MobaLiveCD is a free program for checking bootable flash drives and bootable CD/DVD disks. The MobaLiveCD program allows you to test the bootability of a bootable disk (flash drive, disk image) with an operating system, a bootable LiveCD, LiveDVD, or LiveUSB disk, or a bootable image in ISO format.

Many inexperienced users have difficulty checking bootable media, because to do this you need to enter the BIOS, and then correctly set the computer boot priority.

How to check bootable USB flash drive without rebooting the computer? There are ways to check the functionality of a flash drive (bootloader operation, boot menu) without entering the BIOS and without using a virtual machine. Moreover, there is practically no chance to check the bootable USB flash drive on a virtual machine.

The free program MobaLiveCD is a simple tool for checking bootable media, the application emulates booting (works on the basis of the QEMU emulator), thanks to which the user can check the bootability of a flash drive or disk image.

Many users download images from the Internet, various assemblies from unknown sources. MobaLiveCD will help check the operation of the bootloader so that the user can be confident that in the event of an emergency, the boot disk will do its job: boot onto the computer to perform the necessary actions.

You can download the MobaLiveCD program from the official website of the developer - Mobatek.

download MobaLiveCD

The MobaLiveCD program does not require installation on your computer; to launch the application, click on the executable file.

How to use MobaLiveCD

After launch, the main window of the MobaLiveCD program will open. The MobaLiveCD program works in English, but everything is very clear there.

Main features of the MobaLiveCD program:

• “Install MobaLiveCD’s right-clic association” - “Install MobaLiveCD’s in the context menu”

This option allows you to launch MobaLiveCD from the context menu of ISO files. It is not necessary to use this option.

• “Start directly CD-ROM ISO image file” - “Start ISO image”

This option allows you to select any ISO file on your hard drive and run it like a CD-ROM drive.

• "Start directly from a bootable usb drive" - ​​"Run bootable usb drive unit"

This option allows you to select a bootable USB drive (for example, with a Grub4dos or Syslinux bootloader) and run it.

Using MobaLiveCD is very simple: connect a bootable USB flash drive to your computer, and then run the MobaLiveCD program as administrator. To do this, right-click on the MobaLiveCD.exe file and select “Run as administrator” in the context menu.

Hotkeys in MobaLiveCD

When working in MobaLiveCD, use the following hotkeys:

• Ctrl + Alt - return to the environment ( operating system)
• Ctrl + Alt + F - switch to full screen mode
• Ctrl + Alt + F - exit full screen mode

Loading an ISO image into MobaLiveCD

On my computer there is a boot disk of the Acronis True Image program with Windows PE in the image ISO file. I need to check the ability to download this image. See how you can check this in MobaLiveCD.

In the MobaLiveCD program window, click on the “Run the LiveCD” button. Next, select the location of the image on your computer, select it, and then click on the “Open” button.

In the window with a proposal to create a virtual hard drive for your virtual machine, click on the “No” button. File to be created MobaLiveCD HardDisk is not needed.

There is no point in creating and installing anything, since the program allocates only 256 MB of memory. It will not cope with modern operating systems due to lack of memory.

We have made sure that the disk image is loaded, now you can close the “QEMU” window.

Checking a bootable USB flash drive in MobaLiveCD

Let's check the bootable USB flash drive to see if it can be launched on the computer. To check, I chose boot Windows flash drive 7 PE from Ratiborus.

In the MobaLiveCD window, click on the “Start directly from a bootable USB drive” button.

In the next window you need to select the drive letter of the flash drive. Select the letter of the flash drive, click on the “OK” button.

Then don't create the virtual hard disk.

After Windows selection 7 PE, the system will boot for a while and then open Windows window 7 P.E.

That's it, we made sure that the bootable flash drive works.

Users having difficulty with English language, can download the program in Russian from the link mobalivecd 2.1 rus.

Conclusions of the article

The free program MobaLiveCD is a simple tool for checking bootable flash drives and bootable images in ISO format for functionality when booted on a computer. The application checks without entering the BIOS or rebooting the computer.

