Help with NTFS versus FAT32

[#1]

Browni

I would not be posting here if I did not want to take advice from an experienced PC builder.  But I can assure you that the clicking ONLY comes from the EXTERNAL 2 TB hard disk.  It has a meter cable on it and therefore a long way away from the desktop computer.  The clicking is definitely not coming from the computer hard disk, but I can say no more to convince you except that I have already said that as soon as I can buy a replacement EXTERNAL 2 TB hard disk, to replace it, I will. But that will be in a couple of days before I can get one.  In the meantime, I have to hope it holds out.  The ONLY time it happens is during formatting.

In the meantime, I have also now successfully saved a Macrium Image to the same external hard disk (70 Gb) and I am about to do the same with a Macrium Clone of the INTERNAL hard disk onto the EXTERNAL 2 TB hard disk.  I have downloaded so far 175 Gb. and presumably the clone will take that up to 275 Gb +/-.  So we will see what happens.

My hope is that the internal hard disk holds out until I can get that replaced by a computer repair centre, although there have been no problems whatsoever with it except the boot message each time. As soon as I hit a key, it starts up without trouble.  But it never used to do that until a week or so ago; hence my concern.  But in the meantime I need too have something in reserve. Just my luck, all I have got is a potentially dodgy 2 TB external hard disk which is less than three months old but passes the CHKDSK test and formats with Quick Format, which I appreciate does not check the health of the sectors.  Obviously there is something wrong.

[#2]

@WinfredVaughan What's the offending "boot message" that you mention.

[#3]

@VileReynard  See post #12

[#4]

@WinfredVaughan  Have you run chkdsk /r  That would check for bad sectors. chkdsk /f checks for disk errors only.

But one thought. How old is the motherboard / system? Just wondered if the error is the system (motherboard) is having problems reading rather than an actual HDD problems - even more so if chkdsk is coming back clean. As for Macrium, does nigh on everything without even bothering with Windows supplied backup/restore etc. In years gone by, nigh on every time I ever tried the Windows Restore facility it used to fail!

[#5]

Thanks.

So the disk is slow to start or it needs a some rereads to read the boot sector(s)...

I still wouldn't switch it on unnecessarily.

[#6]

@VileReynard 

Sorry don't take offence, I am not an experienced PC buldier either. I have built 3 in the past, a much younger me at the time, but I'm not experienced now at all.

As I said, just get everything important to yourself off the external HD first. Priority. It sounds like it is failing. I could be wrong (I usually am in life).

Once you've done that I'd file it under 'R'. That's a joke for 'rubbish' 😑

[idonno]

 idonno

Sorry, it  has taken me a while to do a CHKDSK /r because I kept getting  a message saying that the "volume is in use".  Having Googled a lot, I found I could get it to do it on next re-boot, which I did.  That was before going to bed last night.  I calculated that it would take at least three hours, so left it.  This morning, it had already re-booted into Windows.  So after more Googling, I eventually found the "winnit" log !  It recorded, thankfully, no errors found.  I attach the file.

So now I am going to try to do the same thing with the external 1 TB hard disk.  I imagine that will take all day if I am able to use CHKDSK on it as it has been formatted as exFAT. 

At least I am more relaxed that I have now got the the System backed up in two forms and stored in two places, even if a question mark hangs over both of them !

Having now re-booted several times out of necessity, I am pleased to say there have not been any more messages about being unable to read the file on boot.

[#8]

@WinfredVaughan   Nice one ! ! !... take the rest of the day off.... !   have a nice day..

[#9]

Better news re. Backup

I found that on my old data-backup-external-hard-disk up to December 2019 which is 1 TB and not quite full there was just enough room to repeat the Macrium Back-up and store it there.  So now I definitely have a safe back-up and can relax while I get a new back-up disk.

As for the existing 1 TB disc, CHKDSK /r has been running for the last 4 hours and has only just done 11%, so a long way to go.  But no clicking from it so far.

Also, having re-started now several times, there has still been no repetition of the funny boot message, so fingers crossed.

Thanks again for all the tips, technical descriptions, ideas and advice.  I really am extremely grateful to everyone.

[#10]

So only 7MB/sec.

[#11]

Good reason for that :  it's off to the nackers' yard !  Twice I completed the cycle (unattended) and eventually got the report that it found errors but was 100% complete.  It gave no further details.  Problems started at 242006 (sectors ?) out of 34572285 and ended at 380246, i.e.7% -11%. and 7% was about where the problems with formatting occurred.  It was also clicking again merrily.  So I assume it was stuck at that point.  I did actually see it continue to 12% but I was not there when it moved on.

The backups that I have previously loaded onto it can all be read, so I assume that they were all stored prior to that point.  I can see no harm therefore in keeping the disk until the replacement arrives.

On the other hand, I wonder whether the damaged sectors are simply by-passed when data is saved onto the disk ?  If so, even though I have ordered a replacement, it may still be worth keeping.

[#12]

It's not worth keeping - if you had a few dozen bad sectors which were unwritable, the disk would allocate a spare sector to use in their place.

This would probably be an indication that its time to consider replacing the disk.

If you have thousands of bad sectors, its effectively useless.

You could keep the disk if you want to practice disk error recovery procedures. 😀

You could investigate the relevance of SMART with reference to hard disks (it provides error statistics).

[#13]

You are right.  My only reason for not throwing it away is that it is only three months old.  My last one which is half the zize has lasted me six years but of course is now full which is why I bought a new, bigger, better one ! (What's the emoticon for 'Irony'?).

Anyway, again thanks for all the advice.  I have certainly learnt something new - like 'Eventviewer' and several other things besides.  And that's what this forum is for, no doubt.  Really impressed.

[#14]

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@WinfredVaughan wrote: You are right.  My only reason for not throwing it away is that it is only three months old.

Warranty job then

As for throwing them away, yeah been there. Me? When they get to the point of not being able to run properly (i.e. you can't format it with 1 & 0) I tend to put a well aimed hammer blow to break the disk. Unreadable at that point.

But saying that, I have in front of me a 2.5 HDD, with the words "Netbook original - dying" written on it. It dates from my time in Saigon, way back in 2010. Funny enough if I put it in the caddy, even now, I can still read it. Just takes a bit of time to get its act together. They seem to go on forever.  

[#15]

So, I have a new 2 TB hard disk !

After researching the various technologies, I decided to give a Solid State drive a chance.  I hope I do not live to regret it but in view of what happened last time with a moving head 'clicking', I thought it would be better with SSD construction.

So my next question is more straightforward.  I have a USB extension adapter with several USB ports on the end which I use for a few USB sticks, my mouse dongle etc. right by my keyboard.  It saves diving under the desk each time I want to use a USB stick.  Each port has its own Off/On switch which is also added security.  It has no power, however, and the mechanical hard disk would not work there.

Now, as the USB sticks work, I imagine the SSD should work - not tried it yet until I asked !  As the extension cable is a good meter long, I have two worries : 1. Will it run more slowly (if it works) ?  2. Will a meter of cable run the risk of data being lost / corrupted ?  I have never had any issues with the various USB sticks which I keep permanently plugged in in the two years that I have has this very cheap, chinese USB adapter.