Repairing Disk Errors...

[tinpanalley]

I got "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete" after my PC failed to boot properly 3 times in a row. It would go to Windows but as programs started to run, it would just freeze up. My C drive is on an SSD. Could this be one of my hdd storage drives causing this? Anything I can do here or shall I just let it run? It's been going for 2 hours.

[Allan B]

If you have an HDD light, if it is blinking away and you are seeing progress on the scan you can let it finish.  If it appears stuck i would power off and remove any drives you have installed except for the SSD running windows (C drive)..  Then see if it works properly.  

 

If you do get into windows i would suggest checking the S.M.A.R.T. info on your drives, there are a few free tools out there, my laptop has a samsung ssd and the samsung magician supports reading the SMART info on all drives (not sure if you need at least one samsung for that to work).  SSDs will also report a "life" just get the utility from the manufacture of your SSD brand.

[Marko Del Vechio]

"Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete" is windows built in checkdisk.

 

Its best to let it run completely so it checks all the sectors of the disk for corrupt data.

Also try some of the drive testing software like HDTUNE to check drive health and perfom scans, if you manage to get into windows.

[191x7]

Also, Hard Disk Sentinel.

[tinpanalley]

33 minutes ago, Allan B said:

If you have an HDD light, if it is blinking away and you are seeing progress on the scan you can let it finish.  If it appears stuck i would power off and remove any drives you have installed except for the SSD running windows (C drive)..  Then see if it works properly.  

 

If you do get into windows i would suggest checking the S.M.A.R.T. info on your drives, there are a few free tools out there, my laptop has a samsung ssd and the samsung magician supports reading the SMART info on all drives (not sure if you need at least one samsung for that to work).  SSDs will also report a "life" just get the utility from the manufacture of your SSD brand.

Hdd light is solid. Not flashing. On screen the wheel is turning but there isn't any progress advancing.

[tinpanalley]

28 minutes ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

"Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete" is windows built in checkdisk.

 

Its best to let it run completely so it checks all the sectors of the disk for corrupt data.

Also try some of the drive testing software like HDTUNE to check drive health and perfom scans, if you manage to get into windows.

Havent seen any progress indicators and my hdd light on my tower is just solid. No flashing or flickering.

[tinpanalley]

Stopped it, rebooted... Blue screen with "bad system config info" error.

Ideas?

[Marko Del Vechio]

If it passed like 3 hours, you can try and reset it. No harm should happen.

Also try removing all drives except the drive with Windows instalation. Also keep in mind that boot partition does not have to be on the same disk as the physical C partition and files. Its rare but some configurations and modifications allow it.

 

Try only with Windows disk, and if nothing happens try shuting it all down.

Power it on and spam F8 key and see if windows startup repair menu shows up. There you can do further steps to repair the disk/boot partition

[tinpanalley]

11 minutes ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

If it passed like 3 hours, you can try and reset it. No harm should happen.

Also try removing all drives except the drive with Windows instalation. Also keep in mind that boot partition does not have to be on the same disk as the physical C partition and files. Its rare but some configurations and modifications allow it.

 

Try only with Windows disk, and if nothing happens try shuting it all down.

Power it on and spam F8 key and see if windows startup repair menu shows up. There you can do further steps to repair the disk/boot partition

Ok, I rebooted, disconnected everything but the C drive and getting the same issue. Windows repair option came up, allowed it to try and it went into "repairing disk errors" again but this time has gone into "attempting repairs".

If I get Windows running again, what do I need to show you guys to see whether my SSD is the problem?

If I don't get Windows running again, then wwhat

 

UPDATE: Startup couldnt repair your PC.

[Marko Del Vechio]

If you managed to get into windows repair menu try the following.

 

 

If you can get into startup repair try this.

TROUBLESHOOT -> COMMAND PROMPT

 

in cmd

type

diskpart

list disk

select disk 0                if windows is on that disk

list partition

 

than check the list for partition # SYSTEM under type. # is number you will see

 

select partition #

assign letter=P

list volume

 

than check if windows install partition is C: or any other letter.

type

list volume                     if windows is here check what letter its assigned i will assume c:

exit

 

 

than type

P:

 

now you can do 2 things, try to repair it manualy which probably wont work without format but lets see

if windows is on c: partition and have uefi instalation do next thing

 

type

bcdbot c:\windows /s p: /f all

 

where c: is windows instalation part and p: is your assigned system part

-----------------

that could possibly fix it, but if it says access denied you will need to format partiton

 

format P: /FS:FAT32

 

confirm with y

 

than retry

bcdbot c:\windows /s p: /f all

 

 

 

If it is sucessfull you should be able to get into win again

[tinpanalley]

1 hour ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

If you managed to get into windows repair menu try the following.

