Stubborn file errors ...

[philphollower2]

Hi -- running Windoze XP Home on a Compaq 720CA series laptop, with Office 2000 and Firefox being the dominant applications. I posted earlier about apparently catastrophic errors which were mostly repaired -- the errors I'm encountering now are probably related, though ...

I began getting lockups and weird clicks from the HD again. Ran the Hitachi Disk Fitness Test proprietary to my HD -- it indicated that the HD was sound, no problems.

So I ran CHKDSK without /F, and it indicated a volume bitmap error and undescribed file errors which it promised to correct if I ran it with /F -- but after running it a few times with /F, the diagnostic side still indicates the same error(s).

I ran Norton's DiskDoctor 2003 on it, with the same results.

Is there a specific fix for this? Or do I flatline the HD and start all over ... again ... ?

Thanks for your help.

Cheers -- Phil

[cluberti]

The NTFS file system isn't failsafe, and it sounds like you've gone past the point of no return. You could probably spend the next week or two chasing down the root of the issue (that's if you can even fix it when you find it), or you can backup and rebuild your machine in a day or two. I'd go with the second option, but if you want to track it down for research purposes, that's up to you .

[spacesurfer]

If you're hearing clicks, I would fear the worse. In my opinion, your hard drive is failing. I think when they kick the bucket, they all kick the bucket with clicks...

The clicks you hear are from the hard drive heads that reads the magnetic spindles (for lack of better term) of the hard drive. The heads are not moving properly as they should.

I would backup all my data so it's protected, buy a new hard drive and restore.