Crashes in Windows work, emergency shutdown of the computer power, experiments with software for managing disk space, consequences of viruses - these and other problems can lead to the automatic launch of the standard Windows Chkdsk utility, designed to correct file system errors hard drives. Incorrectly completed operation of the operating system with files leads to file system errors, and sometimes even damage to the file system. In emergency cases, the Chkdsk utility turns on itself before starting Windows, scans disk partitions and corrects errors. However, the fact that there are problems with the file system may not make itself felt during normal use of the computer and only become apparent when trying to manage disk space. So, for example, trying to reduce a disk partition with standard using Windows, we may receive the following notification: “It is possible that the volume selected for compression is damaged. Use Chkdsk to troubleshoot the problem, and then try shrinking the volume again."

In this case, disk check will not start automatically. How to run Chkdsk manually in Windows 7, 8.1 and 10? How can I use Chkdsk to fix disk errors if this problem is the reason the operating system is unable to boot?

Inside Windows utility Chkdsk can be launched in several ways.

1. Run Chkdsk using Windows GUI

To run Chkdsk, in the system explorer on drive C, right-click and open “Properties”.

In the disk partition properties window that opens, go to the “Services” tab, and in it click the “Check” button (or “Run check” for Windows 7).

In versions of Windows 8.1 and 10, if everything is in order with the disk file system, in the window that appears next, we will see a notification that checking is not required. But if you wish, you can start checking the disk with the Chkdsk utility by clicking “Check disk”.

If the system suspects file system errors, this window will contain a button to start scanning and repairing the disk.

For Chkdsk to work relative to drive C, you must restart the computer. You can do this immediately or delay running the scan until the next reboot.

After restarting the computer, we will be able to observe the operation of Chkdsk.

In Windows 7, launching Chkdsk is slightly different: to the preinstalled option of automatic error correction, you can add another possible option - checking and repairing bad sectors of the hard drive. When activating this option, it is worth considering that in this case Chkdsk may take longer to run.

As with Windows 8.1 and 10, in version 7 the system drive C cannot be scanned within a running operating system. To start the scan, the computer must be restarted. Click “Schedule disk check”.

When checking a non-system partition of a disk, if it is used by some programs, the situation is simpler than with the system partition. In a window with a notification that the disk is in this moment is used, you just need to click the “Disable” button to, accordingly, disable this section for the duration of the test.

2. Run Chkdsk using the command line

To run Chkdsk using the command line, first, accordingly, launch the latter.

In the command line enter a command like this:

In this command, instead of drive C, we each time substitute the letter of the desired partition on which the scan is required. If Chkdsk needs to check the system partition C, as with the GUI, you will need to restart the computer. After the message appears in command line To indicate that the specified drive cannot be locked, you must enter “Y”, then restart the computer.

In addition to the /f parameter, which is responsible for correcting disk errors, Chkdsk can be run with the /r parameter, designed to search for bad sectors and restore data. As a result of Chkdsk running with this parameter, hard disk clusters with unreadable sectors will be listed as damaged (bad blocks) and their functions will be transferred to a new cluster. Therefore, it is recommended to run Chkdsk with the /r parameter only when the usual error correction - running the utility with the /f parameter - does not bring the necessary results. Using the same drive C as an example, the command would look like this:

3. Running Chkdsk on a non-booting Windows

If Windows freezes at a certain point in the boot process, one of the possible causes of this problem is file system errors. In this case, you need to run Chkdsk by booting from the rescue media. As such, you can use regular installation media with Windows versions 7, 8.1 or 10. With its help, we will launch the Chkdsk utility inside the command line. At the first stage of starting the system installation process, press the command line launch keys – Shift+F10.

In the command line that opens, before running the Chkdsk command, you need to clarify which letters define the disk partitions. This is easy to do using a notepad. I launch it with the command:

Click the notepad menu “File”, then “Open”.

In the explorer that opens, remember the new drive designations. As a rule, in Windows 8.1 and 10, the C drive partition (as it exists inside the running operating system) is listed as D, since the letter C is assigned to the first technical partition of the system. And all other sections are shifted by one letter of the alphabet.

Having decided on the letters of the disk partitions, close Notepad, then, returning to the command line, enter a command like this:

As with Chkdsk inside Windows, you must first try to fix disk errors by running the utility with the /f parameter. And only if the problem is not solved, only then run the command with the /r parameter, as indicated in the previous paragraph of the article.

