Macrium Image Failure - Error Code 6

On my Dell Latitude D5579 laptop (specs posted under My Computer), I am about to update from 1909 (18363.1016) to 2004 (19041.450).

As I was getting ready to do that - saving files, updating my sadly out-of-date collection of Macrium images for this machine - I ran into a problem I need help to solve. When I tried to create my Macrium image, I got an Error Code 6. I've posted a snip of the exact message, plus the info from the history log that seemed applicable.





I ran "chkdsk /r" by scheduling it during reboot, and it ran successfully as far as I could tell. I retried Macrium - same failure. I then uninstalled/reinstalled Macrium and tried a third time - same failure. I also ran "chkdsk" from the Command Prompt so I could see the results in real time; the result was there were no problems (see snip).



I was able to create a Windows System Image and a System Restore Point, in case Windows Update decided to force me to immediately update to Version 2004, and those both seemed to work okay - plus I have all my data files backed up on external drives so I think I can recover from whatever happens next - but I'd appreciate help sorting this out and getting it fixed.

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More info:

I did a Google Search and found an old thread on the Macrium web site that might be applicable. In short, it points out that running Chkdsk the way I ran it only took care of my C partition - and my machine has multiple partitions for recovery and so forth. Here's the URL for reference:

MFT corrupt - Error code = 6. Please run 'chkdsk /r'

Unfortunately, in the thread, doing ChkDsk /r on all the partitions didn't solve the problem - but I figured it was worth bringing it up. If I need to do this, I will probably need a bit of coaching to do it correctly.

Any ideas?

Ghot said:

@LaurieD227

Have you tried running chkdsk /r on the destination drive?

Also, you can turn off file system checking (which generates the error) by taking 'Other Tasks' > 'Edit Defaults' > 'Backup' > 'Verify File System'.


Then I would just make the backup (full OS image). After it's done click on the restore tab (upper left), then on the far right, click on Other Tasks, and choose: Verify Image.

No, didn't even think about the destination drive until you suggested it. Can do that in the morning - try both of your suggestions ad see what happens.

Couple questions:
-- the destination drive is a large WD external drive (can't recall whether it's 1TB or 4 TB) which is partitioned so that I have a separate partition for each laptop. That won't make a difference, will it (as long as I correctly identify the partition I want to check)?
--I think I saw an option for "automatically try to repair" during the verification process. Would I want to pick that? or should I just run Verify first to see what the results are, and then rerun it if necessary with the auto repair option? Might help educate me a bit if I see the details of any errors that have cropped up.

--I also think there could be an issue with my partitions on my laptop, since they look a little funny to me when I see them in Macrium. (Background - a couple of months ago I got help from Dell Support to solve a problem, and their solution was for me to reinstall Win 10 from the previous MCT. The partitions got created as a part of that process, so I just had to hope they were the right ones and of the right size.) But that may be a separate issue.

dalchina said:

Hi, great that you're taking appropriate precautions.

Have you looked at the History log as the message suggests?

Please note that System Restore is irrelevant where feature updates are concerned. All restore points (containing data from the old build) are deleted- as they should be.

The thread you quoted says this:


A disk check on both source and destination would be a wise precaution.

Yes, I looked in Macrium history and this looked like the pertinent info (snip below):



Regarding Restore, thanks for reminding me that these will be wiped out when I update to 2004. However, if I mess something up in trying to solve this Macrium problem, they might come in handy in the meantime.

Regarding the use of the Rescue disk, yes I saw that part. Since Macrium imaging used to work fine on this laptop, I would rather try to solve the problem and restore the standard way of making images, and use the Rescue option as a last resort. But I did create a fresh Rescue USB just in case.

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Ghot said:

No. If you correctly identify the partition on the external drive, you should be able to run chkdsk /r on it.

Just run Verify by itself. If it passes, you're probably OK. If not, then you can try Verify with Repair.

I don't know how old the laptop is, but as @dalchina said, might want to check the disk(s) with some 3rd party software.

Laptop was purchased in May-June 2018 timeframe, so it's pretty new. That doesn't mean there might not be problems with my SSD drive, so I'd be happy to check it with 3rd party software. Got any to recommend?

BTW, last night I forgot to list a couple of the additional steps I tried before posting
--I tried running it from a different admin-level user account in case my primary admin account had any issues - made no difference
--I tried running it using a completely different external hard drive (not just a different partition on the first one) - made no difference. This makes me think that the destination drive is unlikely to be the problem but I plan to do chkdsk on them anyway just in case.

Thanks to both of you (Ghot and dalchina) for the 3rd party software recommendations - will grab them and get started. Will post again when I have updates.

Sorry to have dropped out of sight for a few days. Here is the latest:

After running chkdsk on every external destination drive I have and finding no issues (using Windows, not 3rd party, didn't go to third party software yet), I went back to Macrium and found the answer right in front of me (at least I think I did). I had never used the "Actions" drop down and the tools listed in it until now (my bad), but when I did, the Macrium "Analyze File System" gave all my partitions a clean bill of health except one of them.

Here is the result I got. As you can see in the snip, my FAT32 partition is the one that Macrium says has a Cluster Run Error.



Now that I found it, I need some guidance regarding the best way to fix it. My research so far suggests that I need to go into Disk Management and assign it a disk letter, but then things get a little fuzzy.
--Can I run "chkdsk /r" on this partition once it has an assigned drive letter using the Command Prompt?
--Or do I need to boot into Windows PE from my newly saved Macrium Rescue USB and then run "chkdsk /r" from there?
--Or am I confused and I need to do something completely different?

I'll be online again tomorrow, so recommendations are welcome. Thanks in advance!