Win7 Error w/WD HD-- Master File Table Mirror ??

I have a 1 TB WD Hard Drive in my rig below in my sig file. No problems at all. I turned on the computer and observed a Checkdisk test. I have not seen this in Win7 yet so I let it proceed.

The issue is with my WD HD, fortunately not my Intel SSD that my OS is on.

At the end of a scrolling screen, all I could catch were "USN Journal verification completed. Correcting errors in the Master File Table Mirror"


With such limited info, what could be going on? I haven't seen any errors in Win7 yet so this is new for me.

The drive is 1 TB in size with about 169 Gigs of free space. All it has is files on it, no programs or games, etc.

Should I be shopping around for a new drive?

Thank in advance.

Hi there.

First I would suggest to make a backup of all the important data you have stored on the drive, and after that run a test with Data Lifeguard to see if any bad sectors or errors will be detected. Run an extended test because if the software finds anything wrong with the HDD during it the program will try to automatically fix it (like software bad sectors for instance), and since it says that the drive is irreparable, then I won't recommend to use it to store your information. Here's a link where you can download DLG:

http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=0F6wLW

Let me know what the results were, and once the test is complete we'll know what the condition of the HDD is and what to do from here.

Mighty_Miro_WD said:

Hi there.

First I would suggest to make a backup of all the important data you have stored on the drive, and after that run a test with Data Lifeguard to see if any bad sectors or errors will be detected. Run an extended test because if the software finds anything wrong with the HDD during it the program will try to automatically fix it (like software bad sectors for instance), and since it says that the drive is irreparable, then I won't recommend to use it to store your information. Here's a link where you can download DLG:

http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=0F6wLW

Let me know what the results were, and once the test is complete we'll know what the condition of the HDD is and what to do from here.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply! Well I ran the utility you provided vai link. The utility was installed on my C drive (SSD).

I ran the extended test and at an elapsed time of 22:23 (minutes:seconds), a second window popped up and said "Too many bad sectors detected". I clicked OK, and the test stopped.

I've never had a problem w/this drive ever. and I have never had a drive that had "too many bad sectors" to complete a diagnostic test. This is really bizarre from my experience.

I only use the drive to store files (MS Office files, jpegs, mp3, and some video at times). I don't have any programs installed on it.

The Model Number is WDC WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0
Unit Serial Number WD-WMAW31496913
Firmware# 05.01D05
Test Result FAIL
Test Error Code: 08- Too many bad sectors


Let me know what the next step is. The drive isn't that old either

RMA the drive. Make sure you have your data backed up.

thideras said:

RMA the drive. Make sure you have your data backed up.

Click to expand...

That seems the only way to go. Let me ask you a question, after I back up the data. I would usually reformat the drive to erase everything. However, in this case I have a number of bad sectors (the utility doesn't tell me how many), will these bad sectors prevent the reformatting of the drive? I've never had to send back a drive, so security/privacy is a MAJOR concern.

Viper69 said:

That seems the only way to go. Let me ask you a question, after I back up the data. I would usually reformat the drive to erase everything. However, in this case I have a number of bad sectors (the utility doesn't tell me how many), will these bad sectors prevent the reformatting of the drive? I've never had to send back a drive, so security/privacy is a MAJOR concern.

Click to expand...

Formatting a drive does not erase the information, it resets the table. Meaning, the drive "forgets" where the data was stored, but it could be recovered if someone got a hold of it. If you are worried about security/privacy, you can use a program to "shred" the data on the drive. Alternatively, fill the drive with data you don't care about (the Steam 'steamapps/Common' folder would be perfect).

If you are super paranoid, use something along the lines of DBAN.