In cases where Windows is unable to boot, you can pre-burn an emergency Live disk with a selection of various tools to restore the operating system. Among these, for example, is AdminPE based on WinPE. Its image for recording on a disk or flash drive can be downloaded from the official website of the project Adminpe.Ru. Using AdminPE, you can launch a command prompt and enter the Chkdsk launch commands discussed above. But in this Live disk, the Chkdsk utility has its own interface and is launched using a script. The shortcut to launch the utility is placed directly on the desktop.

In the drop-down list to check the disk, select the desired disk partition. Next, activate the checkboxes for restoring damaged sectors and forcibly disabling a partition (volume). Let's check the launches.

AdminPE's tools include a number of other utilities for working with hard drives, as well as the well-known programs Hard Disk Sentinel and Victoria.

Have a great day!

Checking the bootable flash drive is necessary to make sure that the bootable flash drive is working and can boot from it on the computer. After recording to a flash drive ISO image or files, it makes sense to check whether this flash drive is bootable.

Bootable media is called USB flash drives, CD/DVD disks, ISO images from which you can boot when you turn on or when you restart the computer. If you select boot priority from removable media in the boot menu or BIOS, the computer will start booting from boot disk.

The user must take care of creating bootable media in advance in order to be prepared for surprises, which, as a rule, happen at the most inopportune moment.

Basically, a bootable flash drive is used when force majeure occurs. Possible reasons, which will require the use of a bootable USB flash drive:

• there is a problem with the system, the operating system Windows system cannot boot, to restore the system you will need to boot from a bootable USB flash drive or from an emergency recovery disk
• Due to virus infection, it is impossible to launch an anti-virus scanner from Windows; for treatment, you must use an emergency boot disk from the anti-virus manufacturer
• there was a need to reinstall the Windows operating system
• after a serious failure, you need to restore or copy files from your computer disk

Therefore, it is worth having bootable disks with you to be prepared for all surprises. Boot disks are created using a large number of programs. If the flash drive is not bootable, booting the computer from the USB flash drive will become impossible. Because of this, the user will not be able to solve the problems that arise.

How to check that a bootable USB flash drive is working? There are several ways to check a bootable USB flash drive:

• checking the bootable USB flash drive when booting directly on the computer
• checking a bootable USB flash drive on a virtual machine emulator without rebooting

In the first case, it is clear that you need to boot from the flash drive and check its operation. In the second case, programs for checking a bootable flash drive will help.

The applications are add-ons to the QEMU virtual machine, which allows you to check the ability to boot from a flash drive or from an ISO image without rebooting the computer.

Using programs, you can find out whether the flash drive is bootable, check the ability to boot from an ISO image, or USB storage on the computer. The user will be able to make sure in advance that this flash drive or image will boot on the computer.

The programs presented in the article (MobaLiveCD, Qemu Simple Boot) are various shells of the QEMU emulator, others connect this emulator for testing (WinSetupFomUSB), or are an add-on to the VMware Workstation Player program (VMWare WinPE Test). MobaLiveCD and Qemu Simple Boot check ISO images and flash drives, WinSetupFomUSB checks bootable flash drives, and VMWarePETest checks bootable ISO images.

Checking a bootable USB flash drive on your computer

Most reliable way Check the bootable USB flash drive for functionality: boot from the flash drive directly on the computer. To do this, when you start the computer, you need to enter the Boot Menu using certain keyboard keys (on different models motherboards different keys are used).

Starting a bootable USB flash drive in a different way: enter the BIOS or UEFI to select the boot priority from the USB drive.

Checking a bootable USB flash drive in MobaLiveCD

The free program MobaLiveCD is designed to check bootable flash drives and bootable ISO images. MobaLiveCD works without installation on your computer; to launch the program, click on the application file.

The program must be run as an administrator, otherwise an error message will appear.

To start the test in the MobaLiveCD program, you need to select an ISO image (Run the LiveCD button) on the computer, or a bootable flash drive (Run the LiveUSB button) connected to the PC.

The program allocates only 256 MB of memory for operation, so due to lack of memory, the application may not be able to cope with a large image or a large bootable flash drive.

How to check bootable USB flash drive in Qemu Simple Boot

Qemu Simple Boot is a free program for testing boot loaders from USB drives (bootable flash drives), boot images recorded on CD/DVD discs, bootable ISO and IMA images. The Qemu Simple Boot program does not require installation on your computer; it is launched from a folder.

Launch the Qemu Simple Boot application by double-clicking on the “Qsib” file. To enable the Russian language in the program, click on the “Menu” button, select “Language”, and then “Russian”.

