Western Digital 2.5" 80GB that was purchased Aug '08 to replace a crashed disk in my Gateway laptop. I have recently run WDs disk scan utility and no errors are found. Similarly, Norton AV 2009 with up-to-date signatures find no viruses. The drive contains three logical partitions in addition to the one primary partition and there are no errors found by chkdsk on them..
Does anyone else experience the above repeated chkdsk errors under XP SP3? Posts related to this problem in the above EE question, another EE question by semmelbroesel on 12/14/07 and elsewhere on the web run between that this is "normal" to that this indicates a potentially failing disk. Considering the relative newness of mine and the clean hardward scans, I tend to discount the latter but, on the other hand, this also doesn't seem "normal", particularly given that MS said it would be taken care of by the latest SP. Is this something to bring to the attention of MS and what is the best means?
Thanks for any further thoughts and experience with this.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 1 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 1 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 1 unused security descriptors.
Two MS support articles were referenced, as follows:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255008
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327009/EN-US/
However, both of these articles refer only to Windows 2000 even though the question tag was XP PRO SP2.
There is another article - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831374 (Last Review 2/1/07) - which discusses the same problem as related to both Windows XP & Windows Server 2003. The solution for XP is to install the latest service pack.
I am experiencing the same problem described in the earlier EE post by normanmi with the following differences and additional details:
* Successive runs of chkdsk on the C: drive (all run at boot time) shows varying numbers of unused index entries cleaned up. However, the message concerning free space in the MFT bitmap referenced in KB831374 is not included.
* I only have some 50,000 files on the C: drive vs. the 4+ million referenced in KB831374.
* I already have SP3 installed on XP Pro. All other OS updates have been installed.
* I was unaware of this problem until restoring the system partition from a backup (which is mentioned in article KB327009 re: Windows 2000).
* The HDD is Western Digital 2.5" 80GB that was purchased Aug '08 to replace a crashed disk in my Gateway laptop. I have recently run WDs disk scan utility and no errors are found. Similarly, Norton AV 2009 with up-to-date signatures find no viruses. The drive contains three logical partitions in addition to the one primary partition and there are no errors found by chkdsk on them..
Does anyone else experience the above repeated chkdsk errors under XP SP3? Posts related to this problem in the above EE question, another EE question by semmelbroesel on 12/14/07 and elsewhere on the web run between that this is "normal" to that this indicates a potentially failing disk. Considering the relative newness of mine and the clean hardward scans, I tend to discount the latter but, on the other hand, this also doesn't seem "normal", particularly given that MS said it would be taken care of by the latest SP. Is this something to bring to the attention of MS and what is the best means?
Thanks for any further thoughts and experience with this.
ASKER
Thanks, noxcho, for your reply. Unfortunately, since reading your post I have defraged the C: disk twice but still have the same result from running chkdsk /f (scheduled through Windows Explorer for the following boot cycle). The number of index entries cleaned is in the single digits but they haven't gone away. Oddly, even after 2 defrag operations, the analyzer still says the disk should be defragged. I'm wondering whether I should download a defrag tool that can be run from a bootable CD or diskette vs. while Windows is open the way the OS defrag utility does. I may try that fairly soon.
Any other experience from others who have XP SP3 installed is still welcome. If I remember correctly, Windows ended support of XP, except for security patches. From what I can tell from the MS support site, the only way to contact a MS support person about XP by any means (chat, e-mail, phone) is to pay $60.
Any other experience from others who have XP SP3 installed is still welcome. If I remember correctly, Windows ended support of XP, except for security patches. From what I can tell from the MS support site, the only way to contact a MS support person about XP by any means (chat, e-mail, phone) is to pay $60.
ASKER
One other point of information is that I have a backup copy of the C: partition on an external (USB) hard drive. Running chkdsk (without /f) from the command window against that backup produces no errors. Since I don't show any errors in read-only mode, I haven't run with the /f switch. I'm wondering if this makes a difference. Otherwise, I find it odd that I get different results against supposed exact copies of the same parition, though I'm booting from C:, not the copy.
Did you test the hard drive surface? Please apply Spinrite to it and see what happens. Does it report any bad sector? It could that you have bad sector that CHKDSK cannot fix and thus you get the error after check.
ASKER
Yes, noxcho, I've run Western Digital's diagnostic utility several times without error.
Just took a quick look at Spinrite's site and note that it does both a read and write test -- not sure how the WD utility operates. However, Spinrite costs $89 so I have to consider whether it would do anything more for me than WD before investing, though I see that it is also a fairly comprehensive tool. Will do some more research.
Just took a quick look at Spinrite's site and note that it does both a read and write test -- not sure how the WD utility operates. However, Spinrite costs $89 so I have to consider whether it would do anything more for me than WD before investing, though I see that it is also a fairly comprehensive tool. Will do some more research.
ASKER
Running chkdsk on C: continues to return similar messages after successive defrags. I am relying on the results from the drive manufacturer's diagnostic indicating that the hardware is error free and don't feel it is necessary to also invest in a 3rd party utility to verify this. Since there have not been any posts re: experience with this problem being fixed by Windows updates, I will very soon request that this question be deleted.
Hello Conmari, if you still have Windows XP install CD then try to run CHKDSK from its Recovery Console.
Sure there is no need to buy Spinrite.
The best check of file system can be done from Recovery Console. Run both CHKDSK /f/r on volumes.
Sure there is no need to buy Spinrite.
The best check of file system can be done from Recovery Console. Run both CHKDSK /f/r on volumes.
ASKER
Noxcho, how is running chkdsk from the Recovery Console any different than running chkdsk /f as part of the boot sequence -- either through command console or Windows Explorer (File / Properties / Tools / Error Checking)? Windows isn't running in either case.
Thanks much.
Thanks much.
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ASKER
I ended up running chkdsk for the C: disk from my PartitionMagic boot CD and no errors were found. I did this rather than use the Windows XP CD because I don't yet have a slipstreamed version that includes SP3 and I feel it's safer not to put the original CD into the system where there is an alternative -- less chance I'll make a mistake, such as inadvertently run a Windows repair, etc. But I believe running chkdsk from the PartitionMagic CD to be equivalent and it seems that this proves noxcho's point that running from other bootable media is a better method than relying on chkdsk run during a Windows boot. Of course, I'm discounting the possibility of a false positive so if I get around to creating an XP CD that includes SP3 I'll see if I get the same result. In absence of that, I'll close this question and award the points.
Thnaks very much for the assitance and persistence. Hopefully the disk will stay clean for the foreseaable future.
Thnaks very much for the assitance and persistence. Hopefully the disk will stay clean for the foreseaable future.
Note, your case could be different but still take backup and try this suggestion.