HD problem

A few days ago my backup software wouldn't work, it gave a message:
"Failed to read from the sector 63 of hard disk". I ran Windows
Chkdsk and it found no problems. The software worked until three days
later and it had the same problem. I ran Chkdsk again, still found no
problems. Then it worked again until two days later, when I got the
same message.

Is the HD about to go bad? Will formatting it help? Or it is time to
get a new HD before it dies?
--
Replace you know what by j to email

Jan Philips wrote:
A few days ago my backup software wouldn't work, it gave a message:
"Failed to read from the sector 63 of hard disk". I ran Windows
Chkdsk and it found no problems. The software worked until three days
later and it had the same problem. I ran Chkdsk again, still found no
problems. Then it worked again until two days later, when I got the
same message.

Is the HD about to go bad? Will formatting it help? Or it is time to
get a new HD before it dies?

It does seem to be time for a new drive, but you could first download
run the diagnostic software from the disk manufacturer.
--
Lem

Apollo 11 - 40 years ago:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ap...0th/index.html

"Jan Philips" wrote:

A few days ago my backup software wouldn't work, it gave a message:
"Failed to read from the sector 63 of hard disk". I ran Windows
Chkdsk and it found no problems. The software worked until three days
later and it had the same problem. I ran Chkdsk again, still found no
problems. Then it worked again until two days later, when I got the
same message.

Is the HD about to go bad? Will formatting it help? Or it is time to
get a new HD before it dies?
--
Replace you know what by j to email
.


Sounds like your hard drive is going South. Buy a new one and use the
cloning software that comes with it to clone your installation on the old
drive to the new drive while you still have a chance. Then use the diagnostic
utilities provided by the maker of the failing drive to test it. Even if it
tests OK, you will now have peace of mind that you are not about to have a
failure. New hard drives are pretty cheap these days.

Jan Philips wrote:

A few days ago my backup software wouldn't work, it gave a message:
"Failed to read from the sector 63 of hard disk". I ran Windows
Chkdsk and it found no problems. The software worked until three days
later and it had the same problem. I ran Chkdsk again, still found no
problems. Then it worked again until two days later, when I got the
same message.

Is the HD about to go bad? Will formatting it help? Or it is time to
get a new HD before it dies?

You never mention HOW you ran chkdsk. So what command-line parameters
did you specify? To see them (other than using Windows' own help via
Start - Help and Support to read up on them), open a command shell
(cmd.exe) and run "chkdsk /?". So did you use the /f parameter?
Probably better (but only when you won't be using the computer for
awhile because it takes much longer) is to use the /r parameter. If it
reports any sectors got reallocated (the reserve space on the hard disk
masks to the replacement sector), I run it until it says the disk is
clean. If it doesn't go clean after 5 runs then it's time to use more
robust diagnostic & repair software (see below).

Did you end up running chkdsk on the wrong drive because you didn't
specify which one to check?

Since it runs against partitions, I would suggest running against every
partition (drive) on the hard disk. When using the /f or /r parameters,
you will need to reboot your host so the partition isn't inuse when
testing is performed on those partitions.

If using the /r parameter doesn't eliminte the problem then it's time to
use stronger 3rd party utilities. Some hard disk manufacturers have
diagnostic software you can download from their site. Alas, these are
marginally better than "chkdsk /r" and some not at all. SpinRite ($89)
is probably still the best program for fixing bad sector and
misalignment problems in hard drives; however, at its cost, you could
probably buy a replacement hard disk so it makes sense to get it to put
in your software toolbox that you will employ against many hard disks at
once or over some time (i.e., it's cost effective when used against
multiple hard disks).

On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:46:10 -0500, Lem lemp40@unknownhost wrote:

It does seem to be time for a new drive, but you could first download
run the diagnostic software from the disk manufacturer.

Thanks for that suggestion. I got SeaTools for Seagate and am running
tests now.
--
Replace you know what by j to email

Personally this all comes down to money and time. If you can afford to,
the best thing to do is buy a new hard drive; costs money but may save time
(ie. backing up, formatting, installing OS, programes, etc one time) then
what I might do is make the old hard drive your second drive OR you could
reformat current hard drive (after backing up of course), reinstall then
chance the drive being totally inoperable either during the reformat or
worse yet shortly down the road.

From personal experience (and i've done this on quite a few computers) I've
had both happen. I've reformatted Hard drives and they pretty much lasted
with no problems until the computer itself was obsolete and I've had them
completely crash during a reformat.

As long as you backup the second option isn't as risky but can be a major
inconvenience and a complete waste of time.


So bottom line is time versus money. Cheap in comparison or not $50 is $50.
If my sons HDD gave such errors on his older computer I'd reformat and
reinstall his old HDD and see what happens versus dumping any money into an
old computer.