Qemu Simple Boot can use up to 1 GB of memory. The size of the allocated memory can be adjusted manually by moving the slider on the scale to the desired position. To check the ability to boot from a flash drive or from an ISO image, especially if it is a Windows operating system or the like, it is better to use the maximum possible memory size.

Testing in Qemu Simple Boot proceeds as follows:

1. First, bootable media is selected. Qemu Simple Boot supports bootable media:

• HDD (physical disk) - to check the bootable flash drive
• CD (CD/DVD drive) - check boot image recorded on CD/DVD disc
• ISO (image file in ISO format) - checking the boot image in ISO format
• IMA (image file in IMA format) - checking the boot floppy image file

1. When testing a USB flash drive, select HDD. Then select the physical disk that matches the flash drive connected to your computer. To test other media, select the appropriate media type.
2. Click on the “Run Qemu test” button.

In principle, everything is already clear. This flash drive is bootable, it will be able to boot on your computer. The further performance of the flash drive or image depends on the contents of the boot disk itself.

How to check bootable USB flash drive for functionality in WinSetupFomUSB

The free program WinSetupFomUSB, designed for creating bootable flash drives, has the ability to check the bootable flash drive.

You can check the bootable USB flash drive for functionality in WinSetupFomUSB immediately after creating bootable media in this program, or at any other convenient time. The application checks bootable flash drives created using other similar applications (not necessarily WinSetupFomUSB).

1. Run the WinSetupFomUSB program.
2. The application will automatically detect connected to computer USB flash-card. If necessary, to reselect the disk, restart the flash drive detection using the “Refresh” button.
3. Check the “Test in QEMU” checkbox.
4. Click on the "GO" button.

Checking the bootable USB flash drive in WinSetupFomUSB was successful.

VMWare WinPE Test (VMWarePETest) for checking ISO images

The VMWarePETest (VMWare WinPE Test) program was created by the famous developer Ratiborus from Ru-Board. The application is used to check bootable ISO images (Windows PE or other ISO images).

VMWarePETest is an add-on for free program VMware Workstation Player, which must be installed on the computer. VMWarePETest also works if VMware Workstation Pro is installed on your computer (VMware Workstation Player is included with this program).

The free program VMWarePETest can be downloaded from here. The application does not require installation on your computer; the program is launched from a folder.

To test the boot image in VMWarePETest you do not need to create a new virtual machine in VMware Player.

1. Launch the VMWarePETest program by clicking on the application file.
2. In the “VMWare WinPE Test” window, click on the “WinPE ISO” button. Using Explorer, select a bootable ISO image (Windows, Windows PE, antivirus rescue boot disk, or some other image). The image can be dragged into the program window using the mouse.
3. Use the slider on the scale to select the amount of memory required if the default size selected is not sufficient.
4. Click on the “Start WinPE” button.

The user can then view the operation of the boot disk, in this case Microsoft Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset (MSDaRT).

To exit VMware Workstation Player, close the program window, in the message window that opens, click the “Turn off” button.

The VMWarePETest by Ratiborus program opens virtual disk files in the “VHD” and “VMDK” formats, located in the same directory as the program. Required condition: virtual disk must have the same name as the program - “VMWarePETest”.

Conclusion

Checking the bootable USB flash drive or bootable ISO image will make sure that the flash drive is working, whether this disk bootable. Using specialized programs, you can check the bootable USB flash drive without restarting the computer.

In this article you will find a guide to using chkdsk, links to programs that allow you to comprehensively test HDD, as well as instructions for them. In addition, the article describes how to scan your hard drive partitions using built-in Windows tools.

On this page

Windows Check Disk Utility (chkdsk)

Windows OS has its own disk checking utility. It can be launched from the GUI or from the command line.

Running disk check from the GUI

Open the window My computer, right-click on the disk or partition you want to scan and select from the context menu Properties. In the disk properties window, go to the tab Service and press the button Run check.

In the next window, click the button Launch.

The scan of the non-system partition will begin immediately. If you are checking system partition Windows 7, you may see a message saying that it cannot be completed at this time.

This is normal because the system partition is being used by the operating system. Click the button Disk check schedule. To run the scan, you must restart your computer. After the computer restarts, the disk check will be performed before the operating system starts.

Run disk check from the command line

Below is an example of running a partition check C from the command line.

