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Thumb drive repair?

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foxcole
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Thumb drive repair?

I noticed that a few programs on my thumb drive were not working correctly. On a Win7 computer I ran the command prompt and entered chkdsk f: /f --where f: is the volume for the mounted thumb drive.

That returned an error saying the drive was in use by another process and asked whether to force dismount. (There was no reason for the drive to be in use. I checked the running processes and saw nothing that could tie it up, but went ahead and ended all known uncecessary ones anyway. Didn't help.)

I tried Y to force the dismount, but got another error, chkdsk could not run because the drive was in use by another process. This time it asked if it should schedule the volume to be checked the next time the system restarts and I entered Y. I then restarted the system, but the drive was not checked. (Tried a couple of times with no helpful results.)

Somehow I discovered that chkdsk WILL run if I *leave out* the /f tag -- but, of course then it can't fix the errors. If I run it again with the /f tag, I get the "in use by another process" runaround.

So I can't use chkdsk to fix the errors and wonder, does anyone know of a good free utility that will do this? I tried Google but didn't find anything useful; it mostly returned things to repair Windows registries, antivirus scan-and-repair programs, and a couple of for-fee repair tools I can't afford. Not what I need.

J Neutron
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Sounds familiar

Read through this thread:

https://portableapps.com/node/15136

neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com

foxcole
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Nice try, thanks!

Unfortunately it doesn't help. Chkdsk does not work with any switches, whether /f or /r or /x -- I get the same problem every time. It does run without switches.

So, that's why I'm looking for a separate utility that can repair the drive. Does a free one exist? (The other comments in that thread are about restoring specific files, not repairing errors on the drive.)

Cheers!
---Fox

Darkbee
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GUI version?

Nevermind, I didn't read your original post fully. Smile

I guess the issue is that Windows doesn't see the drive when you reboot so it thinks there's nothing to check. How about if you run Windows in Safe-Mode and try the disk check?

Mir
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i ran into a similar issue

i ran into a similar issue. i have a HP 4gb V125W thumb drive that was giving me ghost files as well as an i/o error when ever i either formated, wrote or tried to delete. HP sent me a spiffy software that upgraded the firmware and now it works spiffy at 17MB/s :).

foxcole
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I'll try that...

... although I don't understand. If Windows doesn't see the drive at all, then how can chkdks run perfectly on it, without switches?

(Whoops, replied to the wrong comment.)

Cheers!
---Fox

Darkbee
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Reply Replay

Because the disk checking on reboot happens before the USB disk has had a chance to initialize? I personally don't recall having this issue but it could be hardware specific or related issue.

I don't claim to have the answer, I'm just throwing ideas out there.

foxcole
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It will remain a mystery...

... because it doesn't really matter. Your suggestion to run chkdsk in safe mode worked. Smile

Thank you!

Cheers!
---Fox

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