[BBLISA] windows disk diagnostics

[Tom Metro]

Eric Smith wrote:
> So it ran chkdsk/scandsk, splatting text on the screen.
> Anyone know if that text is actually saved somewhere?

I'm not aware of it being saved. I would have checked the event log, as 
you already have.


> Now I'm off to look at my home backups.....

Do you have any reason to believe that anything was lost? Chkdsk can be 
triggered any time there isn't a clean shutdown, just like fsck in 
Linux. There are numerous scenarios in which it might run and not result 
in any data loss, such as correcting NTFS metadata.


> I'm also interested in any suggestions for programs that scan/correct
> disk drive issues. 

Low-level drive testing tools are harder to come by than they used to be 
years ago. Aside from commercial data recovery tools, now your choices 
are either chkdsk if you want something that is OS aware, or one of the 
diagnostic tools provided by the hard drive manufacturers (i.e. SeaTools).

In the commercial data recovery category, I've used Restorer2000 
(http://www.restorer2000.com/) with success.

I do have a few tools bookmarked that I haven't tried:
http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm (freeware)
http://www.cgsecurity.org/index.html?testdisk.html
http://www.garloff.de/kurt/linux/ddrescue/


> I'll go find a SMART utility and see what it says (on all the drives.)

I used this on both Linux and Windows. Here's the link to the Windows 
version:

http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/#WindowsInstall

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/