 

 

If you can get into startup repair try this.

TROUBLESHOOT -> COMMAND PROMPT

 

in cmd

type

diskpart

list disk

select disk 0                if windows is on that disk

list partition

 

than check the list for partition # SYSTEM under type. # is number you will see

 

select partition #

assign letter=P

list volume

 

than check if windows install partition is C: or any other letter.

type

list volume                     if windows is here check what letter its assigned i will assume c:

exit

 

 

than type

P:

 

now you can do 2 things, try to repair it manualy which probably wont work without format but lets see

if windows is on c: partition and have uefi instalation do next thing

 

type

bcdbot c:\windows /s p: /f all

 

where c: is windows instalation part and p: is your assigned system part

-----------------

that could possibly fix it, but if it says access denied you will need to format partiton

 

format P: /FS:FAT32

 

confirm with y

 

than retry

bcdbot c:\windows /s p: /f all

 

 

 

If it is sucessfull you should be able to get into win again

It reset Windows. What can I look at to see if the ssd is dying or already in a bad state?

[Marko Del Vechio]

18 minutes ago, tinpanalley said:

It reset Windows. What can I look at to see if the ssd is dying or already in a bad state?

I usually use a tool HDTUNE, there is a free option on their website. It offers SMART disk status check and also you can do quick and regular scan of the disk.

 

So has it been helpfull of restoring your partition and did you manage to boot into your old windows?

 

See attached screenshot to see how a potentialy damage disk looks like.

Thats my HDD and its been like that for a year. it only shows it has some damage to sectors but disk is no longer using those sectors and all is good as damage is not increasing.
If you have thousands of tens of thousands of reallocated, its done for HDD.

Since you have an SSD i recommend doing a normal (not quick) disk scan to see if any sectors have unreadable errors.
 

[tinpanalley]

5 minutes ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

So has it been helpfull of restoring your partition and did you manage to boot into your old windows?

The Windows reinstall seemed to have worked but when I went to login, the computer just crashed. I also use Windows 7 on another SSD just to play certain games. I'm currently using that. So, no it didn't really work.
Here is what I get for the Win10 SSD using HD Tune Pro...

 

[Marko Del Vechio]

Interface CRC error mean there is a loss of conection between SSD and the motherboard, possibly loose SATA DATA cable or bad motherboard SATA port.

 

Can you replace your SSD data cable and try different motherboard SATA port?

Also under error scan, do a quick scan, if quick shows error, you should consider replacing it asap.

If normal scan after that show alot of error, its time do get a new one i am afraid.

 

 

You can also go to CMD as admin on WIN 7,

type

D:

 

or whatever your main windows Partition letter is,

after its set as that letter do

chkdsk /f /R

and let it reboot and check that partition.

Might take some time tho, like 20ish min or less

[tinpanalley]

6 minutes ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

If normal scan after that show alot of error, its time do get a new one i am afraid.

Ok, quick scan showed no problems. Doing a regular one now overnight.
I'll do the chkdsk tomorrow morning.

After all that I'll try the physical SATA test, although I doubt it's an issue because it's on a chain with other hdds and they're all performing fine.

[Marko Del Vechio]

24 minutes ago, tinpanalley said:

Ok, quick scan showed no problems. Doing a regular one now overnight.
I'll do the chkdsk tomorrow morning.

After all that I'll try the physical SATA test, although I doubt it's an issue because it's on a chain with other hdds and they're all performing fine.

What i meant was SATA DATA cable, not power cable, should be one per disk going into motherboard. CRC errors usually pop up when there is physical problem in conection.

But without knowing your previous SMART stats, it could be writen to data long time before this happened. as we have nothing to compare stats now and before,

Keep a screenshot around and compare after disk scan is complete if any of the values changed.

[tinpanalley]

8 hours ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

What i meant was SATA DATA cable, not power cable

Ok, understood. I'll try that.

In the meantime, the full disk error scan was 100% green.

So I should do another SMART scan now to compare from the first stats I got? How do I run that scan?

