Uh oh... HDD disk read error...

[VFR Reviews]

Hey guys :)

After my FS froze, I shut off my computer. Upon rebooting, it informed me that there was a disk read error... Restarting didn't help.

I'm not sure how to fix this- suggestions? My rig isn't hooked up to the net, and I'd like to avoid reformatting if possible. Also, can anyone tell me how to enter safe mode in Vista?

Thanks if you guys can help! I'm sure you can :ernae:

Kevin

[harleyman]

Generally rebooting and tapping the F8 key will get you into safe mode...



But.....You can also launch Vista off your Disk too many times....

Then run CheckDisk.....If you do get into the OS get all you can off it at that point..Cause it may be the last time...May....

[VFR Reviews]

Well, the darn thing is only eight months old or so :p

How do I run Check Disk? I'm really terribly illiterate with this stuff :(

[StickMan]

Well, the darn thing is only eight months old or so :p

How do I run Check Disk? I'm really terribly illiterate with this stuff :(

You can run Check Disk from the Boot CD/DVD of your OS. In the options will give the option of more options and from there you can hit Check Disk. Mostly there is a bad sector of your HDD as long as it is not on the Windows Install area were the sector is missing then Check Disk should fix the problem. If it is a bad sector from the Windows area of HDD then you will be to Reformat and reinstall Windows.

From inside Windows witch I guess you can't get too, you could Run CHKDSK from the CMD for Check Disk too.

[VFR Reviews]

Thanks guys!

very helpful :) I'll see if I can find the disk, then :p

[Ickie]

put in the OS disk
click repair
command is FIXBOOT

all this recent computer work has got me drinking again with my little buddy

[StickMan]

Thanks guys!

very helpful :) I'll see if I can find the disk, then :p

Hope all works, this happened to me about a year ago and the rig was only a few weeks old. Sad part was my bad sector was on the Windows area and had to reformat and reinstall to fix. Hope this is not the case. All HDD have extra sectors to replace when this happeneds.

[VFR Reviews]

Thanks :)

I hope I can find that disk... I'm not seeing it, but I'll probably find it sooner or later. Again, thanks a bunch for your help!

[Milton Shupe]

If you can boot up in any mode, you can right click on the drive, go to Properties, then Tools, then Error Check. It will set a flag and will do the repair on the next boot before it loads Windows.

[VFR Reviews]

Thanks mate :)

I clicked repair, but my OS isn't on the list. I clicked load drivers, and it tells me to load the installation media for the device to repair- what the heck do I do :p

[JIMJAM]

If you do not know what you are doing STOP. Spend a little and take it to someone who does.
I learned the hard way blindly clicking and messing with bios settings,reinstall disc ect only makes it worse.
I had a 2 month old Raptor Hard drive fly apart and I lost everything. Took well over a week to rebuild and thats when I dropped FS9 for good. If you have not already, go buy a usb external HD and keep all your paywares on it. Flight1 and Simmarket are a blessing as they are the easiest to reinstall. Last week I was simply changing vid drivers and corrupted my XP boot. Long story short, I know just enough to make the situation worse and ended up with a good excuse to upgrade to a new computer and go to Vista64. Plugged in the external drive and and I am back to where I was in a few days. Good luck and again I suggest taking it to someone especially if you have alot of files you do not want to lose. My mouse finger has gotten me into alot of trouble.

[VFR Reviews]

Thanks JIMJAM, but we're good :)

I'm not sure what I did, but it's working now :ernae:

Thanks for everyone's help! Off to Switzy in my P-47 :medals:

[Gdavis101]

Your disk is working again? It might be a safe bet to buy another disk and ghost the old drive over to the new one just in case the drive is failing. That way you don't have to rebuild everything if it does, just take out the old one and slap in the new one!

[hey_moe]

I learned the hard way about backing up my computer. I have a 1 Terabyte HD in the computer for backing up and another one that is external for back up. The external one is not plugged in. I back up to that once every couple of months then unplug it from the computer and power.Every time I buy something on line the first thing I do is put the download along with the email on the back up drive. If my system is trashed or I have to format it takes the sting out of everything. Yeah, you got to go through a little bit of trouble of reinstalling everything but at least you have the downloads saved and all ya do is drop and drag from on HD to another. Hard drives have come way down in price so a spare one really comes in handy.

[JIMJAM]

All great advice especially from those that learned the hard way. It doesnt matter if its brand new high $$$ Raptor, brand new named brand custom built system with quality hardware and if you baby it. IT WILL FAIL. 99.99999999999% of my crashes were self induced from a itchy right index finger and ignoring the "Are you sure you want to....." messages. But recently its been just plain ol hardware failures or software conflicts. Windows has a bad habit of doing things IT feels are right that you are not aware of.
Thats my routine. I download onto the external HD and then copy it over to the os drive. Not really needed for alot anymore but the purchase emails with keys and purchase numbers, I need to start printing out and not relying on my isp to save them all for me.

[CrisGer]

I am glad the initial poster got his prob worked out. as this discussion is right in line with a question i have i will venture to post here, to see if some of the old hands here can give advice.

I just recently addded an external HD for backups and it has over 250 GB free currently. I am planning to re install FSX with GEX and FEX, plus some huge add ons like Professional Switzerland, VFR France, some of the X Cities and more. Can i put these large add ons on the HD and keep my FS install in the default place, just chanigng the cfg to point to the locations for the externally stored stuff? Or should i try to put the entire FS install on the External? I have 80 GB free on the main system currently but wondered about this overall approach. thanks for any advice.

i was not sure how to change the cfg, or if i needed to look at the main cfg or the scenery one...or if this would be done automatically by adding the AddOns in the normal scenery menu.

[Guruswarmyoz]

This problem is remarkably similar to the one that occurred on my mum's PC not long ago - it had a Seagate SATA2 250GB Hard disk that kept on doing the above. It turned out to be a problem with "NTFS.SYS".
I was able to fix it twice using the Vista disc but it turned out to be a faulty hard disk, searching the seagate website it turns out the best way to fix it properly is to do a low-level//zero fill of the drive itself & then recreating the partitions & re-formatting the disk.
The result? The drive is now kaput!! It's unable to be formatted. Nick in all seriousness i would invest in a new disk as the main hard drive (ghost it) & then repair the old drive with a low level format & use it in an external case etc...

[VFR Reviews]

Thanks for the advice guys :)

When I get the money, I'll donate to SOH first and then buy a backup :ernae:

[Gdavis101]

I am glad the initial poster got his prob worked out. as this discussion is right in line with a question i have i will venture to post here, to see if some of the old hands here can give advice.

I just recently addded an external HD for backups and it has over 250 GB free currently. I am planning to re install FSX with GEX and FEX, plus some huge add ons like Professional Switzerland, VFR France, some of the X Cities and more. Can i put these large add ons on the HD and keep my FS install in the default place, just chanigng the cfg to point to the locations for the externally stored stuff? Or should i try to put the entire FS install on the External? I have 80 GB free on the main system currently but wondered about this overall approach. thanks for any advice.

i was not sure how to change the cfg, or if i needed to look at the main cfg or the scenery one...or if this would be done automatically by adding the AddOns in the normal scenery menu.

I would consider adding another drive inside the computer for these other installations and keeping the external strictly for a backup of your important files.

[CrisGer]

thank you gd

and VFR i am glad you have a plan, it is hard to set up the backup drives. but it sure addes to peace of mind.