Chkdsk c: /f /r

Note. The command line must be run with administrator rights.

In Windows 7, as in the case of checking the system partition from the GUI, after executing this command you will see a message stating that the scan cannot be completed.

Enter Y and restart your computer to start checking.

Additional information about the command line parameters of the utility chkdsk you can get it by running it with the key /? , or on this page.

Run a disk check if the system won't boot

If the operating system does not boot due to errors on the disk, you can check the disk using installation disk Windows.

Windows 7, 8.1, 10

1. Boot into the recovery environment and open a command prompt (instructions for Windows 8 and later, Windows 7)
2. At the command prompt, enter chkdsk c: /r

Windows XP

If the problem occurs in Windows XP, use the Recovery Console. After booting from the installation disk into the console, run the command

Chkdsk c: /r

For more information about the Recovery Console, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

• Installing and using the Recovery Console in Windows XP
• Enable automatic administrator login when using the Recovery Console

Hard drive diagnostics using third-party programs

If after checking the hard drive with the utility chkdsk If you continue to experience critical errors related to your equipment, it is worth carrying out more thorough testing using specialized programs. As a rule, hard drive manufacturers' utilities or programs such as Victoria or MHDD.

Attention! Before testing your hard drive using third party programs need to do backup all data.

Hard drive manufacturer utilities

Diagnostic utilities may be on the CD that came with your hard drive. In any case, they can be downloaded from the hard drive manufacturer's website. Links to some manufacturers' download pages are provided below.

• Western Digital: Data Lifeguard Tools (you must select the disk model).
• Seagate: SeaTools.
• Hitachi: Drive Fitness Test.
• Samsung: Shdiag.

Diagnostic tools from other manufacturers can be found on their websites.

Victoria

program Victoria, intended for deep testing hard state disk, can be found at this link on the website hdd-911.com.

• Excerpts from the official documentation of the Victoria hard drive test

MHDD

The MHDD program is also capable of comprehensively testing the hard drive and fixing errors on it. You can download it from this link from the website MHDD.ru.

You will find more information at the following links:

The disk is in perfect order - what next?

If no errors are detected on the hard drive, it is most likely not causing critical errors. It is possible that the problem lies in faulty RAM or the power supply does not have enough power to ensure the operation of all devices. you can check RAM and drivers, as described in the articles linked below.

You can mark fragments of text that interest you, which will be available via a unique link in address bar browser.

about the author

I am interested in your opinion about these programs:

PC-3000 DiskAnalyzer, Ver1.02 Diagnostic utility for all types of drives (ATA-8, SATA, USB, SCSI, Flash, SSD), Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 S.M.A.R.T. Vision, Ver4.1 S.M.A.R.T utility. diagnostics HDD IDE (ATA-8, SATA, USB, SCSI, Flash, SSD), Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 http://www.acelab.ru/dep.pc/resource.php

aass, didn't use it. But I note that Victoria and MHDD are proven tools for serious diagnostics.

And Windows 7 can track SMART information. It will warn you if anything happens.

aass

Vadim Sterkin, Thanks for the answer and for the topic!
I agree with the assessment of the Victoria and MHDD programs, I myself use Victoria for serious diagnostics, but I try to test other programs, everything is learned by comparison.)

Dmitriy

When checking the hard drive with a standard program on Windows 7, it says that bad clusters were detected in null.sys... what kind of driver is this?

Dmitriy

Vadim Sterkin,

thanks...can the system slow down because of it?

Sanyok

Hello.
I ran (hypothetically) checking the C: drive from the graphical interface with parameters similar to your screenshot. Clicked the "Schedule disk check" button. Changed my mind. How can I cancel this one-time system disk check before rebooting the system?
I myself assume that it may be entered into the Task Scheduler.” But I want to know for sure. I see no point in experimenting. Since, after such a check has been performed successfully once (in practical reality), it would be entered into the “Scheduler” even as a one-time use, and should, in theory, be saved. After all, tasks from the “Scheduler” do not have the ability to self-delete (I think so). But I didn’t find any traces in the “Planner”. As you probably know, I didn’t receive an answer on the Internet or on the forum.

Simply put, I want to know where this mythical “Check Schedule” is located and what methods and methods Windows 7 offers for adjusting it. And then it turns out like this - click, and ala-ulu...