If it were mine..........really depends on the mood I was in and if i had
the time. If there were 3 foot of snow outside on a weekend I probably would
opt to reformat as well.




"Jan Philips" wrote in message
...
A few days ago my backup software wouldn't work, it gave a message:
"Failed to read from the sector 63 of hard disk". I ran Windows
Chkdsk and it found no problems. The software worked until three days
later and it had the same problem. I ran Chkdsk again, still found no
problems. Then it worked again until two days later, when I got the
same message.

Is the HD about to go bad? Will formatting it help? Or it is time to
get a new HD before it dies?
--
Replace you know what by j to email

On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:22:01 -0800, Mark Adams
wrote:

Sounds like your hard drive is going South. Buy a new one and use the
cloning software that comes with it to clone your installation on the old
drive to the new drive while you still have a chance.

I think that is my best option. It is a 500GB which doesn't cost much
these days. It is the second HD in this computer, so it won't be hard
to replace.


Even if it
tests OK, you will now have peace of mind that you are not about to have a
failure.

The peace of mind and potential aggravation make it worthwhile.
Strange thing, though, it is my youngest HD, only 2 years old.
--
Replace you know what by j to email

On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:20:05 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:

You never mention HOW you ran chkdsk. So what command-line parameters
did you specify?

I went to Properties/tools and checked both boxes. Then I rebooted so
it would run CHKDSK and fix any problems.

clean. If it doesn't go clean after 5 runs then it's time to use more
robust diagnostic & repair software (see below).

I've got Seagates SeaTools running on it right now (the second HD in
this computer).

Did you end up running chkdsk on the wrong drive because you didn't
specify which one to check?

No, I checked.

Since it runs against partitions, I would suggest running against every
partition (drive) on the hard disk.

It only has one partition.

diagnostic software you can download from their site. Alas, these are
marginally better than "chkdsk /r" and some not at all. SpinRite ($89)
is probably still the best program for fixing bad sector and
misalignment problems in hard drives; however, at its cost, you could
probably buy a replacement hard disk


Yes, I used SpinRite many years ago. I looked at it yesterday, and it
hasn't been updated in 4 or 5 years. And, as you say, I can buy a new
HD for that amount of money.

Thank you for your reply.
--
Replace you know what by j to email

On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:34:37 -0500, Jan Philips
wrote:

The Seagate SeaTools diagnostics finished after several hours but
showed no problem. But with the error occurring 3 times in about a
week, I don't feel comfortable so I plan to replace the drive
tomorrow.
--
Replace you know what by j to email

Are the fans working?

An overheating problem could cause erratic behaviour.

teabag


"Jan Philips" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:34:37 -0500, Jan Philips
wrote:

The Seagate SeaTools diagnostics finished after several hours but
showed no problem. But with the error occurring 3 times in about a
week, I don't feel comfortable so I plan to replace the drive
tomorrow.
--
Replace you know what by j to email

Jan Philips wrote:
A few days ago my backup software wouldn't work, it gave a message:
"Failed to read from the sector 63 of hard disk". I ran Windows
Chkdsk and it found no problems. The software worked until three days
later and it had the same problem. I ran Chkdsk again, still found no
problems. Then it worked again until two days later, when I got the
same message.

Is the HD about to go bad? Will formatting it help? Or it is time to
get a new HD before it dies?

Just for chuckles, download HDTune and use the Error Scan tab. Each block on
the screen, will represent many megabytes of data. See if any blocks
are non-green, implying something happened within that chunk. Since
the disk is scanned raw, every block should be tested. It is not a
partition based scan. I like the fact I get visual feedback while
it is running, and that it can be stopped if all I wanted to see
is the health of the first gigabyte of the disk.

http://www.hdtune.com/download.html (ver 2.55 is free)

Everyone else seems to be quite comfortable with your symptoms,
but "sector 63" bothers me. The CHS geometry of my disk, uses
what looks like 63 sectors per track. Sector numbers start at
zero. "Sector 63" is the first sector of the second track.
My partition table shows, sector 0 is the MBR, and the rest
of the first track is not used (at least, I don't know what is
hiding in there). My very first partition starts at sector 63.
That may not contain actual user data or a file. The partition
boot sectors are stored up in the front of the partition. There
is a primary and a backup boot sector in there. In fact, that
might be the primary boot sector. If that was unreadable, wouldn't
your OS be un-bootable ? I don't know whether the OS is smart
enough to access the backup boot sector or not. When I looked
at mine, what impressed me about my setup, is it doesn't look
like the backup boot sector is valid.

http://www.ntfs.com/boot-sector-damaged.htm

The program TestDisk, has the ability to "dump" the boot sector
section of a partition. I'm running the Windows version at
the moment.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

To navigate there, start the program. Use "Create" to create
a log file (a don't care for now). Select the disk to be
examined (I have two, and I'm looking at the first one.)
I used "Proceed" at this point. Then "Intel" for the partition
setup type.

