Corrupt file help

[joycem10]

Back a couple of months ago I started getting a message about an old C3C save that was corrupt. Basically the message told me to run the chkdsk utility. I never did anything about it and now a couple of months later, Im starting to get more and more corrupt files and more messages.

Do I need to run chkdsk and what is it? Can I just delete the corrupt files, every time I try I cannot move or delete them via the recycle bin. Do I need to reformat my comp? Am I screwed?

 

[Turner]

It's not so much that you have corrupt files, but that the disk where those files reside is corrupted. Yes, the files are, but that's like your nose stuffing up when you have a cold.

Anyways, chkdsk is a utility that can go out and attempt to repair the bad sectors and try and save the information elsewhere.

To do this, click on Start and My Computer. Find the drive that has the corrupt files, and right click on it. Select Properties. Then click on the Tools tab. It'll say something about checking for errors. There should be two check boxes, check both of them. The procedure will error out, and ask if it can run then next time you boot. Say yes. Then reboot. It'll run before windows loads, so it can work on the disk with no locked files. It could run a while, so do it before you leave, or watch a movie, or something like that.

 

[joycem10]

Thanks Turner, much appreciated.

 

[lndm]

Modern hard drives have protection against this. If your protection has been used up and you are getting more and more bad blocks then your drive is on its way out. Do a backup, when you can.

 

[GoodGame]

Yeah I second the possibility that the drive is starting to die. Basically the bad files could be file copy errors, because the delayed write cache is not getting a successful save to disk. Though it could even be RAM issues---since RAM is important to the process as well; Tried reseating the RAM sticks, checking the RAM for compatibility/timing issues?

If you start hearing weird clicking sounds, then definitely suspect the Hard drive, back it up, stop using it, and get a replacement.

 

[lndm]

Good point about the RAM causing corruptions. Since the drive will not confuse these with bad blocks, a 'SMART' analyser for HDDs may give the answer.

 

[joycem10]

Thanks for the tips. I ran chkdsk last night and everything seems to have been corrected. A nice side effect is there seems to be a noticeable increase is speed.

My comp is around 4-5 years old which seems too early for the drive to be dying. Its a crappy dell so this is good incentive to upgrade.

 

[Macha]

Thanks for the tips. I ran chkdsk last night and everything seems to have been corrected. A nice side effect is there seems to be a noticeable increase is speed.

My comp is around 4-5 years old which seems too early for the drive to be dying. Its a crappy dell so this is good incentive to upgrade.

My 4 year old dell had both hard drives fail in quick sucession (my d: drive failed and three days later my c: drive failed). It's probably the most common cause of computer failure.

 

[GoodGame]

Yeah, hard drive life is somewhat random. I've had some go 3 years, some much less. A friend's Gateway, over 10 years old, finally died. It was fun watching it go from lots of dead sectors, to every single sector dead.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I've had my Aptiva IBM (Windows 98) HDD going for 9 years. Sold it two years ago, and it's still working....Can't remember what HDD it had.

On the earlier Windows 95, don't know the manufacturer, my mom says the HDD died, it wouldn't start up, then the PSU exploded. I'm not sure how that would happen, or if they're related. Mom says she thinks its because they didn't ship it properly.

 

[lndm]

A power supply can be thrown around a bit without suffering damage. If there were cold/loose/missing solder joints then something could dislodge. Around that time there were many faulty capacitors going around that could have caused a small explosion after a certain amount of use.