Fail to read data from the disk

You have to launch a command prompt with administrative rights and launch the following command:
CHKDSK X: /R where X: is the drive letter that shows the error.

To know which driver letter(s) are on disk 1

type first
C:\Windows\System32\compmgmt.msc

then double click on storage, disk management. Make the window bigger to see all disk and associated drive letters.

Hello Pat L ,

Thank you for your response , checking from disk management , hard disk 1 refers to FreeAgent external HD

Furthermore , I run CHKDSK per your advice; nonetheless, I left the laptop for sometimes and when I come back the test has already finished and log in to window. How could I check the log file , please?

Additionally , I run diagnostic tool using HD Tune ( is this alternative to checkdisk?) for both internal HD and FreeAgent found damaged block on internal HD unlike FreeAgent that have no damaged block found , please see the consequence in attached file.

Why Acronis show error massage indicated that the unreadability results from HD 1 (FreeAgent) , please?
Likewise , are there any approaches to know which partition or what files are situated at the damaged block, please?

Regarding the error , I couldn't do the back up job , please help clarifying and advise.

ps. why there is no red " updated " after my thread name as others ?

You can see the results of chkdsk by doing the following:
- search for "event viewer" on your computer,
- open it
- unfold "Windows Logs"
- unfold "Application"
- look for events with the Wininit source.

I don't know whether HDTune fixes/updates the disk like chkdsk you will have to check. I think there are different versions of HDTune as well...

About the hard disk 1, I am not sure why this is the freeagent. It is possible that ATI counts the disk differently from Windows. It doesn't hurt to run chkdsk on both disks, but this type of error should come from the disk being backed up.

Hello Pat L ,

Please see the log file as attached.

Regarding to the log file and checkdisk capability , I am not pretty understand . Please let me ask for more queries .

1. There is bad sector in the system file and replaced , where is the replacement comes from ? Is it comes from allocated space?
2. Incase of having bad cluster at allocated position, does chkdsk repair the bad sector for allocate space or skip the test ?
3. From the log file
“Adding 11 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system. ”

Does this mean that the bad sector in the system files is replaced by the allocated block then the damaged clusters just move (not actually disappear) to an allocated position instead and yet still result in bad sector after partitioning the allocate space?
4. Do I need to run checkdisk again after partitioning?
5. Dose the whole harddisk needed to be completely partitioned prior to checkdisk for accuracy ? (I mean to the bad cluster of the whole HD will be fixed)

Pat L wrote:

About the hard disk 1, I am not sure why this is the freeagent. It is possible that ATI counts the disk differently from Windows

Do you mean to this attached file , counting from disk 1 not 0 ?

Pat L wrote:

It doesn't hurt to run chkdsk on both disks

I have informed about seagate seatool (DOS mode) that could possibly done the job and likely to fixed/ replace the bad cluster . Is this alternative to checkdisk in window ? I tried seagate seatool in the DOS mode yet only WD internal HD is detected inspite of FreeAgent detectable in window checked by seagate device detector , FreeAgent is unreadable in the DOS mode , do you have any idea why as well as would you kindly describe step by step how to make FreeAgent external Drive detectable in the DOS mode , please?

It seems to have many inquires ; however, all issues are relevant , please kindly advise.

It is possible that ATI counts the disk differently from Windows

Yes, ATI counts the disks differently. It starts with 1 whereas Windows starts with 0 so the error message (image in the first post) must be referring to the internal disk.

And the "....failed to read snapshot" could be because of disk errors which is apparent from the HDTune error scan image. I think you should not have this problem if you boot to the Acronis rescue disc and backup.

-

For fixing the internal disk try running WesternDigital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool (download for free from WD website)

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=702&lang=en

CAUTION: this tool has the option to erase the disk completely....if you choose to do that you will need a good backup image to restore back or you will have to reinstall os and other programs.

AA l wrote:

1. There is bad sector in the system file and replaced , where is the replacement comes from ? Is it comes from allocated space?
2. Incase of having bad cluster at allocated position, does chkdsk repair the bad sector for allocate space or skip the test ?

Windows has "taken note" of the bad disk sectors and will not use these sectors to store data.

3. From the log file
“Adding 11 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system. ”

Does this mean that the bad sector in the system files is replaced by the allocated block then the damaged clusters just move (not actually disappear) to an allocated position instead and yet still result in bad sector after partitioning the allocate space?

See above. This language is just to say that Windows updated its records to take into account these bad sectors, and that they cannot be used.

4. Do I need to run checkdisk again after partitioning?

If you repartition the disk, do a low level formatting. This will automatically create the bad sector information.

5. Dose the whole harddisk needed to be completely partitioned prior to checkdisk for accuracy ? (I mean to the bad cluster of the whole HD will be fixed)

Marking bad sectors is not linked to partionning. You don't need to do before the other or because of the other.

I have informed about seagate seatool (DOS mode) that could possibly done the job and likely to fixed/ replace the bad cluster . Is this alternative to checkdisk in window ? I tried seagate seatool in the DOS mode yet only WD internal HD is detected inspite of FreeAgent detectable in window checked by seagate device detector , FreeAgent is unreadable in the DOS mode , do you have any idea why as well as would you kindly describe step by step how to make FreeAgent external Drive detectable in the DOS mode , please?

I am not familiar with the seagate tools. These tools can be picky about the disks they can address. You should be fine with chkdsk and focusing on your system disk.

Rajan wrote:

For fixing the internal disk try running WesternDigital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool

Pat L wrote:

.. focusing on your system disk

I ran W-D Data Lifeguard Diagnostic extended test also fail while repairing bad sector as attach .

Besides , I tried running Seagate seatool yet both basic test and long test are failed due to the bad sector is detected . There is a good feature to repair the bad cluster ; however, the limitation is that feature only applicable for “Seagate Technology or Maxtor brand disc drives”

The most favourable feature provided by seatool is that (quote from seatool user guide ) “ If you give permission to attempt to repair a bad sector, then SeaTools will attempt to write a 512-byte pattern of zeros to that single error sector. Usually, this action will assist the disc drive firmware in managing the problem by retiring the problem sector and activating a spare in its place.”

Does this mean that other good condition cluster surfaces will not be interfered and still be in the same condition also this process called Zero fill ? - as I am pretty confuse about the difference of various HD repair process and try to avoid low level format (if i am not mistaken , if you would describe the distinction and effect of zero fill and low level format , please ) or any processes which interfere the whole disk surface.

Are there any other tools provide such feature, please ?

please kindly advise,

You will find a description of techniques used by hard disks and diagnostics utilities to identify and possible remap bad sectors.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/format_Defect.htm
The short story is that:
- don't worry about repairing bad sectors, let the OS, diag and disk controler do their job working around the bad sectors,
- you won't be able to do a low-level format from the OS, and your disk utility disk might not include that feature,
- monitor the situation to see whether bad sectors tend to show up more and more, which would indicate serious issues with the disk.