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Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 4:40 pm
by hitbyambulance
my gaming machine desktop has a pretty old HDD and it's been consistently slower and slooowwwer and slooooowwwweer to boot over the past few years, but SMART and other HDD diagnostic tools always reported the drive was still good - until it wasn't. machine finally failed to boot completely last weekend and i ran disk repair off a USB drive. it went through the % complete very very slowly - took a week to finish. now it's back to the "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." screen with no progress listed. when would be a good time to quit this and give up?
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:39 pm
by jztemple2
Doesn't appear that you could put a lot of trust in that HDD with its previous problems, plus it sounds like it is really sloooooow
Get an SSD, it will change your life! Well, at least you'll be able to spend less time waiting for a boot up.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 10:49 pm
by hitbyambulance
well, yes. i have a new SSD here, but the problem is the computer itself is about a decade old (see
this thread) and i am not wanting to install it in this machine, then shortly move it to a new PC (which i'm now pondering building- unless it's now acceptable to move a Win10 installed SSD to a totally new motherboard?)
i also have files on this damaged/old HDD that weren't included in the last back-up - hope i can recover those.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:20 pm
by Daehawk
when would be a good time to quit this and give up?
About a week ago
I hope you can get your stuff off of it. Ive never once had a repair tool actually work. The one time I got a broke disk to work and let me grab stuff off it was when I put it in the freezer overnight. The next day it worked for 30 min. Did it again and got maybe 10 min out of it. never worked again.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 11:56 am
by LordMortis
The best luck I've had with fixing a repeated problems with disk errors and taking repeated hours to fix is a variant on what you have already done.
In my case, Intel management had continually been corrupting a drive, making it "dirty"
My success has been to boot to a separate Window media (Installation USB, etc...), so corrupted drive is not active and can truly be scanned and fixed.
then find your bootable drive (C:?) and run chkdsk /f /r /x C: as an example.
But don't trust me on this. Poke around for what others say so you can learn what is happening and figure if it applies to you
Like this:
https://forums.techguy.org/threads/volu ... ty.465184/
https://superuser.com/questions/514679/ ... and-prompt
https://superuser.com/questions/101723/ ... do-exactly
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:29 pm
by hitbyambulance
i actually started running chkdsk /r last night, we'll see how that fares
(/r implies /f, so 'chkdsk /r /f' is redundant)
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2020 11:10 pm
by hitbyambulance
chkdsk /r actually finished its run (finding some disk errors). i'm now running it again. after this run, i'll power cycle the PC twice, then attempt to boot Windows. then that might fail, so i'll do startup repair again.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:14 pm
by hitbyambulance
i'm now able to boot into a ... black screen with a movable mouse cursor. pressing Windows key + P brings up the projection menu, but there is nothing i can do to display anything else on the screen.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 11:31 am
by Z-Corn
Can you map that drive from another PC and get your data off now?
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:24 pm
by LordMortis
hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:14 pm
i'm now able to boot into a ... black screen with a movable mouse cursor. pressing Windows key + P brings up the projection menu, but there is nothing i can do to display anything else on the screen.
Safe mode? (Ctrl + F8 a lot and really really fast in Windows 10 is you are lucky)
One does have to wonder what was broken and needed to be fixed.
Also Media Creator to "Restore" windows?
You might want to boot to Hirens or some such thing to back up data first.
https://www.hirensbootcd.org/usb-booting/
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 6:56 pm
by Zitterbacke
Not sure if this is of any interest at this given point AND the general perception of Linux as Alien-Voodoo in this Forum, but I still put this here, as it is the best (also free) solution available:
DDRESCUE.
This will try to read bad blocks for the amount of attempts you allow it to (up to indefinitely).
At least you'd have an image / copy of the HDD you can work upon whilst not further dying in the progress.
For the daring: I like to mention basically any Linux Live System will allow one to copy from that drive to e.g. an external drive, leaving the original installation alone.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 11:58 pm
by hitbyambulance
ok, there's gotta be a way to get into safe mode - i hit Ctrl-F8 a LOT during boot and can't make it in. is there some other way to do this on Win10 when the screen can't be seen? there's a chance it's the video drivers and i want to uninstall/reinstall.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 12:06 am
by gilraen
hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 11:58 pm
ok, there's gotta be a way to get into safe mode - i hit Ctrl-F8 a LOT during boot and can't make it in. is there some other way to do this on Win10 when the screen can't be seen? there's a chance it's the video drivers and i want to uninstall/reinstall.
As far as I know, it's always been just F8, not Ctrl-F8. Also, F8 boot menu is disabled by default in Win 10, so unless you had re-enabled it at some point, you cannot use it.
Some alternate steps to boot into safe mode when all you have is an unresponsive screen (I've never tried these, found them at
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to- ... windows-10):
If you can't see anything at all on your screen, all hope is not lost — you can still get to Safe Mode for troubleshooting. You'll need to restart your computer several times, so follow these steps carefully:
1. Hold the computer's power button for 10 seconds until the computer shuts off.
2. Press the power button to turn the computer on.
3. As soon as you see that Windows is starting, hold the power button for 10 seconds to turn it off again.
4. Press the power button to turn it on.
5. When your computer starts, it should now be in the Windows Recover Environment and showing the "Choose an option" screen. Click "Troubleshoot."