Viper,

Sometimes there is no warning when a drive fails but some of that has been alleviated today.
In a left-handed way, you were fortunate. Thideras is correct, DBAN will secure format your
drive before your RMA.

thideras said:

Formatting a drive does not erase the information, it resets the table. Meaning, the drive "forgets" where the data was stored, but it could be recovered if someone got a hold of it. If you are worried about security/privacy, you can use a program to "shred" the data on the drive. Alternatively, fill the drive with data you don't care about (the Steam 'steamapps/Common' folder would be perfect).

If you are super paranoid, use something along the lines of DBAN.

Click to expand...

RollingThunder said:

Viper,

Sometimes there is no warning when a drive fails but some of that has been alleviated today.
In a left-handed way, you were fortunate. Thideras is correct, DBAN will secure format your
drive before your RMA.

Click to expand...

I appreciate the knowledge. I have no idea why I thought reformatting would erase all the info. For a utility I have Eraser and CC Cleaner's Drive Wipe built in utility (never used that one though, always used Eraser), a great free utility. I've heard and read about DBAN, I believe I have an old DBAN Nuke floppy executable. I had forgotten about DBAN surprisingly. I will try it for this purpose.

Just shows you how long it's been since I've used my computer for more than basic use unfortunately.


On a related HD note, a few questions

1. Would I have been better off with my storage drive being a SSD, instead of an HD? I somehow think it's no different, just luck of the draw as to which drive is going to work or not, and for how long.

2. Backup Process--- I have a series of smaller drives I've saved over time that I use as backup external HDs, a few are IDE, most are SATA drives. In the digital age I believe in having multiple copies because you never know when something is going crash.

W/that said, I'm also tired of carrying around 10 drives everytime I move. I have one large 3 TB drive, but my fear of using that as a central backup drive is just what I mentioned above. I also won't use an offsite server, like a "cloud", because it's not in my control etc etc.

SO what's the best way of backing up (if there is one) data and not having HDs grow like mushrooms in my office hah.

Viper,

I have been using Carbonite for about 7 years now on 3-year plans at a time. Of course it's not free but it's effortless.
By the time I would be replacing drives, and with the fear not knowing when or if they will fail, plus having to back up with a
copy-and-paste method, Carbonite does it automatically once you set it up for what you want and runs in the background.
I use the basic plan for my ordinary needs and there are always "offers." This is just an idea that I prefer to use today.

http://www.carbonite.com/en/cloud-backup/personal-solutions/personal-plans/buy/

RollingThunder said:

Viper,

I have been using Carbonite for about 7 years now on 3-year plans at a time. Of course it's not free but it's effortless.
By the time I would be replacing drives, and with the fear not knowing when or if they will fail, plus having to back up with a
copy-and-paste method, Carbonite does it automatically once you set it up for what you want and runs in the background.
I use the basic plan for my ordinary needs and there are always "offers." This is just an idea that I prefer to use today.

http://www.carbonite.com/en/cloud-backup/personal-solutions/personal-plans/buy/

Click to expand...

Thanks I'll look into it. Now if I can only find my cord to my 3 TB drive to back up this WD before it totally crashes.

Viper69 said:

1. Would I have been better off with my storage drive being a SSD, instead of an HD? I somehow think it's no different, just luck of the draw as to which drive is going to work or not, and for how long.

Click to expand...

Yes and no. Both drives are going to have failures (I am RMA'ing a Samsung 1tb right now, actually), but SSD's are generally going to be more robust.

Viper69 said:

SO what's the best way of backing up (if there is one) data and not having HDs grow like mushrooms in my office hah.

Click to expand...

CrashPlan is my first and only suggestion, from using many others. The free version allows you to run a CrashPlan server, and backup to it, or backup to another folder, or to your friends (etc). You can pay to store it on their server, and I know you are worried about privacy, but your data is encrypted before it leaves your machine, and is entirely unreadable to the company. You can also add your own encryption key if you don't want to use the stock one.

thideras said:

Yes and no. Both drives are going to have failures (I am RMA'ing a Samsung 1tb right now, actually), but SSD's are generally going to be more robust.

