question about Ghost backup error

[jimdagys]

I am trying to create a back up of my Windows xp c drive with Ghost 2003 but a few minutes after I start creating the back up image, I get this error message
Error Number: (29004)
Message: Read sector failure, result = 1, drive = 0, sectors 1793343 to 1793407
Several months ago I used the same Ghost program and made a successful backup image to File on E drive and also backup image to DVD, but now I can't do either successfully. I have tried several times with the same result. Someone suggested I type in -FNI (a Ghost command switch) in the Advanced Setting>Ghost Command Line box, but I still got the same error message. I have used the Windows "Check this volume for error" and shows the c drive to be healthy. I also defragged the c drive. Now I don't know what to do. The computer seems to run fine, except for about 10% of the time after I turn on the computer, the mouse arrow doesn't move. Simply unplugging the mouse and reconnecting the mouse always solves that problem.
Can somebody give me some ideas how to solve this Ghost problem? Do you think my c drive has really developed a problem and will soon need to be replaced?

[TJohns]

Certainly sounds like a drive error. Did you run a FULL disk check on C: ??
Go to a command prompt (or just START - RUN) and type CHKDSK C: /R
This will do a complete disk scan (requiring a reboot, as it's your system drive) and probably require an hour or so depending on drive size.
After it's done & Windows re-starts, go to a command prompt and type CHKDSK C:
If the summary at the end, note if Windows has marked any bad sectors on the drive ... that's probably where Ghost was getting stuck.

Trev

[jimdagys]

Thank you very much for the helpful reply. I did the 2 steps that you said. On the first step(CHKDSK C: /R), I got the words
"Windows replaced bad clusters in file 2432 of name \windows\inf\devxprop.inf."
The second step (using command prompt) CHKDSK C:
I got the following words:
correcting errors in the volume bitmap
windows found problems with the file system
Run CHKDSK with the /F(fix) option to correct these
4kb in bad sectors
So I have several questions:
1) How can windows replace bad clusters?
2) What is \windows\inf\devxprop.inf. and is it important?
3) The CHKDSK C result said that I could "Run CHKDSK with the /F(fix) option to correct these" errors
If I do that, will the disk errors be fixed and then I could make a Ghost backup? If the Ghost backup is then
successful, can I be confident that the backup image will successfully restore the c drive if it is necessary to
do that?
4) If so, can you tell me exactly what to type in the cmd prompt? I'm not sure what "Run CHKDSK with the /F(fix) option to correct these" means and exactly what I need to type in the cmd prompt to fix the errors.
5) it seems that the CHKDSK C: /R command is much more complete than just right clicking on the c drive>properties and check for errors because the result of doing this was that the c drive was healthy and had no problems
6) If you click on the following 2 links, you can see the pictures of the screenshots

100_0303.jpg

100_0304.jpg

[bevills1]

Has Disk Cleanup and Defrag been run recently? Ghost sometimes has problems if Defrag is needed.

[jameshgross]

I will take a shot at some of your questions.

1. CHKDSK is a DOS app that runs in a Command Prompt window or at bootup BEFORE Windows loads. CHKDSK has direct access to the HD Controller hardware. Therefore when CHKDSK detects an error it is able to tell the HD Controller what to do. i.e. Move data from a bad cluster to a good cluster.

2. Information on devxprop.inf is a little scarce but I will attempt an explaination (experts, please correct me if I am wrong). devxprop.inf is used by Windows at install time to build the device data base in the Windows registry. Once Windows was been installed this file is deleted.

3. Information on the command switches in CHKDSK can be found in Windows Help - search for CHKDSK..
Help will also give a more detailed explanation of how CHKDSK works.

Hope this helps.

[jman98]

So I have several questions:
1) How can windows replace bad clusters?
2) What is \windows\inf\devxprop.inf. and is it important?
3) The CHKDSK C result said that I could "Run CHKDSK with the /F(fix) option to correct these" errors
If I do that, will the disk errors be fixed and then I could make a Ghost backup? If the Ghost backup is then
successful, can I be confident that the backup image will successfully restore the c drive if it is necessary to
do that?
4) If so, can you tell me exactly what to type in the cmd prompt? I'm not sure what "Run CHKDSK with the /F(fix) option to correct these" means and exactly what I need to type in the cmd prompt to fix the errors.

1) It marks bad areas of the disk so they aren't used again. Clusters can go bad in any OS, but it seems to me that this happens more often in Windows.
2) Don't know. The other post that talks about it is probably right.
3) CHKDSK C: /F
Yes it will fix the errors. If Ghost completes with no errors, yes, you can be confident that the back image will successfully restore the drive.
4) I answered this question in my reply to #3.

[TBoneit]

Also in ghost 2003 if using the DOS version you can just append the -fro switch to continue if it does hit a bad spot.

example: Ghost -fro

[jimdagys]

Thank you for all your useful replies. I went ahead and tried to make another Ghost image and now it worked perfectly. Also, the DVD image passed the Ghost integrity check.
I found the following useful info in: Control panel>Performance and Maintainence>Administrative tools>Event Viewer>Source>Winlogon
The last sentence says that that Windows has made corrections to the file system.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 65 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 65 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 65 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
Read failure with status 0xc000009c at offset 0x36ba0000 for 0xa000 bytes.
Read failure with status 0xc000009c at offset 0x36ba7000 for 0x1000 bytes.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 2432
of name \WINDOWS\inf\devxprop.inf.
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.
Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.