6. Click "Advanced options," click "Startup settings," and then click "Restart."
7. After the computer restarts again, you'll see a list of restart options. Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to select "4" (or press F4) to start in Safe Mode, or, if you need access to the Internet, select "5" (or press F5).
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 12:08 am
by Anonymous Bosch
hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 11:58 pm
ok, there's gotta be a way to get into safe mode - i hit Ctrl-F8 a LOT during boot and can't make it in. is there some other way to do this on Win10 when the screen can't be seen? there's a chance it's the video drivers and i want to uninstall/reinstall.
One of these methods ought to do the trick.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 10:05 am
by LordMortis
gilraen wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2020 12:06 am
As far as I know, it's always been just F8, not Ctrl-F8. Also, F8 boot menu is disabled by default in Win 10, so unless you had re-enabled it at some point, you cannot use it.
It was through Windows 7. I have never been able to make it work in Windows 10, so when I looked it up,
The Internet said CTRL, so that's what I put.
Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2020 12:08 am
...
2. Interrupt the normal boot process of Windows 10 three times in a row
This is what I actually do.
Not exactly a best practice, especially when you know you've been having HDD problems.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 3:13 pm
by hitbyambulance
i think i'm going to first try to clone the problematic HDD onto a spare HDD (using the dd command in Linux), then try to safe mode it.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 6:50 pm
by Zitterbacke
^ What this guy said.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 5:03 pm
by hitbyambulance
doing a sector-by-sector clone of the defective HDD now.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2020 12:06 am
by hitbyambulance
i have the back up disk now, but it's doing the same thing as with the original HDD - i go to the Users directory, then my name and double click. Message to the effect of "you need administrator access", then OK - then eternally spinning cursor. :/
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2020 6:50 pm
by Zitterbacke
Have you tried accessing the directory from Linux? Maybe chown?
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:48 am
by Unagi
Ok so. Seemingly odd advice I’m suggesting here.
When you have the black screen and just the mouse cursor:
Try and hit the shift key multiple times and seen if a window comes up asking if you want to turn on sticky-keys / Disability Services (can’t recalll if that’s what it’s called ) .
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 7:35 pm
by Kasey Chang
Interesting. If a copy also did this, it suggests there's conflicting rights, groups, or something like that. (My linux admin class is coming in handy now)
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:23 am
by hitbyambulance
GOT IT!
so after doing an exact copy of the HDD onto another one (through dd or some cloning program), i ran chkdsk /r on the _cloned_ HDD. i mean, it makes sense, but i kinda can't believe that worked.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:27 am
by Kasey Chang
Okay, that tells me your old HD is dying and it can't "fix" your last dead sector, which is why it choked.
You may as well get one of those SMART reader programs and see what it says about the old HD, if you want to bother. You may be able to low-level format it and "save it", if you want to. I'd personally recommend against it.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:51 am
by hitbyambulance
so i really didn't need a new computer, but eh, it's not like i paid very much for it and it was the second-longest period of time i've gone between computer upgrades (seven years).
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:34 pm
by hitbyambulance
resurrecting this thread, as just copying the BitPay (Bitcoin wallet) over didn't work. i suspect that it's tied to the Windows registry.... so i need to get a copy of my old Windows install working again.
i have the files off the defective hard drive (used dd to image onto a spare, which is now a backup of the defective HDD). is it feasible to:
1) install Windows 10 on a new HDD
2) somehow restore the registry settings from the saved files to the new Windows installation?
3) put the old Program Files files on the new Windows installation
to retrieve the BitPay cryptographic signature? i'm using the old hardware as well (except for the HDD, of course)
?
it would be easier to just restore the boot partition on this spare disk, but... it is MBR instead of GPT, and Win10 doesn't want anything to do with it if it's not a GPT disk.
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2020 11:06 pm
by Anonymous Bosch
hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:34 pm
it would be easier to just restore the boot partition on this spare disk, but... it is MBR instead of GPT, and Win10 doesn't want anything to do with it if it's not a GPT disk.
FWIW, you should be able to install Windows 10 to an MBR partition, if that'll make life easier. You just need to set the motherboard to Legacy mode (i.e. disable UEFI) and then boot from a non-UEFI Windows 10 installer. You can easily create that using
Rufus with a USB flash drive and a Windows 10 ISO, as explained in the instructions below courtesy of TenForums.com:
Use "Rufus" to create Bootable Window 10 USB for Legacy BIOS and UEFI
Re: Windows 10: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." ... for the past week
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2020 11:41 pm
by hitbyambulance
Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 11:06 pm
hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:34 pm
it would be easier to just restore the boot partition on this spare disk, but... it is MBR instead of GPT, and Win10 doesn't want anything to do with it if it's not a GPT disk.
FWIW, you should be able to install Windows 10 to an MBR partition, if that'll make life easier. You just need to set the motherboard to Legacy mode (i.e. disable UEFI) and then boot from a non-UEFI Windows 10 installer. You can easily create that using using
Rufus with a USB flash drive and a Windows 10 ISO, as explained in the instructions below courtesy of TenForums.com:
Use "Rufus" to create Bootable Window 10 USB for Legacy BIOS and UEFI
creating the legacy Win10 installer was the info i was missing. thank you