Sanyok

Yeah…
There were graphics, but they all came out. This is some kind of graffiti, black and white, with a register. Just like Battleship Potemkin.
(Yes, I Googled, but really for a slightly different request). Thank you.
You can plan this by checking two boxes in the chart, and canceling by going to the register. They got smart here. Well, okay, there’s nothing to do - I’ll post in the forum.

Yes, by the way, does it make sense to check the second (bottom) checkbox if the system is on an SSD? After all, as far as my knowledge is sufficient, the SSD controller itself periodically (when idle) scans the memory for faulty cells.
And this second checkbox, by definition, is intended to check for broken cells on the surface of the HDD.

Sanyok

Sanyok,

You turn on your TV with the remote control and set the wake-up timer. The next morning you wake up to the music of your favorite music channel. And life flows smoothly and measuredly. But at one fine moment it dawns on you - after all, tomorrow is Sunday. No problem, you tell yourself. With a slight movement of your hand and a screwdriver, without disconnecting the TV from the network, you remove back cover, quickly replace a couple of resistors on the board and you’re done. Tomorrow you can sleep peacefully until lunchtime.
Do you feel what I mean?

Vadim Sterkin: Sanya, what do you mean, wise? You don’t have to split hairs by pressing all sorts of strange buttons, and everything will be fine :)

It's really funny, but also of course, of course Truth.
Yes, but it’s not quite out of place. I don’t see anything unpredictable or completely incomprehensible in checking the disk. And the conversation was about the fact that if they had already laid graphical capability schedule such a task, then be kind enough to provide the same opportunity to disable it, and not through one place (the registry). Either remove graphics when planning (do planning only through CMD), or provide the ability to disable this task using the graphical interface. As an engineer, in my technical practice and in the practice of interfaces of various industrial programs and IT, this is the first time I have come across something like this. Yes, and in Windows OS too.
That’s what I wanted to convey when I said, “We’ve been clever.”
When faced with a question, I noticed that this function causes complaints from the user in terms of frequent independent launches. But let's not talk about that. As unrelated to the topic.
And of course, thanks for the comments. Everything is clear to me here.

Regarding the bottom daw:

To perform a thorough disk scan, select the Scan and repair bad sectors option. In this mode, the scanning program attempts to find and correct physical errors on the hard drive itself, which may take much longer.

About file system nothing is said. More about physical disabilities. Some of us are wrong. Or I didn't understand something.
And further in the text:

To check for both file and physical errors, select both options: Automatically fix system errors and Scan and repair bad sectors.

Please comment. I would like clarity on the issue.
So as not to press “all sorts of strange buttons”, and everything was fine. :-)

Vyacheslav

I am very surprised by the possibilities of checking and restoring a disk under Windows 8. Changing the partition size upward using the program Acronis Disk Director 11 completed with errors. I wanted to increase the size of the system disk using the empty space on the adjacent partition by 200 GB. As a result, this program reports that everything is OK, and the disk size in Explorer has not changed. I checked the disk using the OS - it said that there were errors and needed to be rebooted. After the reboot, nothing changed and a request appeared to reboot to fix it. As you can already guess, this also did not help. As a result, we have lost 200 GB, despite the fact that Acronis says everything is ok, but the system is not able to correct the errors found. Sadness. Do I need to format it?

Vyacheslav

Vadim Sterkin,

In fact, under Windows 7, a similar operation was always performed without problems. I always perform the task of expanding/narrowing a partition in 2 stages: first, we cut off a piece of space from the partition being compressed and transfer it to the “unallocated space” status from the required end of the partition, and then we expand another partition using this space (I do everything manually in 2 reboots in case of "jambs", because Acronis performs a group of operations very strangely. There is a sad experience under Windows XP). So, if under Windows 7 after checking the disk, everything returned to normal and free place did not disappear so easily, then under Windows 8 Acronis completed the first stage successfully, but when performing the second it failed with errors, although later it reports that “everything is fine.” The problem was eventually resolved by booting from a Live CD from Acronis. It's a pity that this cannot be done under Windows 8. And I was counting so much on the “improved checking and correction of file system errors” promoted in the media. Of course, it is very difficult to trust that checking and background diagnostics of FS problems is working correctly. It is very confusing that the time to scan one partition under Windows 7 and under Windows 8 differs by orders of magnitude, for the better for the latter. Are all problems really so easily and quickly fixed? Maybe Windows 8 simply doesn’t notice most of them, or even worse, ignores them?

