how to use chkdsk c: /f with RB

[vengab]

Hi,

After a power outage to my house I have a problem with c: not updating the free space. I remove data off c: and the free space doesn't get bigger.
I have googled the problem and what I think I need to do to fix the problem is chkdsk c: /f
When I try it it says c: is in use and do I want to run it on next reboot
I reboot and RB as usual takes over and doesn't perform the chkdsk

So my question is... how can I do chkdsk c: /f with RB running?

[HDS-Jacob]

Hi vengab,

Welcome to the Horizon DataSys forum. Let's see if we can get some suggestions here. For reference, support can also be reached at http://support.horizondatasys.com as well.

Best,
Jacob

[Owl]

Originally Posted by vengab

So my question is... how can I do chkdsk c: /f with RB running?

Simple - you don't.

Running any low-level disc tools risks corrupting the RBRx structures. If you must, then you need to uninstall RBRx first and take the opportunity to do a thorough clean-up and defrag before reinstalling.

However, I don't think you have a problem. With RBRx running you don't actually delete anything at all when you remove files unless you also re-baseline to the state with the files removed. Thus you will not have any more free space on the disk until you have released it from RBRx as well as having deleted the files in Windows.

Hope this helps.

[carfal]

Hmmmm....running chkdsk at boot-time has historically been fraught with danger. Anyone remember Rollback v8?

However, since v9.1 this seems to have been fixed. Dont ask for a guarantee because there is none.

Whenever i get a power failure or my sytem crashes (which is extremely rare with W7 ) I dont take any chances. When the system boots again i simply hit the home key and Rollback to the last snapshot i took before the power failure or system crash occurred. Because i have my settings set to take a snapshot automatically when rolling back i am then able to recover my up-to-date data files. (If this is not the case for you, make sure you take a manual snapshot before you choose to rollback.)

Windows now boots into my "good" snapshot and this is when i recover my data files from the snapshot containing the crashed system. After this is done i delete the snapshot that was taken automatically (because this contains the crashed system) and i do a Snapshot defrag from the console.

Then i open Windows explorer and right click on my E: drive (i have 3 partitions) and choose "Properties". I select the "Tools" tab and you'll see 3 sections in this tab. The top section is the one your interested in "Error-checking". Click on the "check now" button. You'll see the window below



Do not select the second option unless you want to check each sector on the drive or partition for read/write errors. Also selecting this option requires a long time for the check to finish. Normally leaving things as you see is above is how you would proceed.

Click on start. Windows will check your selected drive and fix any errors automatically.

Depending on which drive your working on you may get the following window



Choose "CANCEL"

Then this window will pop up



Click on "Schedule disk check".

Do the above for all of your HD's. I usually start with Drive E: and work my way back to Drive C:. This way when you restart your PC, chkdsk will check drive C: first. (a small tip)

Chkdsk should run as expected without the nasty surprises of Rollback V8. On my system chkdsk sometimes says something about correcting the available space but lately it reports no errors found.

Goodluck

[RBRx Noob]

As a trial-user (and new forum member), am I too understand that I should no longer run chkdsk /f ?

While I do understand why I should no longer perform disk-defrags (and just rely on RBRx's snapshot defrag), I do not understand why I should no longer run chkdsk /f periodically (to check the health of my system partition).

So I'd really appreciate it if someone can actually explain the issues in doing that.

[HDS-Jacob]

Hello RBRx Noob,

Welcome to the Horizon DataSys forum. Lets see if we can get some insight here.

Best,
Jacob

[pvsurfer]

Welcome RBRx Noob,

Unfortunately (to the best of my knowledge) there is no definitive answer re the use of chkdsk within a Windows-RBRx environment, only what we users have read or 'discovered' based on our own experiences.

Over the years there has been a great many posts on this subject, usually having to do with Windows finding a need to run chkdsk because of RBRx's presence, and frequently! With more recent RBRx builds this seems to have become a non-issue.

As to your specific question - whether or not you can (safely) run chkdsk /f whenever desired if RBRx is installed, I can only say that I do this every so often (to check the health of my system partition) and have not experienced any issues.

That said, it would be nice to get a definitive answer from the development and/or support team (I have tried with no success, so hopefully Jacob can prompt them for an answer)!

pv

[Owl]

I would rather run chkdsk without the /f to find out what the problems might be non-destructively, and then decide what to do about it based on what the problems are, what the consequences would be of ignoring them, and what chkdsk /f would be likely to do to the disc structures if executed.

Maybe RBRx (recent incarnations anyway) is capable of intercepting chkdsk activity and managing it appropriately, we don't know for sure.

However, I go back to my original reply: just deleting a file does not clear any space from the disk unless the file is not present in any snapshots, and therefore may well not cause the free space to increase - this is not a fault.

[pvsurfer]

Hi Owl,

The way I see it, without performing a chkdsk we can never be sure that any snaphot is free of corrupted or missing files/indices (due to factors outside of RBRx's control). So I feel it is very important for Rollback Rx to accomodate a user wishing to run chkdsk within the current snapshot (based on my experience it seems to do that - but maybe I've been lucky)!

So as I replied to RBRx Noob's concern, this subject certainly deserves some definitive remarks from the HDS development/support team (and imho belongs in the Rollback Rx FAQs)!

Cheers,
pv

[Owl]

Originally Posted by pvsurfer

this subject certainly deserves some definitive remarks from the HDS development/support team (and imho belongs in the Rollback Rx FAQs)!

I agree whole-heartedly with that, the more we know about the ins and outs of the product the more confidence we can have in it.