Windows 7 sp1 64bit using Windows Firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials
Every time I backup files onto My WD Passport Ultra using Windows 7 backup program I get the following error listed 5 times in my event viewer:
Log Name: System
Source: Ntfs
Date: 11/1/2016 6:11:00 AM
Event ID: 55
Task Category: (2)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: PC-1
Description:
The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume OS.
Check Disk never finds any errors on the OS (C:). The back up files appear on My Passport Ultra. Disk Management shows all healthy disks.
Why do I get this error?
Evidently, you have corrupted files on the drive. Do you need the data on the drive? If so, move it to another drive. Then re-partition and format the drive. to see if that fixes it. But you’re need to re-partition it first. Did you run chkdsk on the passport? If not, do so and see if it fixes the file structure.
Some questions:
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The error says to use chkdsk on the volume OS which is my C: drive. I have done that after each error message when I back up my computer. It never finds an error. Will using chkdsk on passport harm what I have backed up on it?
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If I can see the files on the passport (G:) and I know the backup was successful, can I ignore the error in event viewer?
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I used the windows 7 back up program, not the backup program that came with passport, because it was familiar to me. Is that a problem?
I just plugged passport into a USB drive and ran Windows backup program and there were no error messages or problems. But this error has appeared 5 times in the event viewer every time I backed up my computer and image since I got passport in July. There are no other problems.
Thank you for your help.
Based on your error data, there is some corruption, somewhere. I’m assuming it’s probably a file somewhere on your C:drive that got corrupted, and it’s throwing the error when you try backing it up.
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You should be able to run chkdsk on your passport without harming it. On occasion, when I’ve had to do a forced shutdown, I’ll have to run in on my passport, and it’s never hurt it. If running chkdsk doesn’t fix the errors from happening after running backup, then it’s most likely something on your OS drive.
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Ultimately, you could ignore the error. But if the error is being caused by a system file that’s become corrupted, then you may have bigger issues.
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No.
A thought: Never just jerk the cable when removing the passport. Always use safe remove. This prevents further data corruption.
I always use safe remove for everything too. I will run chkdsk on passport and hope for the best.
I found another error that happens when I just plug it in:
Log Name: System
Source: Disk
Date: 11/2/2016 9:46:24 AM
Event ID: 11
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: PC-1
Description:
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk2\DR2.
I just plugged it in this morning while I was research/writing about the problem. Same thing, error is recorded 5 times, but is not related to backup, I just plugged it in.
Thank you again.
Well I plugged passport into my lap top and no disk or ntfs errors appeared. I don’t back this up often as I hardly use it. I searched back and it has not shown any ntfs or disk errors from the beginning. And I did back it up in May and August. So I think passport is not the problem.
Then I ran chkdsk on my desk top OS(C:) drive and again no problems found.
Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is OS.
CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)…
166144 file records processed. File verification completed.
811 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. 0 EA records processed. 45 reparse records processed. CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)…
227804 index entries processed. Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered. CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)…
166144 file SDs/SIDs processed. Cleaning up 115 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 115 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 115 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
30831 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal…
37515352 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)…
166128 files processed. File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)…
188154362 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.
While passport was not plugged into my desktop, I went to Device Manager and clicked View>show hidden devices and removed passport from disk drives. Then I plugged it in and it installed itself and there were no disk errors. Then I safely removed it again and then I plugged it back in. Boom, disk errors again. It does not happen when Passport is loaded for first time. It only happens when the drive is already installed when passport is plugged in.
I don’t keep it plugged in; just plug it in on the first of the month when it is time for back up.
The default policy setting is for quick removal and since I am using safe removal anyway I changed the policy to see if that would make it happy. Safely removed and then plugged in. No joy, still disk error. It is only happy with fresh install of its drives.
As far as I can tell passport has never been a problem on my lap top and started to produce disk and ntfs errors on my desk top at the August backup. Before that I used it to back up in May and June and I did not find errors in the Administrative log.
One difference between my laptop and my desk top is I can find passport in device manager after it is removed by showing “hidden devices” on my desk top device manager. The icon is faded. When I had disk errors with some thumb drives I learned on line how to uninstall devices with faded icons and that stopped the disk errors every time I plugged in a thumb drive. Here is the thing, when I remove passport from my laptop, it is gone, it does not show up with a faded icon in device manager. Like every time I plug it in it’s a new install. It doesn’t leave anything I can see behind like my desktop does.
Just to say I did it I am using chkdsk on passport. It does not give much information about its progress as when I use chkdsk on C: It is just a small box and it says so far it has processed 405 files. It is so slow I thought it was stuck for awhile. And I don’t have any idea how much information I will get at the end. But I will let you know.
I really don’t want to reformat passport if the problem lies with my desktop or the interaction between passport and my desktop.
Thanks for being there.
CHKDSK did find errors on passport. It was something about “free space marked as allocated” It said any files affected by the problems would be moved to a folder named “Found” on the device or disk. I did not find any such folder so I guess the error did not affect any files. Here is the result:
Log Name: Application
Source: Chkdsk
Date: 11/3/2016 6:12:37 PM
Event ID: 26214
Task Category: None
Level: Information
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: PC-2
Description:
Chkdsk was executed in read/write mode.
Checking file system on D:
Volume label is My Passport.
CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)…
1536 file records processed.
File verification completed.
0 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
0 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)…
1752 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)…
1536 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Cleaning up 15 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 15 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 15 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
108 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)…
1520 files processed.
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)…
187595802 free clusters processed.
Free space verification is complete.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.
976727039 KB total disk space.
226246148 KB in 758 files.
380 KB in 110 indexes.
97299 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
750383212 KB available on disk.
4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
244181759 total allocation units on disk.
187595803 allocation units available on disk.
I ran backup on my laptop and it worked without errors but it worked on my lap top in the past as well. Got tired of time consuming operations, chkdsk on passport took many hours, so I decided to wait until next regularly scheduled back up on my desktop to see if it can run without errors on that computer.
I will post result here 12/1/2016.
Backup successful. No disk error and no ntfs error. Guess the error was on Passport and chkdsk fixed it.