Vyacheslav

Vadim Sterkin,

Well, what option is there in Windows 8 to expand the partition size? I saw the Disk Management snap-in. Well, I didn’t see how it’s possible there “ standard means» trim the size of the logical volume from the desired end. There's also no way to move a partition within the unallocated space. If there is an analogue that I missed, tell me. Along the way, you did not quite correctly understand what I meant by the phrase “I had a bad experience under Windows XP.” And it was like this: after a reboot, this operation was performed and at that moment the electricity went out. Thus, I lost 2 partitions, although, in theory, there could have been 3 options: the second partition would have been lost, from which space was taken due to the incompleteness of the operation of moving NTFS service zones, or only the system partition would have been lost (although this is unlikely), or both partitions would be fine, and between them there would be some area of ​​unmarked space. But I was very “lucky”. Let’s skip the topic of uninterruptible power supplies and it turns out that Acronis is a reputable company, and their products are sometimes dangerous to use in any way in the absence of alternatives from the OS. And then another “surprise” emerged. And even here everything is fine with the power supply. But as I already noted, the last problem was solved by booting from a Live CD from Acronis and a classic disk check, and not the over-optimized one from Windows 8, the benefits of which I have not yet felt. It seems to be there, but there seems to be no point. Or maybe I was using the disk check tool wrong. Unfortunately, this “optimization” still raises more questions and mistrust in me than answers.

Vyacheslav

Vadim Sterkin,

Irina

Conducted diagnostics of hard Windows disk(chkdsk). There were no messages, but later it turned out that there was no free space. Although before the check, less than 50% of the disk was full. And now it shows 931 GB occupied. Was all the free space wasted? The disc is six months old.

I forgot to say, after that I checked with Victoria and reported that there weren’t even any errors.

Irina

This is not the case for me. It's not about system disk. Oh external drive. I’ve already found out that the system marked all the free space as bad blocks. Now I’m trying to figure out whether it’s a failure or whether the screw has died.

Sergey

Vadim, I have the following problem: After running the chkdsk disk check utility, if both “daws” are checked, it asks to reboot and the check is performed, I don’t know what to call it, but it looks like MS-DOS - lines run quickly on a black background. After the next reboot, I look at the information in the Windows Logs - Application, text in English, “there are a lot of letters,” but the meaning can be understood from a single sentence: “Windows has checked the file system and found no problems." At the same time, a few lines above I was kindly informed that, they say, “Cleaning up 31 unused security descriptors.” Sometimes it is not “31 unused security descriptors” that are cleared, but more or, conversely, less. That is, something is still not quite right, and the program corrects it a little. Like, overall everything is fine, but the Bug died. So, no matter how many times I run this chkdsk, it requires a reboot to correct these errors, nothing else is detected. Previously, on another machine in Windows XP this happened rarely, but now it happens time after time.
The SSD drive is about a quarter occupied. The system is legal Windows 7 x64 Professional and is automatically updated. If you don’t run disk check, then there is no reason to worry, everything works fine, doesn’t glitch or crash. So, in connection with this, the question is - maybe there is no need to spoil your mood. I didn’t find a solution to the problem of these file system errors on the Microsoft website, and are they really errors?

far_town2 Kulyasov

Are there any methods to check if the power supply is sufficient? And due to its insufficient power, can freezes/errors occur in games?

This example is problematic ( Recovery example ) situation represents step by step actions when working with TestDisk, allowing you to restore and fix damaged partition/s.

One of the conditions when working in the program is:

• The program must be launched with "administrator" privileges/rights.

Important points for using TestDisk:

• To go to TestDisk, use the arrow keys Up down And PageUp/PageDown .
• To continue, confirm your choice by pressing the key Enter .
• To return to the previous display or exit TestDisk, use the key Q (exit ).
• To save changes made while running TestDisk, you must confirm them with the key Y (yes) and/or Enter
• To write data to MBR partition, you need to select "Write" by selecting from the keyboard and press the key Enter .

