Can anyone explain how using Chkdsk to repair errors can completely wipe a drive clean?

I have used Chkdsk loads of times. I went through the normal way of doing it.... C Drive > Properties > Tools > Error Checking, then said yes to run on next boot up. Rebooted and Chkdsk ran through the 5 stages ok and then went to DOS screen saying.... start in normal Windows or Safemode..... whichever one I clicked, it just looped back to the DOS window.

I took the PC into repairers and they rang me today and said the reason why Windows wouldn't load was because C Drive had been wiped clean!!!

How the fuck has that happened?

 

thats bollox mate

chkdsk will not wipe a drive unless it was so fucked up it had to fix everything

how long did the chkdsk run for?

more likely you got zapped by a virus that screwed yur disk when yu rebooted

 

Chkdsk ran normal time for the first 4 stages and as usual a little longer on stage 5.

I can almost say with 99% certainty that I didn't have a virus, I run regular AV scans and anti-spyware programmes. I don't open any emails that I don't recognise the name of and also my ISP scans for viruses first. I also don't click on any links that are given in threads.

I can't see that C drive was fucked either with errors, as it was a fresh install and a new HD in March. Luckily I had everything backed up until March, but have lost all emails and pics since then to date.

I spose there's a first time for everything and I was the 'chosen one'

 

Unless the scanning caused the drive to overheat, and fuck the head's, there's no way it will wipe it.

However,

What you should of done is boot of the windows xp cd, go thorugh the process of installing windows, but instead of doing an install, repair the current installation and, with a bit of luck, it would be fine.

The mere fact alone it gave you the windows xp startup menu proves there is an operating system on there.

I thought you was quite clue'd up on puters

 

It wiped everything!? thats shit mate

I used it for the first time about a month ago, think it took a good 20mins or so to scan all of HDD, and i still have windows running, bonus!

 

Not clued up on that part of it Dan, the fact that it kept looping was the strange bit and my mind just went blank.... so off it went to the 'poorly PC Shop'.

I am going to be extremely wary of running Chkdsk at anytime now on my other PC and laptop.

 

have to admit i run chkdsk quite often, i am like that, and have never known this to happen havent even heard of it happening

cannot find any instance of it on the web either

only simlar report i can see at teh moment is here

http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/m-.../tm.htm#328530

 

I run chkdsk once a month on all 5 drives

 

Hmmm they say could be drivers on that link.

I've just been to pick up my PC now and I am still bemused.

I asked about the start-up screen showing Windows and apparently that was because it was picking up Windows on my other drive.

The guy took the hard-drive out of my machine and put it in another and this showed it had been totally wiped clean. So he put it back into my machine and it wouldn't install XP at all, kept saying drive wasn't formatted and there was an error. He put it on other machine again and it was ok (can't remember if he said he'd done something or not at that stage), so he refitted it again to mine and this time XP installed perfectly and all the updates installed OK too.

I think I am going to use the slave drive for storing/saving all My Docs and pics to now.

Now I just have to set everything up again and download everything from scratch....... great!!!!

At the moment, I don't know what I hate most..... computers or cossies

 

I bet the indexing got screwed up. The data is still there somewhere but the indexing wont be linking up to it properly - so the drive appears blank.

If you check for disc space how much does it say is left?

Fixing it on the other hand could be a nitemare, you'd have to do some hunting around on the net to find a tool better than chkdsk.

 

if i was you id buy a new HDD just to be on the safe side

 

The hard-drive is just over 16 months old and has only been in use for last 4 months... I didn't use the PC for 12 months as it had a problem and as I had my laptop, I didn't bother too much about getting it repaired. When it went wrong last year I had 2 new HDs put in but still had the damn thing kept freezing.

I finally took it into repair shop last Feb/March and had a new machine built, using both HDs. Everything was fine until I ran ChkDsk.

Luckily I have the laptop to copy most of the settings I had - but it's still a proverbial pain in the arse to get everything re-installed and set up.

I have got internet connection and OE set up so far and the PC shop must have installed Avast on it..... Not too sure about Avast, last time I had it it, I wasn't keen on it for some reason, which I can't remember, so uninstalled it and went back to AVG. Having AV was my first priority

My mind has gone totally blank though on how to network it to my other PC and my laptop....

 

Now after loading a few things it says Used Space 4.34gb and Free Space 110gb

 

yeah i didnt like avast's interface, it was totally shit compared to AVG, with AVG its just like straight to the point no nonsense, you can see exactly what button does what and where to find things, avast on the other hand

 

I need to get the network up and running, so I can transfer Favourites and My Docs over instead of loading them all up by the back-ups I have on CDs.

I hate doing this sort of thing

So far

Internet connected - check
AV installed - check
OE up and running - check
MSN up and running - check
XP to how I like it [silver and classic menu] - check

 

I prefer the following...

XP to how I like it [not installed] - check

 

Firewall, do it NOW!

 

Lynne, if you put this drive in as a slave and install windows on another drive you may be able to run a file recovery program and retrieve some files from the drive.

If you have everything backed up then no real problems, although personally if storing my photos on the same drive as a windows install I would use Ghost and keep a clone of the whole drive for quickness.

 

Too late for that Tony... I think I have a copy of Ghost somewhere, never used it though. It's on a floppy and I don't have a floppy drive on my PC but I do on my laptop - so I could copy it onto a CD on that

GTi_iTG

That was done along with AV