[Novalug] SOT: Fixing NTFS -- the "MyBook"

[Ken Kauffman]

Not at all.  I've read that as well.  The MyBook drive in question is about
1 year old already and is a basic USB version.

Ken

On 12/7/07, Paul D. Bain <paulbain at cox.net> wrote:
>
> ---- Ken Kauffman <kkauffman at headfog.com> wrote:
> > Can I just say -- holy crap --
> >
> > I am merely sharing an experience here in case you run into the same
> issue
> > for those that have to play in the <sarcasm>WWoW[tm]  (Wonderful World
> of
> > Windows)</sarcasm>
> > This is also not intended to trigger the non-constructive contributors
> that
> > live in the realm of M$/Vista/Windows flame bashing either. ;)
> >
> > This is my take away from this scenario --
> > If your system seems to hang with NT Kernel at 50% (dual core) or 100%
> > (single core), you might have a corrupt NTFS file system that Vista can
> not
> > deal with.
> > I absolutely had to use XP and Linux to fix it.
> >
> > 1) I must use Windows because of my job - so let's get that out of the
> way.
> > 2) I do run Linux for non work stuff.
> >
> > /// Actors
> > - One AMD dual core X2 4400+ desktop running Vista X64 Home Premium
> > - One laptop running dual boot Vista X64 Home Premium and Xubuntu
> > - External 250Gb My Book Basic
>
> Ken,
>
>      I just ran across an interesting story about the Western Digital
> "MyBook," and am wondering whether the facts disclosed there have any
> bearing on the difficulties that you encountered. At first glance, it seems
> that the answer to this question is,  "No," but I continue to wonder. Here
> is the link:
>
>      http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/2119240&from=rss
>
>      See another comment below.
>
> > - OEM Vista x64 disc
> > - OEM Windows XP Pro disc
> >
> > /// Scenario
> > NTFS on the MyBook has been corrupted and chkdsk utilities will not fix
> > it.   There is a directory that "exists" but every took I have tells me
> it
> > does not.  Sounds like an entry in NTFS but no on disc.  I want to clean
> up
> > the disc.  My entire music library is also on this external disc so I
> must
> > tread with caution.
> >
> > ---
> > /// Attempt #1
> > Run chkdsk in Vista.  Supposedly fixed the issues.  Did not actually.
> >
> > /// Attempt #2
> > Boot of XP OEM disc and try and remove directory.  Fail.
> >
> > /// Attempt #3
> > Boot laptop into Xubuntu, ensure that I am running ntfs-3g and ntfsfix.
> > Also ensure that ntfsprogs is greater than 1.13.1-1 which supports Vista
> > NTFS.
> > Mount drive using ntfs-3g.  Remove offending directory.  No problem.
> > Unmount drive.
> > Run ntfsfix on said drive.  (This triggers windows to do a chkdsk by
> marking
> > it dirty).
> > Plug the drive back into workstation running Vista.
> > The disc is recognized as shown by the "eject" icon however VISTA HANGS
> HARD
> > with the kernel jumping to 50% saturation on one core.  Full system
> > instability ensues.
> > Disk manager hangs and becomes inaccessible, explorer crashes, can't be
> > relaunches, all utilities are rendered useless while the kernel goes
> into
> > overdrive to do nothing but something (evidently).  I could launch task
> > manager to show that it was the NT Kernel hanging.
> >
> > /// Attempt #4
> > Boot laptop into Vista
> > Plug drive in.
> > Drive kills Vista on laptop as well.  Same symptoms as in #2.
> > In case vista was trying to repair and was simply doing it poorly and
> > hanging, I let the laptop sit with the disc overnight for 8 hours.
> > When I woke up, it will still uber-borked.
> >
> > /// Attempt #5
> > Boot laptop into Vista OEM disc recovery console with drive plugged in
> (for
> > detection purposes)
> > RECOVERY CONSOLE dies hard with same CPU hanging symptoms
> >
> > /// Attempt #6
> > Boot laptop into XP Pro (OEM) CD recovery console with drive plugged in
> (for
> > detection purposes)
> > No hanging.
> > Run chkdsk /p  (chkdsk /f does not exist for CD boot recovery)
> > XP detects errors and resolves them.  (This takes time because /p also
> > implies block check)
> > Reboot back into console and run vanilla chkdsk just to double check.
> >
> > ----
> > Boot back into vista on desktop and the drive mounts just fine no hangs,
> no
> > issues.
> > Boot into vista on laptop, drive mounts just fine no hangs, no issues.
> >
> > \ Final solution for Vista "unfixable" NTFS file system structure \
> > - use linux/ntfs-3g to remove offending directory(s)
> > - run ntfs-fix
> > - use XP to run chkdsk
> > - now drive will re-mount in fixed condition inside Vista
> >
> > Really an unacceptable solution given I have 3 operating systems
> involved,
> > but when you must fix this scenario this is what I found works.
> > This might be of interest to you forensic-istas as well.
>
>      Yes, this incident is of interest to this "forensic-ista." I shall
> file your experience in my file folder whose rubric is "digital forensic
> exams."
>
> Sincerely,
> Paul Bain
>
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