scandisk taking HOURS!

[e_storm]

Ok, I have Win ME and am trying to run scandisk...I have 2 HDs...1 10g and 1 40g. I run it and it keeps saying "scandisk has had to restart more than 10 times....bla bla bla". Its telling me that something is still writing to the disk as its trying to perform the scandisk. I tried CTRL-ALT-DEL and end tasking everything except explorer, but it still happens. Anyone have any ideas what could be writing to the disk?

Thanks in advance.

[Vryce]

what OS?

with w2k, ending tasks isn't enough..you must end the processes (in other os, check for icons in the toolbar (bottom right toolbar), close all you can..

[redduc900]

You could always run scandisk in real mode or in Safe mode.;)

[phendish]

If you have a constant internet connection running during scandisk, this will cause problems. But it seems like I've read another post of yours, e_storm, and you said that you have a 56k modem. So I doubt that is it.
Check to make sure that you aren't running a thorough scan - those take decades, even with the tiniest of hard drives (okay, so about 45 min for mine). If you absolutely need to run a thorough scan, use the standard scan first.

A screensaver, maybe?

I've actually seen times when I wasn't running a thing, and moving the mouse caused it to restart.

If all else fails, run scandisk in DOS - it's supposed to be more thorough and efficent than the one in Windows. I don't know the instructions right off the top of my head, but I will post them as soon as I can, if you need them.

[phendish]

My brain took a leave of absence on that last post.

Anyway.. either F8 into dos, or restart in DOS, and type in scandisk.

I have NO idea why I didn't think of that earlier.

[Monaco]

The easiest way to me is to just reboot into safe mode and do it there. Apperently Windows normally accesses the your HD on its own a lot, so ScanDisk has to restart. In Safe mode, whatever makes it hit the drive is not loaded.

[e_storm]

Originally posted by Vryce
what OS?

with w2k, ending tasks isn't enough..you must end the processes (in other os, check for icons in the toolbar (bottom right toolbar), close all you can..

I'm running Win ME. I also closed all the programs I could find running by CTRL_ALT_DEL and then end tasking everything except explorer. All the icons in the tray were gone except the mouse (MS intellimouse).

[e_storm]

Win ME actually doesn't have any way to boot into DOS, its not an option on the startup menu. I have a dos boot disk and a win95 boot disk though. 1 of the 2 must have scandisk on them. I think I'll try the safe mode option first and if that still doesn't work, run it in DOS...that would seem to be the easiest way.

Phendish, I do only have a 56k modem and I am running a thorough scan. Is the thorough scan a waste of time?....I run it once in a great while just to be sure everything is ok, but do not fully understand what it does.

[redduc900]

Start your computer by using the Windows Me Startup disk.

From the Startup menu, choose Minimum Boot.

At the command prompt, type scandisk, and then press ENTER.
;)

[Smizack]

I bet it's
1:Your screen saver or
2:Power management

[e_storm]

Originally posted by Smizack
I bet it's
1:Your screen saver or
2:Power management

I turned off the screensaver, not sure if I have power management enabled or not though. I'll check it out. Thanks.

[e_storm]

Originally posted by redduc900
Start your computer by using the Windows Me Startup disk.

From the Startup menu, choose Minimum Boot.

At the command prompt, type scandisk, and then press ENTER.
;)

Isn't this the windows version of DOS (command line, like typing command in the run screen)? If the folks above were talking about booting into real DOS, then this is not the same thing. Perhaps for this purpose it is, but not normally. Isn't that what all the hoopla was about about with ME, no real DOS?

[Wa11y]

That's right, there is no "real" DOS anymore. But by booting with the floppy, you don't actually get into windows, you get to a command prompt. So it's not really Windows, and it's not really DOS. More of an OS limbo.

As for safe mode, I tried to run ScanDisk in 98SE, and it kept giving me the same error, whether I was in normal mode or safe mode. Somehow, it started to work anyway in normal mode after a reboot. So I don't know how well Safe Mode will work for you.

[Billvill]

I had this problem a few years ago in win 98 se. I am not sure if this will apply to ME but here it is. The way around it for me was to restart in dos mode. At the " C:\WINDOWS:> " prompt type " cd\ " that will get a true dos prompt "C:\>" then run the scandisk program .

I hope that helps / Billy

[e_storm]

thanks for all the replies guys, I'll try the sort-of-DOS method when I get home and post the results.

[Paiynn@work]

I saw the same problem on a station here at work. It actually ended up being his quicklaunch. After disabling it the scan went right through.

[Robbie]

Yeah I had this prob a few times. It turned out I had a virus. So check to see if ya got one.

Scan on

Rob

[e_storm]

I checked for viruses a few days ago so I don't think that's it. What did you mean the quicklaunch? you talking about the 1-click stuff on the bottom of the windows screen? If so, how do you disable it?

To update, I did the thorough scandisk from the command line off a boot disk last night. It took 4 hours though!! Now its on to defragging....hopefully I don't have the same problem, but I kinda figure I will. :rolleyes:

[Paiynn@work]

Originally posted by e_storm
you talking about the 1-click stuff on the bottom of the windows screen? If so, how do you disable it?


Yes thats what quicklaunch is. Right click your task bar in an empty spot, go to toolbars, and uncheck quicklaunch. Then re-check it after your scan/frag is done.

[JigPu]

If you do have the same problem with defraging as with scandisking, it won't be as annoying. Defrag dosen't give "Defrag had to restart xxx times. Do you want to continue??" errors. It just goes about, restarting without ever giving you one of these errors.

As for exactly WHAT the through scan does, here is my understanding. Scandisk tests EVERY SINGLE SECTOR on your hard drive, making sure they are still in good working order. It writes and reads to every sector, and if it ever finds a spot where it can't read what it wrote, it will give an error saying you now have a "bad" cluster. If your bad clusters grow in number regularaly, that means your HD is on its last leg. The actual magnetic media is being either destroyed (head crashes and such), or is no longer able to hold magnetic data for some reason.

If scandisk finds a bad cluster, it will remap the cluster to another physical location on the disk (I read that it dosen't even TRY to recover the data in a bad cluster). That way, if a program writes to the "bad" cluster, it won't be written to the bad area. Instead, it will go to another of your hard drive's many backup clusters.

Learned all the stuff in the second paragraph from Spinrite's web page. They seem to have a really good program to scan your disk for errors, fix what it finds, and attempt many times to recover the data in the bad cluster. Awesome program from what the web site makes it out to be!

JigPu

[phendish]

JigPu was exactly right in his definition.

Thorough scandisk is not a bad thing. By using the standard version first, you get some of the errors out, so that it's less likely to restart during Thorough.

I was making sure that your weren't connected, and recieving transient bits of data that could cause scandisk to screw up. It's easy to forget that you're on your cable line.

I think there is a registry edit for this. I'll have to check around, but I'll get back to you later to day on this matter. The registry edit changes the number of restarts it takes before it quits.

[e_storm]

I ended up finishing the scandisk and running defrag the next day. I ran them both from the command prompt and they worked fine. Thanks for all the replies. :)

[Smizack]

FYI, Norton's Nuts and Bolts can repair bad clusters.

[David]

my fav way of stopping this happening is to click 'quit' No probs!!!