Signs

1. If the primary partition on the hard disk contains an operating system, then most likely it will no longer boot; due to the primary boot sector partition.
2. If the hard drive contains secondary partitions that cannot be accessed or you are connecting your drive to a second channel in another computer (usually a CD/DVD drive is connected there), and the following symptoms are observed, the following symptoms would be noted:

1. Windows Explorer or Disk Manager displays the first primary partition as raw unformatted and Windows shows:
   The drive is not formatted, do you want to format it now? [ Your disk is unformatted. Should I format it now?]
2. There is no logical partition. IN Windows Explorer logical drive is not available. In the Disk Management snap-in, it displays only the “unallocated space” in the place where this logical partition was located.

Running TestDisk

If TestDisk is not already installed, it can be downloaded from TestDisk Download. Unpack all files from the archive including subfolders.

To recover a lost partition or recover a file hard system disk, USB drive, smart card..., you must have the necessary rights to access the device.

To restore a partition from a device image or restore the image file system, run

• testdisk image.dd to split the image
• testdisk image.E01 to recover files from the Encase EWF image
• testdisk "image.???" if the Encase image is split into multiple files.

To restore a file system that is not visible in TestDisk, run testdisk device, for example

• testdisk /dev/mapper/truecrypt0 or testdisk /dev/loop0 to recover NTFS or FAT32 boot sector files from a TrueCrypt partition. The same method works with file systems encrypted using cryptsetup/dm-crypt/LUKS.
• testdisk /dev/md0 to restore the file system on a Linux Raid device.

Creating a log

• Use the down/up arrow buttons to select the problematic hard drive.

If possible, choose raw /dev/rdisk* devices instead of logical /dev/disk* devices to improve data transfer rates.

Selecting a Partition Table Type

TestDisk displays Partition Table types.

• Select the "Analyse" menu item to check the partition structure of the current disk and search for "lost" partitions.
• Press Enter to continue.

• Answer the question Should TestDisk search for partition created under Vista? (Search for partitions created under Vista OS?).

• Select this section and click p to display the file list (To exit the file list display mode, press q ).

All folders and files are displayed normally. (The utility does not understand the Russian language, so files with Russian names will not be displayed correctly)

• Press Enter to continue.

Should I save the partition table or continue searching?

• When all the required partitions are present and their data is displayed correctly, you should select Write in the menu to save the partition structure. The Extd Part menu item gives you the opportunity to decide whether the extended partition will use all available disk space or only the required (minimum) space.
• Since the first section is still missing , select menu item Deeper Search (if it was not automatically selected) and press (Enter) to continue.

Section still missing: Deeper Search

Deeper Search also searches for FAT32 boot sector backup, NTFS boot sector superblock backup, ext2/ext3 superblock backup to find more partitions,

After Deeper Search, the results will be displayed as in the image below:
First section "Partition 1" was found using backup copy boot sector. You can see a message at the bottom line of the window "NTFS found using backup sector!" and partition size. Second section "Partition 2" displayed twice with different sizes.
Both sections are marked with status D to be deleted because they overlap.

• Highlight the first partition 2 and press p to list its data.

The file system of the upper logical partition (label Partition 2) is damaged

(click on thumb).

• Let this partition Partition 2 with a damaged file system marked as D(deleted) .
• Highlight the second partition Part 2 below
• Press p to list its files.

It works, you have found the correct partition!

• Use the left/right arrow to navigate into your folders and watch your files for more verification

Note: FAT directory listing is limited to 10 clusters, some files may not appear but it doesn't affect recovery.

• Press q for Quit to go back to the previous display.

• The available status are Primary, * bootable, Logical and Deleted.

Using the left/right arrow keys, change the status of the selected partition to L(ogical)

• Confirm at Write with Enter, y and and Ok.

Now, all partitions are registered in the partition table.

Recovering the NTFS boot sector

The boot sector of the first partition named Partition 1 is still damaged. It"s time to fix it. The status of the NTFS boot sector is bad and the backup boot sector is valid. Boot sectors are not identical.

• To copy the backup of the boot sector over the boot sector, select , validate with Enter, use y to confirm and next Ok.

More Information about repairing your boot sector under TestDisk Menu Items. The following message is displayed:

The boot sector and its backup are now both ok and identical: the NTFS boot sector has been successfully recovered.

• Press Enter to quit.

• TestDisk displays You have to restart your Computer to access your data so press Enter a last time and reboot your computer.

Recovering Deleted Files

TestDisk can recover

• files from NTFS partitions starting from version 6.11.

If it doesn't work or for other filesystem, try PhotoRec , a signature based file recovery utility.