how to use chkdsk c: /f with RB

[carfal]

Orian, please read my post located here.

It's a little winded but i wrote it mainly so that even a novice could follow it.


@Froggie
Have you checked your PM's lately?

[orian]

Thanks for explaining that, Froggie.

I've only used Windows ChkDisk once since installing Rollback, and all went well. But I wouldn't use it again, in light of what you say. It's just not worth the risk.

[orian]

Originally Posted by carfal

Orian, please read my post located here.

It's a little winded but i wrote it mainly so that even a novice could follow it.


@Froggie
Have you checked your PM's lately?

Thanks Carfal, but unless we can be sure that running ChkDisk with Rollback v9.1 is safe, I'd rather not try.

I'd like to know why Rollback's development team have not given us some information/advice on this.

[pvsurfer]

Hey guys,

As I've indicated in prior posts, I usually run chkdsk /f on a weekly basis without experiencing any problems on either of my 2 WinXP PCs (one is running RBRx v7.2.1 and the other RBRx v9.1), but then again, ymmv.

While official word on this is long overdue from HDS, I did find an old response in EAZ Solution's Knowledge Base.

pv

[orian]

Originally Posted by pvsurfer

Hey guys,

As I've indicated in prior posts, I usually run chkdsk /f on a weekly basis without experiencing any problems on either of my 2 WinXP PCs (one is running RBRx v7.2.1 and the other RBRx v9.1), but then again, ymmv.

While official word on this is long overdue from HDS, I did find an old response in EAZ Solution's Knowledge Base.

pv

I just came across this, though, which suggests there can be chkdsk problems with Eaz Fix:



Quote:

Originally Posted by bgoodman4:

"What is the notorious chkdisk problem? How does it cause you to lose 2 days of work?"

Originally Posted by Aaron Here:

"This is a Windows corruption issue that is known to occur with EF/RB and still remains a mystery (it has happened to me). After using EF for 2 years, here's what I consider to be sound rules when using EF/RB:

1. Don't use disk-defraggers unless you first uninstall EF/RB - just use the EF/RB snapshot defragger.
2. If you use a reg-cleaner be very aware of what it is about to remove! Never allow it to remove anything associated with EF/RB.
3. Only take snapshots when the system is in a consistent state (check-box in EF/RB System Settings).
4. Don't allow C: to get nearly full (btw, disk-defragging can bring about a false indication of that).
5. Be very wary of using certain 'low-level' programs that may conflict with EF/RB. In Fall 2008, I experienced chkdsk issues after installing Process Lasso.
6. Keep your data, docs, pics, etc on some other drive/partition.
7. Use a disk-imaging program to backup C: on a regular basis - no Instant Restore product is invincible!"


Full disccusion is here:

Some questions about Rollback RX - Page 3 - Wilders Security Forums

[pvsurfer]

Well as I said in an earlier post in this thread, maybe I've been lucky! I guess we just have to wait on the RBRx development team. Could it be that even they don't have a definitive answer?

pv

------
Edit:
Fwiw, here's a dated post I came across (in this forum) by Nick10; 04-24-2009:

These are the updates of Rollback Rx v9 and Rollback Rx RMC v3.0... Because of the changes to the Rollback client, our development team also had to to update the Rollback RMC.

RollBack Rx Client: http://www.horizondatasys.com/files/...ient_Setup.zip

RollBack Rx RMC: http://www.horizondatasys.com/files/...ack_RMC_v3.zip

Notes as per our development team:

Firstly, the recognized bug is a new bug introduced in Rollback v9.

One of the improvements in Rollback v9 is the pagefile virtualization.

Rollback uses device drivers to virtualize the Windows pagefiles for faster system bootup and system performance.

The pagefile virtualization has three modules:
The filter and redirect disk IOs to the pagefile
Be able to hook the pagfile on system bootup.
Be able to close the pagefile virtualization when system shuts down.

The bug is with the third module C... When shutting down a PC, supposedly Windows should wait for all processes and threads to exit and complete before shutting down the PC.

But we found out on some cases, the Windows system just shuts down regardless if there are still running processes or threads. In this case it’s Rollback’s module to close the pagefile virtualization.

In the case when the system shuts down before Rollback Rx closes the pagefile virtulization, there could be data in the pagefile that’s not committed to the hard disk.

Therefore the data on the hard disk could become inconsistent – missing the pieces from the pagefile.

And because the data on the hard disk are inconsistent, the Windows chkdsk will appear on reboots….

So the chkdisk is really not the problem, it’s just a symptom of the problem.

This bug is quite nasty, it’s certainly a level one bug. Because it could make files become corrupted over time – without obvious reasons.

This is an important fix and we have been instructed to update the build as soon as possible....

[orian]

I can see how the bug that triggered chkdsk might have been fixed, but does this mean that chkdsk in and of itself is safe?

[orian]

I see there's still no response from the development team about whether you can use chkdsk c: /f with RB installed or not. Very poor show. You would think this was a trivial question. Surely it can't be that difficult to answer?

[orian]

Just saw the following thread on another forum:

Running chkdsk with Rollback Rx - Wilders Security Forums

Quote:

"On RBRx 8.x and earlier, chkdsk is not recomended. It depends by if the shield driver is invoked before or after the autochk.exe (preboot version of chkdsk.exe) is run and is a gamble (50% chances to go wrong). If the driver is loaded before autochk.exe /f /r is run no broblem; but if autochk.exe /f /r runs before the driver loads and finds the disk dirty(common after power outage or BSOD), you'll encounter the famous chkdsk bug of RBRx.
Bottomline, Aaron you were very lucky you never had problems (maybe you used RBRx on a laptop?).

On RBRx 9.x is safe to use chkdsk /f /r, but before running it you should check the registry entries used by Autochk.exe. If you see the following:
Hkey_local_machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\ BootExecute:REG_MULTI_SZ: chkvdisk autocheck autochk *
is ok to run a chkdsk.exe /f /r. If the string chkvdisk is missing, you should manually repair the registry before runing a chkdsk.exe /f /r.
(*check the attached image)

chkvdisk = modified versions of the microsoft "Auto check virtual disk" DDK drivers used (ChkVdiskxp.exe= modified version of winxp, ChkVdisk2k.exe= modified version of win2000 and ChkVdiska64.exe= modified version of win2003 64bit) to perform a autocheck on virtual disks. Instructs windows to load first the virtual disk (RBRx snapshot) and then to run the autocheck in the virtual disk and not on the real system (baseline snapshot)"


Does anyone know if the advice is sound?

[orian]

Also found this customer testimonial for Rollback:

"After installing Rollback RX, I took a baseline snapshot and then ran chkdsk on the drive. Errors started zipping by on the screen..cross-linked files, corrupt files, lost chains, file header error messages, etc. When chkdsk finished, I was not sure what would happen when I tried to reboot. The computer finally rebooted after 2 tries. However, most of my software would not even run. This was obviously a good time to try Rollback RX. I did not have much hope since I have never had any luck with Windows restore points. I restored the Roolback RX baseline snapshot and my computer was back to the state it was prior to running chkdsk. As it turns out, my hard drive needs replacing, but thanks to Rollback RX, I was able to make sure that all important data was backed up. The decision to purchase Rollback RX was a no-brainer. Thanks for a great product! I have already told a few friends."

RollBack Rx - The PC Time Machine that can fix any PC problem instantly


This seems to suggest that running chkdsk is ok--at least for that customer.