Any good apps to fix partition/filesystem problems that Chkdsk can't?

krashd · 06 Mar 2021

I have a very peculiar problem with my Windows partition. I recently copied the partition over from another drive and all seemed to have gone well until I realised none of my three defrag programs worked anymore, each fails with "Move failed, the parameter is incorrect" or something similar. I ran chkdsk (both GUI and CLI) and it detects errors that it can't fix due to the Windows partition being online. So I boot into a Win PE recovery OS and not only does Chkdsk find and fix errors but the defrag program on the disk can defrag the partition. I thought the problem would now be fixed thanks to the magic of Chkdsk but it re-manifests every single time I re-enter Windows.

There is some sort of issue with the partition itself that Chkdsk can't fix though it thinks that it fixes it each time I run Chkdsk from another OS. I did manage to get Chkdsk to function once from inside the dodgy partition and it failed with an error that sounded very similar to the ones that the defrag programs gave me "Cannot perform selfheal", which I took as both Defrag and Chkdsk not being able to alter something.

If anyone has ever seen anything like this and has any ideas for me then that would be fantastic, but for now I would just like recommendations of apps I can use to try and diagnose what the problem is and how to fix it.

PS. Anyone telling me to reinstall Windows will be ignored, if I wanted simpleton advice I would have went to answers.microsoft.

Thx
Rob

Windows 10 Pro 20H2 19042.844

ignatzatsonic · 06 Mar 2021

I've never used anything more exotic than Diskpart and Minitool Partition Wizard and never for your particular problem.

Member Jumanji might have some ideas.

Wondering offhand if its an alignment issue? There are tools for that.

Samuria · 06 Mar 2021

It's not clear chkdsk fixed the disk but it's running at startup is that correct if it's running at start it's because the disk is set as dirty

jumanji · 06 Mar 2021

ignatzatsonic said:

.......Member Jumanji might have some ideas......

Inasmuch as this is not a data recovery problem, I will keep my hands off this

.

I feel the OP has to define the problem more precisely. 1. He should post the Disk Management Screenshot showing the Source drive and the partition he copied. 2. Disk Management screenshot of the destination drive and the positon and partition he copied. 3. Reasons for copying partition/data from the source drive to the destinaton drive and how he copied - whether it was a partition copy or data copy. (Partition copy means it will contain the volume boot record of the source partition. Data copy means he merely copied all files from the source partition to destination partition)

May be then the experts here can decipher the problem correctly and offer solutions. I will just take a backseat and watch.

krashd · 07 Mar 2021

ignatzatsonic said:

Wondering offhand if its an alignment issue? There are tools for that.

That gives me a new avenue to explore. Excellent!

Samuria said:

if it's running at start it's because the disk is set as dirty

Chkdsk is only running at startup once it detects the issue, which is usually only once I have initiated Chkdsk manually.

For Jumanji...

Any good apps to fix partition/filesystem problems that Chkdsk can't?-dm.png

Disk 0 and Disk 2 are the only two disks that are normally in the system (though Disk 2 is a RAID1 array across two identical 4TB disks). Disk 1 was added to be a temporary home for the C: partition while I formatted Disk 2. The reason for the partition move was that I ran into a boot issue on Disk 2 that I couldn't repair using any BCD tools or online guides and the only solution people had found was to backup their C: partition, do a clean install of Windows, and then delete the new C: partition and replace it with the old one. A very time-consuming fix just to get a new 100MB System partition.

So that is what I did (using Macrium Reflect)...

1. Installed an empty 2TB drive into the system.
2. Used Macrium Reflect (on a WinPE USB stick) to copy the C: partition to the 2TB drive.
2a. Macrium automatically shrunk the partition to fit since it only contained 1.43TB of data which I had already consolidated.
2b. Macrium seemed to leave space on the 2TB drive for the 100MB system partition and the 15MB reserved partition.
3. Deleted all partitions on the 4TB drive.
4. Reinstalled Windows 10 20H2 allowing it to partition the drive itself, which created the 4 usual partitions.
5. Booted back into the WinPE USB stick and deleted the new C: partition.
6. Used Macrium again to copy my old partition back across, growing it back to it's almost-4TB normal size.
7. Reboot and enjoy Windows.

The fact that Windows booted up first time confirmed that the original problem was a broken System partition, but as is usual with Microsoft products fixing one problem often gives rise to another and that is why I am here.

Also if I set BCD to boot Windows from the 2TB drive I find that it also has the same problem of not being able to defrag or chkdsk so whatever went wrong while copying happened when moving to the 2TB disk and not when moving from it.

I have copied dozens of partitions in the past and never had one lead to such a peculiar bug.

Rob

krashd · 09 Mar 2021

I can think of one possible fix that I never thought possible until Jumanji mentioned it but I could try copying the contents of the partition to a new partition, I just have no idea how to go about it as any time I have ever tried to move an operating system in that manner I have encountered countless errors about locked system files, lengthy paths and stuff like that. At the moment it seems like the best shot if I can't fix the partition Windows 10 is on.

zbook · 09 Mar 2021

Please run:

V2: BSOD - Posting Instructions
How to Upload and Post Screenshots and Files at Ten Forums

Tuneup.bat - Click here to go to the BSOD batch repository to download and run this batch file.

DiskParInfo.bat - Click here to go to the BSOD batch repository to download and run this batch file.

For share links please use one drive, drop box, or google drive.

krashd · 17 Mar 2021

Guys, I eventually fixed it by discovering the culprit by chance. I use (at least I did) a program called Rollback RX due to an issue I have with Windows System Restore, for some reason WSR has never worked for me in Windows 10 and I always get an error telling me system restore could not complete due to an issue with AppxStaging - Metro Apps causing issues with WSR seems to be a common problem for some people.

Anyway Rollback RX is a third party program that does the same thing as WSR, it uses VSS to take snapshots of your system. Well the program failed to start up a few days ago and I just so happened to notice that my usual defrag program successfully completed an auto-defrag.

I disabled Rollback RX and for several successive reboots had no issues with either the file system or defragging. I have since uninstalled the program.

I have absolutely no idea how VSS works and even less how it could relate to errors manifesting in the file table but because I happened to have two identical copies of Windows on two different drives I was able to experiment on the clone now that my main drive was working again. I booted into the clone and upon uninstalling Rollback RX it too recovered from file system errors, I then reinstalled Rollback RX on the clone and the defrag failures and gradual corruption of the file system returned. So there you go.

I don't know if anyone has experience with Rollback RX but I would suggest steering clear of it from my experience.

I'm marking this as solved and giving each of you a thank you tag for your input ��

Rob

Paul Black · 17 Mar 2021

Hello @krashd,

If you wanted to see if the OS is set to run a chkdsk at the next Reboot, you can enter the following command in a Command Prompt and press <Enter> . . .

chkntfs C:

If it is NOT configured to run on the next Reboot it will show as NOT DIRTY.

If it IS set to run a chkdsk at the next Reboot, and you want to Cancel it, then enter the following command in a Command Prompt and press <Enter> . . .

chkntfs /x C:

On BOTH the above commands, if the C: Drive is NOT your OS Drive, then replace C: with the correct Drive Letter.

I hope this helps.

Matthew Wai · 18 Mar 2021

While other members often recommend MiniTool Partition Wizard, the following one is also an option:

Partition Magic Freeware to manage Disk Partitions

The portable version works fine on my Windows PE.