That brings you to the main menu. Select "Advanced".

Cursor down to the partition you want to examine the partition
boot sector on. If you have only one partition, there should
be just one entry showing. At the bottom of the screen, "Boot"
should be highlighted, if there is a boot sector present (maybe
it detects the signature bytes). Hit return to go to the Boot
sub-menu.

The right-most option at this level, is "Dump". This will show
the primary and backup boot sectors. When you hit return while
selecting "Dump", that will read the partition boot sectors.
In your case, I'm expecting the sector shown on the left of the
screen, will be the contents of sector 63. If sector 63 was
really busted, then that sector should not be display-able.

You can select the Quit options, and Quit all the menu levels until
the TestDisk program closes, or press control-c to just make
the program quit completely. The control-c option is good for
levels of the program that don't seem to have a quit option.

If you just use the "Dump" option, that shouldn't do anything
to your disk. The above sequence should only have been reading
things.

The amount of data shown, is 0x600 hex. That is 1536 decimal or
three 512 byte sectors worth. So the "boot sector" area displayed,
is actually two chunks of three sectors each. But offset zero on
the left hand side, could well be the "sector 63" your backup
program is complaining about. And I can't help but feel that is
no coincidence. It is a pretty funny sector to be reported as
being fried, of the millions of sectors on your disk.

This might not make any difference to your desire to replace the
disk. I frequently replace my disks, before they show signs of
being on their last legs, so I don't have a problem with you
changing out the disk. It makes your current disk the "backup"
or "snapshot" in a sense, which is a good thing. I'm just
curious why the backup program chose to complain about sector 63,
and nothing else.

To examine your primary partition table (stored in sector 0),
you can use this. That will show the same kind of info that
TestDisk was showing, but with a little less cursor based navigation.
This tool is part of some older version of Partition Magic. Unzip this.
Then double click the PTEDIT32.exe to run the program. What you're
looking at, is the place where the up-to-four primary partition
entries are stored.

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/englis...s/PTEDIT32.zip

(Screenshot of PTEDIT32 viewing a Dell boot disk)
http://www.vistax64.com/attachments/...0-dell-tbl.gif

Paul

On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:30:26 -0000, "teabag" wrote:

An overheating problem could cause erratic behaviour.

I ran Speccy which gave the temp as a little higher than normal, but
at that time the diagnostics had been running for several hours. Right
now it is at 47C, which is OK.
--
Replace you know what by j to email

On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:34:37 -0500, Jan Philips
wrote:

A few days ago my backup software wouldn't work, it gave a message:
"Failed to read from the sector 63 of hard disk". I ran Windows
Chkdsk and it found no problems.

The problem has now happened 4 times. So 4 times in 8 days it has
prevented my automated daily backup from running, which is
unacceptable to me. I've bought a HD to replace it and I will use
this one in a non critical situation such as additional backups.

Thanks for all the help.
--
Replace you know what by j to email

don't junk that drive!

a google search of the string "Failed to read from the Sector 63 of the hard
disk 2" suggests that as a pretty common error, this is not your drive - it
is acronis (that is where the error message always comes from)

this was confirmed here (at bottom):
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=198221

saying:

"...Finally got it working, following advice from Acronis. I had to tick the
"Do not load CD-ROM drivers" box in Tools - Options - Startup.

(Pretty disappointing that the manual says absolutely nothing about this
option. But then the manual's pretty weak on the whole subject of setting up
multi-boot systems.)

I asked Acronis what was going on here, and got this reply:

"Such issue could happen because sometimes (it depends on certain hardware
configuration and some other parameters) it becomes possible, that OS
Selector confuses hard disk drive with CD-ROM drive. As a result, he cannot
read necessary information required to boot and displays this error message...
."



so either do that or click ignore all, but it is a problem with acronis (i
got it on two separate systems, both with WD external drives attached that
otherwise checked out perfectly fine) - and fwiw, i am using acronis v12, so
it hasn't been fixed in two versions since the guy reported in v10


acronis backup software is not too reliable, unfortunately, not much else is
either



Ian Philips wrote:
A few days ago my backup software wouldn't work, it gave a message:
"Failed to read from the sector 63 of hard disk". I ran Windows
Chkdsk and it found no problems.

The problem has now happened 4 times. So 4 times in 8 days it has
prevented my automated daily backup from running, which is
unacceptable to me. I've bought a HD to replace it and I will use
this one in a non critical situation such as additional backups.

Thanks for all the help.