CrashPlan is my first and only suggestion, from using many others. The free version allows you to run a CrashPlan server, and backup to it, or backup to another folder, or to your friends (etc). You can pay to store it on their server, and I know you are worried about privacy, but your data is encrypted before it leaves your machine, and is entirely unreadable to the company. You can also add your own encryption key if you don't want to use the stock one.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I'll look into that one. I hadn't heard of that one. The only reason I had backed out of a secondary SSD instead of a HD was unlike SSDs, you may at least hear some noise from the HD if certain things go awry and have a warning. At the time I was told w/ SSDs, if they go bad, you get absolutely no warning. So while not every HD gives a warning (like mine), some HD issues do have warning signs. I do love how fast my SSD is though.

Both solid state and spinning rust drives can fail with no warning. The technology in solid state drives is getting better and they can predict failures better. The Samsung 1TB drive I'm RMA'ing started giving early failure signs, and SMART picked up on the problem.

thideras said:

Both solid state and spinning rust drives can fail with no warning. The technology in solid state drives is getting better and they can predict failures better. The Samsung 1TB drive I'm RMA'ing started giving early failure signs, and SMART picked up on the problem.

Click to expand...

Yes they can fail w/out warming, I didn't mean to suggest they cannot.

Re: SSDs how is predicting failures done now, what utilities does the community use? What are some early indications of SSD failure?

It is reported exactly the same as spinning disks: using SMART data.

Viper69 said:

Thanks for the reply! Well I ran the utility you provided vai link. The utility was installed on my C drive (SSD).

I ran the extended test and at an elapsed time of 22:23 (minutes:seconds), a second window popped up and said "Too many bad sectors detected". I clicked OK, and the test stopped.

I've never had a problem w/this drive ever. and I have never had a drive that had "too many bad sectors" to complete a diagnostic test. This is really bizarre from my experience.

I only use the drive to store files (MS Office files, jpegs, mp3, and some video at times). I don't have any programs installed on it.

The Model Number is WDC WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0
Unit Serial Number WD-WMAW31496913
Firmware# 05.01D05
Test Result FAIL
Test Error Code: 08- Too many bad sectors


Let me know what the next step is. The drive isn't that old either

Click to expand...

I'm sorry to say that, but since the drive didn't pass the test I would suggest to replace it. You can check the warranty status and RMA it back to us from here:

http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=q4wiEp

As for the data stored on it, you can try to boot with Linux Live CD and see if you'll be able to delete it from there. In order to do that you can follow these steps:

1. Download and burn the ISO image of Linux to a CD or USB.
2. Once you do this, go in BIOS and change the boot order to the media you burned the Linux on.
3. Restart the computer and when it loads, try and mount the drives (or if Linux can read it, it will mount by itself).
4. See if you can access the data stored there, and delete or remove it if you want.

Hello Helpful People,

I have received a replacement Drive from WD (thank god for a 5 yr warranty, does anyone make such a warranty anymore, I know Seagate doesnt!).

Once I put it in my rig is the best course of action to run the WD diagnostic utility to see if there are any bad sectors etc, BEFORE I start putting back my data on it?

I always test drives before using them, and I would suggest you do the same.

thideras said:

I always test drives before using them, and I would suggest you do the same.

Click to expand...

I'll defer to your experience, what software and approach would you recommend? I have the replacement WD Caviar Black (internal) to test, and I have a Seagate 5 TB external to test.

Viper69 said:

I'll defer to your experience, what software and approach would you recommend? I have the replacement WD Caviar Black (internal) to test, and I have a Seagate 5 TB external to test.

Click to expand...

New drives for me are usually for my fileserver, which is running CentOS. I use multiple passes of badblocks to verify data is being written and ready correctly, which can take more than 24 hours; I really want to make sure a disk is good before putting it in a huge array.

This is likely overkill for what you need, and you probably don't have a linux install handy to use the same tools. HDTune's full disk check should work for you, though. You can get the free version here.