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XP Suddenly corrupting thumb drive it's never had a problem with.


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I have a Lexar 64gig USB drive that until a couple of days ago it had no problem at all with. It's formatted NTFS.

Two days ago I copied an 806 meg file to the drive, pushing the used space up to a bit over 15.3 gig. When I plug it into the XP system it instantly corrupts the drive. Properties shows 0 bytes used, 0 bytes free. Disk Management shows it as empty, active, RAW and healthy. I never made it Active, have never used it as a boot device.

When I plug it into a Windows 10 system, it says there's a problem and it needs to be scanned. I scan it and have it fix, but it says there's nothing wrong. However, if I skip the scan Win 10 won't show the contents until I do the scan. XP flat out will not let me try to scan it for errors.

Is there some patch for XP that'll fix this? It's not online, only used to play some old games and runs Potplayer connected to a big television for videos.

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Very, very strange.

I take it that it is not partitioned.

Make a copy of the first 16 sectors (at a time when the device is seen "normally"), then make another copy of the same first 16 sectors at a time when it shoes the RAW behaviour.

To make this copy you will need something like dd (any windows port will do on XP, on 10 I am not sure you can get normally direct access).

Try HDhacker (it will work fine under XP):
http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/

you want first 16 sectors of the PhysicalDrive.

jaclaz


 

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I plugged the USB drive again into the XP computer that corrupts it. Brought it home and verified that my Win 10 system cannot read it. 10 does not allow HDhacker to run without disabling SmartScreen, then refuses to allow it any access.

I got out an old laptop with XP and used it to use HDhacker to get the first 16 sectors. Then I plugged the drive into the W10 system to scan it. (Results pasted below.) After repairing it I plugged it into the XP laptop, can't read it, claims it's bad, refuses to scan it. So I plug it back into Win10 and it's NOT corrupted. Whatever is damaging it seems to be specific to the other XP system.

Final step, I got out another old laptop with Windows 7 and verified it can read the USB drive then copied the first 16 sectors with HDhacker.

Both copies are in the attached ZIP, bad and good.

What I haven't done is alter the contents of the USB drive since it seems to be somehow connected to the amount of data on it, due to XP having previously had zero issues with the drive until it approached 16 gigs. 16,436,596,736 bytes.

Chkdsk log from Windows 10.

Checking file system on I: Volume label is BigLexar. Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ... 1792 file records processed. File verification completed. 0 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ... 2466 index entries processed. Index verification completed. Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ... Security descriptor verification completed. 338 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal... 595824 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed. Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems. No further action is required. 62516223 KB total disk space. 15883080 KB in 1042 files. 480 KB in 339 indexes. 70671 KB in use by the system. 65536 KB occupied by the log file. 46561992 KB available on disk. 4096 bytes in each allocation unit. 15629055 total allocation units on disk. 11640498 allocation units available on disk.

000700007105000035090000000000000E000000000000000000000000000000

Binary data:

In Words

0000: 00000700 00000571 00000935 00000000
0010: 0000000E 00000000 00000000 00000000

In Bytes

0000: 00 07 00 00 71 05 00 00 ....q...
0008: 35 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 5.......
0010: 0E 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

Lexar-XP-corrupts.zip

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Naah, the device is partitioned after all (and it is partitioned along the "old" standard of respecting the cylinder boundary, i.e. with 63 sectors before, which in itself it is not particularly smart on a flash device NTFS formatted).

So I need the first 16 sectors of the volume.

When the drive is accessible is not a problem to use the HDhacker (as the volume will be a logicaldrive in it) but when it is not accessible that may be a problem.

Switch to dsfo.

Get the dsfok package:

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/
 

You want to extract the first 63+16=79 sectors, let's make it 100, i.e. 100*512=51200 bytes

That will be on the XP:

dsfo \\.\physicaldriven 0 51200 c:\good51200.dat

dsfo \\.\physicaldriven 0 51200 c:\bad51200.dat

where n is the disk number (as seen in Disk Manager)

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/

It would also be interesting to know what is the opinion of 7 on the stick, i.e.:

Stick working on 10 -> Stick working on 7?

Stick working on 10 -> Stick not working on XP -> Srick working (or not working, needing repair) on 7?

AND, I have to ask you this, what is the source of the stick? (like known local dealer vs. el-cheapo on e-bay or similar)

jaclaz

 

Edited by jaclaz
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It's a genuine Lexar LJDTT64G-000-116 like this https://www.geeksstore.com/Products/LJDTT64G-000-116

The XP machine that screws it up isn't at my place. The XP laptop I have just insists it's bad, without making an improper alteration. So probably tomorrow I'll go get it zorched again then use the XP laptop to get samples of it screwed up, followed by using the Win 7 laptop to fix it and take samples - since XP flat out refuses to recognize that there's actually nothing wrong with the drive.

It'll be interesting to find out what's going on with the computer screwing it up. Mostly of academic interest because that computer has been upgraded with a dual core AM2 CPU and 4 gigs RAM and will soon be getting 64bit Win7 so it can take full advantage of that.

Aside from that, there is the interest in finding out what has become objectionable to XP about the drive when it worked before with less data on it. The last big file I copied to it plays just fine all the way through - just not on XP. I'm hesitant to delete it and see if XP suddenly likes the drive again - before discovering what XP's problem is with it. Would be even more puzzling if deleting the file then copying it back made the problem mysteriously go away.

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> like this
A genuine Lexar LJDTT64G-000-116 would be FAT32, not NTFS. It appears you may have a fake that is NTFS and only 16GB. XP may have actually detected the fake size issue before W10!

> the device is partitioned after all
> AND, I have to ask you this, what is the source of the stick? (like known local dealer vs. el-cheapo on e-bay or similar)
@bizzybody, you didn't answer @jaclaz 's question. So, please tell us the stick's known history including partitioning/formatting.

