Bad file structure or bad HDD?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jay Kneese
  • Start date Start date
J

Jay Kneese

Several times in the past few weeks Windows XP has initiated CHKDSK
immediately after the Windows XP logo screen. CHKDSK invariably finds and
apparently corrects some number of file errors of one kind or another. My
question: Is this likely caused by a corrupt file structure, or by a failing
hard drive? If file structure, is there a fix other than formatting and
reinstalling XP?

Thanks for any help.
 
Jay said:
Several times in the past few weeks Windows XP has initiated CHKDSK
immediately after the Windows XP logo screen. CHKDSK invariably
finds and apparently corrects some number of file errors of one
kind or another. My question: Is this likely caused by a corrupt
file structure, or by a failing hard drive? If file structure, is
there a fix other than formatting and reinstalling XP?

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

Either is possible.

If you do not do backups, now is a great time to start.
If you do backups, now is a great time to increase frequency.

Download and use the hard disk drive manufacturer's diagnostics utility to
determine the health status of the drive. This way you can conclude (one
way or another) the most likely culprit.
 
Verify the integrity of your hard disk drive:
HD Tune: http://www.hdtune.com/
SpeedFan: http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

PassMark's BurnInTest which has options to perform numerous test including
the Disk: http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

Drive Monitoring Software:
Active Hard Disk Monitor
http://www.disk-monitor.com/

Disk Diagnostic Utilities from:

Western Digital's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=3

Seagate's SeaTools
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

Maxtor (Now Seagate SeaTools)
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=720bd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

Fujitsu's Utilities
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/support/utilities.html

Samsung's Disk manager software
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm

Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test software
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT
 
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