[Marko Del Vechio]

Now you can check under HEALTH and see if any of the numbers went up, as in more errors that happened after or during the scan.

 

Disk looks clean since it shows all green.

 

you can also do the Disk part thing again from CMD and assign a letter your system partition on that disk, and after you assign letter

in cmd type

H:                           -drive letter you assigned previously

 

and do chkdsk /f /R

for that system partition, sometimes files get orphaned or broken in ways only windows can break files.

 

" remainder how to assign letter "

in cmd

type

diskpart

list disk

select disk 0                if windows is on that disk

list partition

 

than check the list for partition # SYSTEM under type. # is number you will see

 

select partition #

assign letter=P

 

 

[tinpanalley]

16 minutes ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

Now you can check under HEALTH and see if any of the numbers went up, as in more errors that happened after or during the scan.

 

Disk looks clean since it shows all green.

 

you can also do the Disk part thing again from CMD and assign a letter your system partition on that disk, and after you assign letter

in cmd type

H:                           -drive letter you assigned previously

 

and do chkdsk /f /R

for that system partition, sometimes files get orphaned or broken in ways only windows can break files.

 

" remainder how to assign letter "

in cmd

type

diskpart

list disk

select disk 0                if windows is on that disk

list partition

 

than check the list for partition # SYSTEM under type. # is number you will see

 

select partition #

assign letter=P

 

 

Thank you so much for all your help!

What is the benefit of doing the diskpart thing though? Not sure what the goal was there.

[Marko Del Vechio]

Well, system partition is hidden and has NO letter assigned to it.

If you wanted to do checkdisk on it, you cant as you cant point it to that partition

Assigning a Letter makes it easier to hop onto that partition and runing checkdisk.

 

also you can run the system file check to check the windows file integrity

Just instead of d: put a letter of partition the broken windows instalation is on

 

 

sfc /scannow /offwindir=d:\windows /offbootdir=d:\

 

also you can run

 

dism /Image:D:\ /cleanup-image /restorehealth

 

And replace D: with the letter with broken windows installation.

 

 

[tinpanalley]

1 minute ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

Well, system partition is hidden and has NO letter assigned to it.

If you wanted to do checkdisk on it, you cant as you cant point it to that partition

Ok, so it permits scanning the system partition but then the SSD is permanently not working isn't it?

Would it not be better to just stop using it?

Is any SSD brand fine now or is it still really just a Samsung market?

[Marko Del Vechio]

Well you can try and check if the errors are due to the data corruption or an actual defective drive.

 

Tbh when looking for SSDs m.2 ones are the way to go nowdays due to higher speeds and righer IOPS rate.

It all depends how big and fast drive you want.

 

I have found that adata SU630/SU650 tend to fail , also Kingston A400 series.

 

Samsung is pricier , but should be more reliable long term.

 

Also there is a bad trend of manufacturers launch their SSD series with one revision,. and months later they change physical components for cheaper ones. And they are all guilty of doing this atleast once.

 

I use samsung ssds, and never had issues with them,

 

Stay away from cheap adata, western digital blue,

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gIr09k1g21awAho1h4uIb8jCklvgNIjkwrU_T9Rq2zk/edit#gid=906612217

Might also check with the sheet here and try find the model you looking to buy. stay away from red squares xD

[tinpanalley]

1 hour ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

Well you can try and check if the errors are due to the data corruption or an actual defective drive.

I'll post the results here in a bit.

I wonder if it's worth it looking into NVME. The thing is that on my motherboard (B450 Tomahawk Max) using the M2 slot disables two of my SATAs.

[Marko Del Vechio]

Well if 4 sata ports are enough for you, id say go for m.2.

 

Just check this comparison between a same price range SSDs, one 2.5in SATA and one m.2

 

ADATA SU750 ULTIMATE 512GB VS ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 PRO 512GB M.2
 

[tinpanalley]

23 minutes ago, Marko Del Vechio said:

Well if 4 sata ports are enough for you, id say go for m.2.

 

Just check this comparison between a same price range SSDs, one 2.5in SATA and one m.2

 

ADATA SU750 ULTIMATE 512GB VS ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 PRO 512GB M.2

Ok, so it's a looooot faster. Point made. But for just Windows and running desktop applications, is there much point?

 

Here are the results of the chkdsk...

 

chkdsk.txt