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Now with more data on it, my XP laptop is corrupting whatever its getting corrupted. I took it to my friend's computer to get it hit again. Brought it home, plugged it into my Win 7 laptop, needs scanned (I didn't) but it can still read it. So can 10.

Plugged it into my XP, used dsfo. Plugged it into 10, scan and fix. Plug back into my XP then back into 10. Corrupted. Good, for certain values of good. Scanned and fixed again. (If there's 'no errors' then why should it need scanned and repaired?)

Then used an elevated command prompt to pull the good file with dsfo.

Hopefully these will tell you something, and what needs done to make the stick work again with XP.

dsfok.zip

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I had a look at it, but besides (quite a few) strange settings, I found nothing hinting what the issue may be.

Let's call them "anomalies":

1) the partitioning is "up to XP style" i.e. with 63 sectors before the partition

2) the bootsector code is instead that of a Windows 8+ (possibly also 10)

3) the MBR code - at first sight - is not a "common" one

4) the $MFT is where XP and earlier wouold put it (@ cluster 786432)

5) the $MFTMirr is where I haven't ever seen it (@ cluster 2)

It seems like the thingy has been partitioned (or re-partitioned) and later formatted or re-formatted using various different tools or under different OS's, there is simply not a "coherent" set of values/locations.

I'll have a look if  I can find any hint of what the MBR code is, maybe that will explain how it was partitioned.

jaclaz


 

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I can copy everything off that I don't have elsewhere (if there's anything like that) and reformat it or whatever is needed to have it as NTFS and working with XP and later. Has to be NTFS so I can put big files on it like videos and large disk images.

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1 hour ago, bizzybody said:

Has to be NTFS so I can put big files on it like videos and large disk images.

No it hasn't. It might as well be Ext2, and you'd be much safer: no journaling on a pendrive is a bliss...
Just my 2¢, of course. Feel free to ignore.

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On giovedì 8 giugno 2017 at 8:54 PM, bizzybody said:

I can copy everything off that I don't have elsewhere (if there's anything like that) and reformat it or whatever is needed to have it as NTFS and working with XP and later. Has to be NTFS so I can put big files on it like videos and large disk images.

Yes, this could be a possibility, at least you will have a "known base".

Method one (easier):

Leave the MBR alone and (after making a copy of the files) try reformatting as NTFS the partition under XP and let's see how it goes.

Method 2 (IMHO better):

Ideally you should however remove the current partitioning by clearing the disk (use diskpart or disk manager of Windows 7+) and recreating it so that the volume is aligned to 4Kb (which should provide some increase in speed), but do not format it (i.e. create the NTFS filesystem) it under 7+, but rather under XP.


 

@dencorso

Looking for troubles? :w00t: (at bizzibody's expenses :ph34r:, BTW)

Come on :), apart the need to install the EXT2 FS drivers everywhere (thus losing the portability factor between different Windows machines) which EXT2 FS driver(s) do you suggest compatible with BOTH XP (which is easy) and Windows 7/8/8.1/10 (that may be trickier)? :dubbio:

Both UDF and exFaT may be better suited, but while there is an exFAT driver for XP (and we will be back to the need to install driver, at least n XP), I am not too sure if there is a UDF driver for XP that is compatible with the implementation in 7/8/8.1/10 :unsure:.

jaclaz


 


 

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Can't say about UDF, but exFAT should be suitable solution, if what you ned from NTFS is capability to store big files. exFAT drivers should be installed for every Windows from XP up, and installing them on Linux should not be a big deal :>

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54 minutes ago, Mcinwwl said:

Can't say about UDF, but exFAT should be suitable solution, if what you ned from NTFS is capability to store big files. exFAT drivers should be installed for every Windows from XP up, and installing them on Linux should not be a big deal :>

exFAT is already included among the filesystem accessible in Windows 7, (and on Vista SP1/2), the one that needs the driver to be installed is just XP:

https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3389/~/operating-systems-that-support-the-exfat-file-system

Anyway, courtesy Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20140623201218/http://www.microsoft.com:80/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=19364

jaclaz


 

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On 6/10/2017 at 1:35 PM, jaclaz said:

@dencorso

Looking for troubles? :w00t: (at bizzibody's expenses :ph34r:, BTW)

Come on :), apart the need to install the EXT2 FS drivers everywhere (thus losing the portability factor between different Windows machines) which EXT2 FS driver(s) do you suggest compatible with BOTH XP (which is easy) and Windows 7/8/8.1/10 (that may be trickier)? :dubbio:

========
Ext2 Installable File System For Windows

It provides Windows NT4.0/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/Server 2003/2008/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2 with full access to Linux Ext2 volumes (read access and write access).

http://www.fs-driver.org/
driver: Ext2fs.sys
installer: Ext2IFS_1_12.exe
release date: 12-31-2015

========
Ext2Fsd Project

It provides Windows NT4.0/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/Server 2003/2008/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2 with full access to Linux Ext2 volumes (read access and write access).

http://http://www.ext2fsd.com/?p=219
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/files/Ext2fsd/0.69/
driver: ext2fsd.sys
installer: Ext2Fsd-0.69.1039-02.22.exe
release date: 02-22-2017

========

Both work right up to 7 SP1 x64.
I've never tested either with 8.1 (I have a single machine with the x32) nor 10 (wouldn't touch with a 10 ft pole). :puke:
Now the latest Ext2Fsd v. 0.69.1039 may have finally fixed the issues they were having since the v. 0.68.
If not, I'd fall back to the older but great Ext2fs.
As for the portability issue, it's very true: it'd be a nightmare. Therefore: caveat emptor! :D

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