WindowsXP Gurus - I Need Your Help

[savedbygrace]

I need help. Out of the blue, my WindowsXP (SP2) system has gone crazy. It is frequently giving me a warning message in the System Tray that says:

Windows - Delayed Write Failed Windows was unable to save all the data for the file D:/$BitMap. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.

That file is apparently hidden, but revealing hidden files doesn't show it.

My WinXP volume is on C:/ and the D:/ drive volume is for data files.

I've googled for help, and done everything that Microsoft and others have suggested. Nothing helps. This began suddenly.

Any ideas? Any other info you need before you can help me?

Thanks.

[citabria]

Later bump

[Paleo Conservative]

Get Spinrite 6 from Gibson Reearch. It can recover data from bad sectors of a drive and mark the failing sectors as bad before they get critical. Spinrite can recover data that most other programs can't. Modern ATA and SCSI drives have spare sectors that can be allocated to replace failing sectors.

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

[Cold Heat]

I have not read all the replies, but "bitmap" is a part of the disk organizational structure.

You need to backup to a external disk if you can, it may be too late.

It looks like the computer cannot organize or read some portion of the disk. I would try to copy your critical files and docs to a data CD now, and then try to back up your system to a external drive using a mirror program.

At least save your docs and good stuff in case it fails completely. I would then try to use the scan disk and set it to do a complete scan and surface scan with the repair option. Do not defrag! You will lose it all if you do.

[bobwoodard]

What’s your hardware profile on those drives? Any RAID, external/internal USB, eSATA, etc. stuff going on?

Like others, I’ve seen this message as the sectors on a drive start to head south and the drive is reaching the end of its life.

[Son Of The Godfather]

ping for later

[Freemeorkillme]

Here’s a great tool that quite a few people use for data recovery, forensic, etc. Here’s a cut and paste about the Opensource software(free) TestDisk from CGSecurity. Runs on Winblowz, Linux/Unix, DOS, MacOSx.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

This software will help you sooner or later. Also, PhotoRec is included, read on site for more info

TestDisk is OpenSource software and is licensed under the terms of the GNU Public License (GPL).

TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery software! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting a Partition Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is really easy.

TestDisk can

* Fix partition table, recover deleted partition
* Recover FAT32 boot sector from its backup
* Rebuild FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sector
* Fix FAT tables
* Rebuild NTFS boot sector
* Recover NTFS boot sector from its backup
* Fix MFT using MFT mirror
* Locate ext2/ext3 Backup SuperBlock

TestDisk has features for both novices and experts. For those who know little or nothing about data recovery techniques, TestDisk can be used to collect detailed information about a non-booting drive which can then be sent to a tech for further analysis. Those more familiar with such procedures should find TestDisk a handy tool in performing onsite recovery.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

preferably one not hooked to the same cable as your current drive.

That is best but if we're talking IDE drives many motherboards only have two IDE channel connectors on board and the 2nd one usually has CD or DVD ROMs, no place for a hard drive. Many of the new motherboards only have one IDE connector. SATA is now becoming the standard and IDE looks like it's going the way of ISA slots and A drives.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Mac user here (but as usual I have experience on PCs).

My old Mac HD died and I foolishly let it get worse and worse before doing anything about, and lost some data. Dumb.

Now I have a new Mac system with Time Machine - and an external HD for backup. IMHO there is a case to be made for considering HDs to be consumables with limited lifetime. Just figure on buying a new HD every two or three years - and buy a bigger drive every time. That way you never have to even think about deleting files to make room.

[papasmurf]

IMO. This is the best advice given, up to this point.

In addition, you should know that checkdisk is crap, and only writes over bad sectors, trashing the data contained within. Repairing the files system is the best option without using any other tools/utilities. But you may loose data.

If you want to save your disk and the data on it, then I suggest your purchase Spinrite, and let it do it's magic. I've found NOTHING that will repair drives and recover formerly lost data better than Spinrite.

Good luck.

[papasmurf]

Testdisk is fantastic for recovering drives, deleted partition, etc. But, AFAIK, is doesn’t recover data lost to bad sectors marked bad by windows.

