Chkdsk not working correctly?

SETH

New Member
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5
Hello.

I've encountered a handful of occurrences in which W8 shows no problem with a drive, yet, there is indeed problems with the drive.

The following is a typical example of what I've been experiencing:


An HP XP system with a suspected failing hard drive. I immediately cloned it, ran a W8 chkdsk on the new drive (to correct any file system errors), installed it, and XP ran without issue.

I then fired up the old drive on my W8 system. W8 claimed no issue with the drive, and forcing the chkdsk, W8 again reported no problems found on the drive.

I then installed the drive on the XP system and went into the Recovery Console. A chkdsk, (regardless of the switch), would not run. All I got was the dreaded, "The volume has one or more unrecoverable options".

Yet another issue is occasionally W8 will claim no problem on the drive, but following the forced chkdsk, W8 claims problems on the drive and suggests a re-scan.

One last thing. In previous versions of chkdsk, we had the option to do a file system scan and/or a full surface scan. The W8 chkdsk, has no such option, but for a lack of a better term, seems to do something "in-between". Can someone please explain what exactly the W8 chkdsk is doing?

EDIT: Instead of saying, "I've encountered a handful of occurrences in which Windows 8 shows no problem with a drive, yet, there is indeed problems with the drive", I should have said, "I've encountered a handful of drives in which Windows 8 shows no problem with the drive, yet, there is indeed problems with the drive.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8
Hello Seth, and welcome to Eight Forums.

What brand is the hard drive?

I would recommend to go to the drive's manufacturer's support webpage, and download their hard drive test software (ex: Seagate SeaTools) to see if it passes or fails. If it fails, then the drive is indeed failing and needs to be replaced very soon.

I hope it passes.
 

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Thank you for the reply Brink.

I've experienced the issue on 4 or 5 occasions now.

Basically, W8's chkdsk occasionally shows no problems, despite the drive confirmed as failing via physical replacement, SMART, and/or the inability to run a chkdsk on it from the Recovery Console.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8
If SMART tells you the drive is failing, you better pay attention to that. SMART is built-in to the hard drive and is not part of the OS. See this article S.M.A.R.T. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. , SMART monitors and checks some things that are not accessible by Chkdsk or any program on the operating system.
 

My Computer

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    windows 8.1 Update 1 Pro 64bit
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    Pavillion H8-1202
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    I7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz
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    PEGATRON
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    8 GB
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Thank you as well for the reply Nuccii.

I realize now that due to my incorrect wording, you both are under the impression that I'm referring to a single drive.

Instead of saying, "I've encountered a handful of occurrences in which Windows 8 shows no problem with a drive, yet, there is indeed problems with the drive", I should have said, "I've encountered a handful of drives in which Windows 8 shows no problem with the drive, yet, there is indeed problems with the drive.

I'll edit my original post to reflect the correction.

BTW- This occurs in the GUI. As of yet, I haven't tried it with a command prompt, although the spotfix command looks appealing.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8
Seth,

Have you already tested the drives with their manufacturer's test program to see what it reports as well?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
No Brink, I haven't used that type of program in at least a decade. When I suspect a failing hard drive, I find it easier, faster, and more accurate to just swap out the drive with one pre-loaded with the same operating system. Although I don't even bother with that if the drive has obvious physical degradation (such as the armature ticking, or the motor grinding).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8
No Brink, I haven't used that type of program in at least a decade. When I suspect a failing hard drive, I find it easier, faster, and more accurate to just swap out the drive with one pre-loaded with the same operating system. Although I don't even bother with that if the drive has obvious physical degradation (such as the armature ticking, or the motor grinding).
That way you maybe throwing out relatively or even healthy drives. Chkdisk does not do as deep checking then programs dedicated for that and SMART remembers everything that was happening to it. Even bad sectors can show up for warios reasons that do not have to be of HW nature. Sudden power loss at inopportune time can cause software bad sectors which could be repaired. If enough of those or other corruption of file system occurs, HDD will have to work much harder and result in the noises that sound like HDD hardware problems.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
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    PC/Desktop
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    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Hello CountMike.

The swap method is just one of various methods I employ when I need to determine the status of a hard drive.

My only point is that Window's 8 reporting of the hard drive condition is not accurate.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8
Hello CountMike.

The swap method is just one of various methods I employ when I need to determine the status of a hard drive.

My only point is that Window's 8 reporting of the hard drive condition is not accurate.
That's because it does not check everything just state of files and file system, not hardware and firmware.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
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