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Getting: /dev/sda read failed after 0 of 4096 at 0 input/output error during boot

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Hello,

My hard disk suddenly became unreadable by my Windows 7, so I tried to backup some files from it yesterday using the bootable media from Acronis True Image 2014, and it went well.

But today I tried to boot again to backup other files, but during the booting, I got this error:

/dev/sda read failed after 0 of 4096 at 0 input/output error

What could be the problem ?

And how can I fix it?

Thanks.

0 Users found this helpful

Mike, welcome to these user forums.

Unfortunately if your hard disk has failed then this may be a fatal issue with no recovery possible.

I would recommend checking the manufacturer / make of your disk drive, assuming this is a spinning HDD and not a SSD drive, then check on their website for any utilities that they offer which can check and try to recover any bad sectors if possible.

I hope that you have a full disk backup of the drive that you have made before this failure as that may be your only way to recover the bulk of your data.

I agree with Steve.

Backup programs don't recover failed disks.   They are designed to backup your data before something happens to it.  If the hard disk is physically failing, or failed, trying to back it up now is most likely a futile effort.  From the sound of things, your disk is dying, nearly dead, or possibly toast already.  

You may want to download something like Seatools or WD Data LifeGuard to test the disk health - I believe both can be created as a bootable media to test a disk offline (although, its been awhile since I've used either and really dont remember).  

At a minimum, you might be able to try running chkdsk /f /r from a Windows install disk against the OS partition, if it will let you (depending on the current health of the drive).