Checking disk on 2TB external HDD, issues...

[OrganOfCorti]

Hi guys, I posted years back for a while under a different name when I was building computers. I haven't built one in years, but I always appreciated everyone's input, so I'm back because I found myself in a bit of a conundrum.

About how long should I expect a disc scan of an external 2TB HDD (USB) to take?

What happens if you have to stop it in the middle of the scan?

My Dell xps 9100 (desktop) got a BSOD requiring resetting the computer.... in the middle of me sorting files on my external HDD (connected via USB). (Thank God I wasn't transferring anything at the time!) there are some irreplaceable files on it.

To ensure there wasn't any damage, I used my laptop to look at the HDD, and the "might have errors so do you want to check?" prompt came up. To be comprehensive, I selected "automatically fix file system errors" and "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors." Then I realized I'd perhaps made a mistake by doing that, losing many hours of computer availability because it has taken 7.5 hours to go through 210,000 files. I have a ton of files (drive is maybe 80% full) and it looks like that is maybe only 10% of the total, by the progress bar. Laptop is at maximum performance, but it's a Latitude 6410 so it isn't a powerhouse.

I don't want to move it if I don't have to, but can't wait for days because I will need the laptop eventually.

But there is some irreplaceable data on that HDD! That is priority. And there might be a storm tomorrow. That'd be worse than what's already happened.

What happens if you stop a scan? Is there a risk damaging anything?

What do you recommend doing? >___<

 

[Automata]

If there is nothing for the scan to fix, it can take many hours, depending on the size of the drive and how fast the connection is. If the drive has a bunch of errors that the system needs to fix, it generally takes substantially longer and interrupting this process would be bad.

It sounds like this is in Windows itself, not at startup. Does it give you an option to cancel? Is the check disk in a command line window (if so, ctrl + c would cancel it)?

 

[larrymoencurly]

A 2TB USB 3.0 drive can be scanned in as little as 5-6 hours, or about as fast as SATA II, but a USB 2.0 drive is more likely to need 24 hours because USB 2.0 typically tops out at no more than 35 MB/s. OTOH some diagnostics, like MHDD and HDDscan, can perform the long SMART test even on many USB drives. Regular scans with those diagnostics can reveal slow sectors, not just outright bad ones, and it's not unusual for some model drives to show 1-5 slow sectors per 1TB, either due to Windows overhead (why MHDD is better -- DOS program) or the drives themselves. Oddly, no new WD drive has never shown slow sectors for me.

 

[OrganOfCorti]

Thanks for the replies! It's a 2.0 drive (my next purchase will be a 3.0 because the backup speed drives me nuts). So I kept my eye on the sky for the storm and waited it out, and it finished at around 26 hours. One error in a file system found and fixed, after all that. I guess at least now I know the disc is in good shape...ugh.