Now, please quit posting about testdisk, you’re taking money out of my pocket. LOL

[dubie]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330174

[savedbygrace]

Thank you for all your suggestions and warnings. (I hope I’m pinging everyone who’s posted to this thread.)

I’m assuming D: drive is failing, and I’ve ordered a replacement drive from newegg.com, next day air.

The key bit of information I didn’t post earlier is that the failing drive is on an Ultra ATA133 controller card. The drive that I backed up the data from D: is on the same controller card, same channel. So, I’m extremely concerned about that.

I’ve shut the system down, and am posting from my Mac (MacPro octo 3.0GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Radeon X1900XT video card, 4 X 500GB HDD, 16X DL SuperDrive), so I’m not hurting for computer power.

I have to work out a scheme for getting those drives off that ATA controller before I do anything else. Because of the way I configured the hardware in this Antec case, that will require a lot of noodling.

I’ll post back again tomorrow after I’ve installed the replacement drive, and have some new answers.

Thanks again.

Here’s the thread ping list, to make tomorrow’s ping a lot easier than this one:

OneRatToGo;ArrogantBustard;petro45acp;80 Square Miles;Bosco;TomGuy;CA Conservative;Freemeorkillme;reagan_fanatic;Hillarys Gate Cult;Psycho_Bunny;TChris ;jdm;bt_dooftlook;Ranxerox;relictele;stylin19a;spanalot;Fishtalk;IrishMike ;Codeflier;mountainlyons;dangerdoc;A. Morgan;Snoopers-868th;ShadowAce;antiRepublicrat;citabria;Paleo Conservative;Cold Heat;bobwoodard;Son Of The Godfather;conservatism_IS_compassion;papasmurf;dubie

[papasmurf]

Are you concerned about your data? Cause a LiveCD of just about any flavor of Linux will get you in and allow you to pull your data off.

No installing of anything, just pop the CD in and it will load into memory, and connect to your attached hard drives and even your network.

It’s a beautiful thang...:O)

BTW, are you saying you have an add on ATA133 card?

[antiRepublicrat]

and am posting from my Mac (MacPro octo 3.0GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Radeon X1900XT video card, 4 X 500GB HDD, 16X DL SuperDrive)

We hate you.

[TChris]

We hate you.

*chuckle*

Not me.

[savedbygrace]

Yes, and it is almost as old as the computer. I built it in an Antec case, with an Asus 2.4GHz P4 mobo. The ATA133 card uses Silicon Image chips, and has worked great all these years.

But this morning, after I copied all the data from D: to E:, I got another Write Failed warnings, and the file it reported was on E:. Then later, another warning reporting on a system file, which would have been on C:, which is living on the nobo’s IDE controller..

So, I might be having a mobo meltdown. I am greatly concerned.

[savedbygrace]

For raw speed, I’ve set up the 8 processors to work together as if they were a render farm, and when I compress video files, all 8 processor chunk out the same file in unison, and the rendering is so fast, it leaves you breathless.

That’s why I’ve got 8GB of RAM - 1GB per processor for that single purpose.

Zoom zoom zoom.

[savedbygrace]

See #57

[TChris]

For raw speed, I’ve set up the 8 processors to work together as if they were a render farm, and when I compress video files, all 8 processor chunk out the same file in unison, and the rendering is so fast, it leaves you breathless.

That’s why I’ve got 8GB of RAM - 1GB per processor for that single purpose.

Sweet. :-)

My cheap little dual-core Athlon XP/64 keeps up with the video editing I do just fine.

I'm not sure which, if any, Windows video software would know what to do with 8 cores. Maybe Premier Pro does. *shrug*

[savedbygrace]

Well, if it turns out that the mobo in this WinXP box is going down, I might opt to buy the Mac versions of all the apps I need, and not buy another Windows box, just use the Mac.

That’s my video system, though, and there are disadvantages to having a dual use machine.

I doubt I will build another computer, though. I might just buy a Dell pre-built (w/ XP, not Vista) to replace this one . . . . if it needs to be replaced. We’re not there yet.